The "painful" journey behind the WRC's generational tech innovation

If you’ve been following the World Rally Championship recently, then Compact Dynamics will likely have entered your consciousness. That’s because it’s the organisation responsible for developing arguably the biggest technical innovation to hit rallying for a generation.

Compact Dynamics has been charged with producing the all-important hybrid kits utilised by Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford that underpin the all-new Rally1 regulations that came into force this year. A move to hybrid power and 100% sustainable fuel, requiring teams to construct brand-new cars, is the WRC’s first step towards a more environmentally friendly future.

Founded in 2000, Compact Dynamics has been plying its trade in the hybrid powertrain business for the past two decades. The German firm, owned by automotive giant Schaeffler, designed the original KERS systems for BMW’s and Honda’s 2009 Formula 1 cars (although the latter never saw action, with the project taken over by Ross Brawn electing to run without KERS), produced hybrid powertrains for Audi’s LMP1 machines in the World Endurance Championship between 2012 and 2016, and also worked with its Formula E squad prior to its departure last season. Now it’s taking on the WRC, which Compact Dynamics managing director Oliver Blamberger tells Autosport is its biggest project yet.

“I would say it is the most complex [project we have taken on],” says Blamberger, whose company has also developed technology solutions for the aviation industry, proving its versatility and underlining the significance of his statement.

“[The WRC project] was very interesting and very demanding. We are not only responsible for the electric motor and the power electronics, which we are used to doing in WEC, F1 and Formula E, but we are also responsible for the clutch system, the safety clutch and for the battery system. The whole hybrid system is in the responsibility of Compact Dynamics.

“In Formula 1 we only supplied one team in BMW or Honda, but for the WRC we are supplying all of the teams and therefore I think WRC is the most important project for Compact Dynamics. Also, we are very much in the public eye and everyone is aware of us. I think we can gain a lot in the motorsport area with this project, but we can also lose a lot if we are not performing as expected.”

Compact Dynamics WRC Rally1 hybrid kit

Photo by: Compact Dynamics

On paper, the extent of the task is plain to see. The journey for Compact Dynamics began by winning an FIA tender, in April 2020, to supply all WRC teams with mandatory 100kW hybrid kits. After defining a more detailed specification for the system alongside the FIA, work in earnest began in May 2020 to design, develop and manufacture a bespoke system, compatible with all three WRC manufacturers and capable of withstanding some of the toughest roads in motorsport. Adding to the already monumental undertaking was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a tight turnaround time, with less than a year to complete the first prototype for testing.

That prototype was built around a strict brief from the FIA, which stipulated that the hybrid power would be delivered using the throttle pedal, rather than pressing a KERS-style push-to-pass button. Months of development has resulted in a 100kW kit that, when coupled to a 1.6-litre turbocharged combustion engine, delivers 500 horsepower in short bursts when working alongside a 12,000rpm electric motor, connected to the propshaft.

"To put the system in a Ford, the communication between the system and the Ford is different to the communication between the Toyota and the hybrid system. That was very painful at the first stage, but at the end we made it happen" Oliver Blamberger

An extra 130bhp can be delivered through hybrid boosts, lasting no longer than 10 seconds, initiated by the throttle pedal. These boosts only become available if sufficient energy can be recovered when off the throttle or under heavy braking. The extra power is delivered through the use of three bespoke homologated engine maps selected by teams, depending on the type of stage and conditions. In full electric mode the car has a range of 20km, while its 3.9kWh battery, operating up to 750 volts, can be plugged in and recharged in the service park within 30 minutes. To protect the crew in the event of an accident, the hybrid unit can withstand an impact of 70G.

While the system is perhaps unusual and complex, in the way drivers deploy the power using the throttle alone, Blamberger believes this is the right direction for the WRC.

“This was in the initial tender document that it has to be activated by the throttle and there wouldn’t be a push-to-pass button,” says Blamberger. “At the end of the day, all of the manufacturers are using WRC or other race series as an advertising platform. Therefore, I recommend that they bring the electric system as close as they can to the latest system in the road car.”

That aside, one of the first objectives to achieve this feat of engineering was for Compact Dynamics to source a battery partner. It opted to form a partnership with Austrian firm Kreisel, a perfect fit in many ways, with the company a relatively short 200km hop across the Bavarian border. Like Compact Dynamics, Kreisel has a passion for motorsport. The company supplies batteries for use in World Rallycross Championship cars and has developed its own electric Skoda rally car capable of competing in the Rally2 arena.

Battery specialist Kreisel, recently acquired by John Deere, produced all-electric Skoda Fabia RE-X1 for Austrian driver Raimund Baumschlager to campaign in his domestic rally championship

Kreisel’s battery knowhow, combined with Compact Dynamics’ hybrid powertrain pedigree, meant the project started off on the right foot. But this was only one piece of a large jigsaw that needed to be completed against the clock.

“The first big challenge was the very limited timeframe,” says Blamberger. “We only won the tender in April 2020 and we started development with the FIA in May/June. The expectation was clear to have the first systems on the test bench in the first quarter of 2021.

“The development time was less than a year and it was of course very demanding. We had the base power electronics and the base motor in place, so we had a base to jump off. Kreisel did the same – they had a battery cooling system that was already proven and in place.

“To bring all these components together for the very first time in a car, and for three brands, makes life not very easy – especially as the FIA decided not have a mule car. We did not have a chance to test the system at its first stage in a mule car to figure out the system.

“It was helpful that the FIA was a kind of moderator and together with the teams they made the requirements and the specification. We aligned the specification for the car and it fits to all three types of car.”

As Blamberger explains, this was not without its difficulties: “The workflow of Toyota is different to that of Ford, because Toyota is a team directly from Toyota and M-Sport is more a customer team from Ford. The workflow and the processes are different, but Compact Dynamics is used to working with different customers and therefore we have a good way to treat all manufacturers equally.

