Williams to Become Majority Stake Owner of Williams Hybrid Power

Frank Williams might have sold a small part of his Formula One team for the first time in 30 years, but the British team owner is now planning to purchase a bigger stake of the Williams Hybrid Power company for the future.

Williams Hybrid Power is actually the name given by Frank Williams to British company Automotive Hybrid Power, after the Brit bought 40 percent of it and relocated it to his team's base in Grove (back in 2008). The company was contracted by the 67-year old to develop a flywheel-based Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for his team for the 2010 season of Formula One.

While all the other teams opted for an electric-based KERS system, Williams wanted to develop a mechanical one, aiming at using it in road cars also, not only for their F1 operations. And, while the team is yet to use the technology in Formula One, it has already surfaced in the media that the Williams-designed KERS will be fitted to the Porsche's new 911 GT3 R Hybrid road car (to be unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show).

Porsche will also be using the KERS technology for their 911 model in endurance racing – the 24 Hours of Nurburgring – while Williams is currently developing the system for Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover. Additionally, the Grove-based company confirmed plans to use the KERS tech for buses, trains, ships and wind power generation.

As business seem to flourish in this particular segment, Williams is on his way to increasing his share in the company, in an effort to become majority stake owner of Williams Hybrid Power.

“We are very hopeful it will turn into a great business,” said the team's chief executive Adam Parr, in an interview with financial news service Bloomberg.