“Do youhear that?”Nico Hülkenberg poses the question
almost rhetorically as he applies pedal to metal and zaps the
Infiniti Project Black S prototype out ofthe Sa lzburgring
pitlane. ‘That’ could be any number of sound inputs: we’re
in Mozart country, after all, and a stone’s throw fromwhere
Julie Andrews cavorted in the grasswhile proclaiming the
hills to be alive with the sound of music.
Today that music is provided by a 400bhp V6 gleefully
accepting a 160bhp kick through an electric motor generator
unit mounted to the Infiniti’s rear axle. The electricalskreeee
is the noise Hülkenberg is drawingF1 Racing’sattention to:
the piercing hum of an F1-derivedMGU-K doing its thing.
“Sounds just like an F1 MGU-K,” Nico cackles. “Right, let’s
see if we can get up to 200kmh on the pit straight...”
Rewind:when Formula 1 embraced electrified hybrid
powertrains nearly six years ago, it did so with the
conviction that only by remaining ‘road-relevant’ could it
survive and thrive. Had F1 stubbornly remained allied to big,
thirsty engines increasinglydivorced from the reality of the
everyday motorist, the road car manufacturers it relied upon
would quickly depart into theether, as they had done many
times in the past. Thegrand vision was for Formula 1 to
act as an incubator for exciting and transformative new
technologies, such as e-turbos,that would soon trickle
down to showroom product.
Back in thepresent, that stillhasn’t happened yet.
The vehicleF1 Racing
has flown to Austria to
witness, Infiniti’s Project
Black S, is the only
road car to offer a fully
F1-inspired powertrain,
from a pair of MGU-H
e-turbos to an MGU-K
and its associated brake-
by-wire system. And it’s
still a prototype, albeit
a working one based
on Infiniti’s Q60 Red
Sport coupé. Until now
the powertrain has only
delivered its full hybrid
punch on the dyno;
Hülkenberg is the first
driver to be given carte
blanche to turn it up to 11,
as it were, on track, with
Renault F1 team principal
Cyril Abiteboul also in
attendance.
The Salzburgring isn’t a long circuit– Nico reckons it’sa
50-second lap in a Formula 3 car – but it’s fast and flowing,
and not blessed with Tilke-spec run-off. For the purposes ofF1 RACING AUGUST 2019 41Hülk enberg puts the Project Black S through its
paces at the Salzburgring, the first time the Infiniti
prototype containing an F1-inspired powertrain
has been let loose on a track without constraints
THE GRAND
VISION WAS FOR
F1 TO ACT AS AN
INCUBATOR FOR
EXCITING AND
TRANSFORMATIVE
TECHNOLOGIES
THAT WOULD
TRICKLE DOWN
TO SHOWROOM
PRODUCTS