“We delivered the first systems direct to Toyota, Ford and Hyundai. For example, to put the system in a Ford, the communication between the system and the Ford is different to the communication between the Toyota and the hybrid system. That was very painful at the first stage, but at the end we made it happen together as a team and we saw very stable systems in Monte Carlo [the WRC season-opener in January].”

Compact Dynamics had to supply kits for all three manufacturers

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

There were plenty of nervous moments as Compact Dynamics witnessed its months of hard work thrust into the spotlight on tests with each of the WRC manufacturers. This leap of faith meant its own processes and in-house bench tests were put under intense scrutiny.

“What we did was have a three-stage test procedure,” Blamberger adds. “The first test is to bring the motor and the electronics together with the safety clutch, and then we have a test profile which was aligned with the FIA and the teams.

“It was a kind of worst-case scenario, and then we test against this profile. We then bring all the components together – the motor, the power electronics and the battery – and we have an additional system test against this profile. This was done before the first test in a car.

"The car went downhill and landed in a river – it was not easy to bring the car out. The car had a been parked in the river for two days but after we brought the car out, we had no water in the hybrid system. This was impressive" Oliver Blamberger

“It was very strange. In the past, Compact Dynamics was only the supplier for one team, for example Audi. Of course, Audi would ask us to join the bench tests and the track tests. We have never done it like this before, to have three different manufacturers and to treat everybody equally. That was an important issue as we cannot be in favour of Ford and give a disadvantage to Hyundai for example. We have to treat everyone equally, so we had all the same tests going on with the teams.”

Testing with the teams proved invaluable in honing the product for competition, while ensuring its safety met the required FIA standards. All three teams suffered notable heavy crashes in testing – the biggest of these befalling Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, whose car ended up in a river at the bottom of a ravine during a test with the i20 N in France. Remarkably, both the Belgian and his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe avoided serious injury, while the Compact Dynamics hybrid kit’s structural integrity passed with flying colours. Despite the car being stranded in a riverbed for two days, no water had entered the unit – which remained unharmed.

“Compact Dynamics is used to developing to align with the wishes of the customer and the g-force impact of components have to be fulfilled,” says Blamberger. “We have strong stress test procedures, we have a shaker test for example which we can test in-house, and therefore we are confident the system will fulfil this requirement.

“If I look back to the extent of the damage on the Hyundai car in testing, this was a very strong accident. The car went downhill and landed in a river – it was not easy to bring the car out. The car had a been parked in the river for two days but after we brought the car out, we had no water in the hybrid system. This was impressive and made me very confident that we would have no problem in Monte Carlo.”

Neuville and co-driver Wydaeghe were fortunate to escape serious injury in testing - while hybrid kit also withstood impact

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Having passed this significant test, Blamberger says he was confident that the experience of his team would shine through, come its first taste of on-event running.

“I had no big worries,” he says. “We had enough experience, self-confidence and trust in our experience that I was convinced we would sort out any problems in Monte Carlo and give all the teams a chance to have a car in place which was able to win.”

When January rolled around and the teams descended on the principality’s mountainous stages, the hybrid system came under intense scrutiny. Teething issues are commonplace with the advent of new technology and all three teams encountered problems of varying degrees.

The bulk of these gremlins centred around the software delivering the hybrid power, with Hyundai appearing to suffer the most. But as the weekend progressed, Compact Dynamics’ team of five technicians on the ground managed to provide solutions for all the teams, as returning legends Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier stole the show with a titanic battle for victory. There were moments when drivers were without hybrid power, even eventual rally winner Loeb struck by an issue on his Ford Puma during stage seven, but overall the system ran smoothly.

“On the whole it was good,” says Tim Jackson, M-Sport’s lead development engineer. “As you can imagine, we have been working quite closely with Compact Dynamics for a while now and in the lead-up to the event they also ramped up their on-event support accordingly. It was pretty good, we only had one issue on Seb’s car during one of the stages, but aside from that there was no surprises, which was really good.

“We have obviously done a good amount of testing mileage, but still the rally is 350km, so in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it was a surprise with the performance we got. It was pretty much in line with what we are expecting.”

Blamberger was equally impressed with the results from the first weekend, but also proud of his team for finding solutions to the inevitable teething issues that arose in Monte Carlo.

“Let’s say the problems are very individual based on the set-up and situation of the team and the driver,” he says. “We had a team of five people in Monte Carlo plus one expert from Kreisel in order to find workarounds. This is what we did properly.

Compact Dynamics supplies technicians to support WRC teams on events

Photo by: Compact Dynamics

“For Hyundai, we had set dedicated people to give expertise only to Hyundai and found a solution to improve the software. This was the same for Toyota and M-Sport. In the future we aim to have three experts at each rally, one for each team and to have a remote support at Compact Dynamics and at Kreisel if we have some problems for other support.

“If you have problems, you have to create solutions quickly and this is what my team have learned in the last 10 years in a very strong way. At the podium ceremony, I was happy that everything went OK and people are happy with it.”

The next challenge the Compact Dynamics hybrid system faces comes this weekend, when it competes in the sub-zero temperatures of Rally Sweden. The kit has undergone successful tests in those conditions, but there is no substitute for seeing how technology performs once it is put through a three-day rally.

For the immediate future, the pressures should ease on Compact Dynamics as there are no plans to further develop the hybrid system at this stage. Development is frozen until the end of 2024. And if the events of Monte Carlo are anything to go by, the biggest talking point is likely once again to be the battle at the front, rather than the new kit – which is just how it should be.

Compact Dynamics hybrid kits are being tested to their limits in chilly Sweden this weekend, but their biggest obstacle has already been overcome

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images