Audi R10

[CSL]

V12 Tdi

[CSL]

more at speed arena

[car_fiend]

she's a beauty. the last picture shows a very aggressive look to the car. Was hopin for high-res pics, but one can wait.

[Zytek_Fan]

Very aggresive looking bodywork

[Zytek_Fan]

It has a very interesting rollover hoop design

[SLoppYJeeP]

TDI? is that car diesel powered?

[netburner]

TDI? is that car diesel powered?

Yepp :) Also the new Peugeot prototype racecar will be Diesel powered :)

[Wouter Melissen]

Hopefully there will be some serious competition from major manufacturers, or otherwise Audi is set for another series of hollow victories.

[NuclearCrap]

Amazing........what can I say..........although I'm gonna miss the R8. *sobs*

[henk4]

when it is diesel powered it cannot be run in the USA. There would be no high quality fuel available:D

[Wouter Melissen]

when it is diesel powered it cannot be run in the USA. There would be no high quality fuel available:D

It does have a V12 diesel engine right now, but rumour has it the car is currently still too heavy and the engine not powerful enough. The last time a Diesel car tried to take on Le Mans there was no gearbox or set of rear tires strong enough to cope with the enormous torque.

[ruim20]

Frank Biella at the wheel? Good thing it's a diesel... he'll probably make it to the pits with enough fuel... :D

[NuclearCrap]

It does have a V12 diesel engine right now, but rumour has it the car is currently still too heavy and the engine not powerful enough. The last time a Diesel car tried to take on Le Mans there was no gearbox or set of rear tires strong enough to cope with the enormous torque.

I think they should stick with the R8 for another year until they have a perfect R10. I don't want to see them lose....... :(

[jorismo]

How does everybody actually feel about the diesel engines?? I think it's a cool plan: racing with diesel engines.

[Coventrysucks]

Hopefully there will be some serious competition from major manufacturers, or otherwise Audi is set for another series of hollow victories.

With the exciting prospect of Porsche killing LMP2 as well, just when it was getting interesting...

Why do these manufacturers bother? :confused:

[Wouter Melissen]

With the exciting prospect of Porsche killing LMP2 as well, just when it was getting interesting...

Why do these manufacturers bother? :confused:

They probably had some money left in the marketing budget. The regular customer really does not care how Le Mans was won, it's the victory that matters. That's why I rooted big time for the Zytek / DBA teams this year, and even supported the French in June, but alas, big money did it again. It might get interesting if Porsche introduced the RS Spyder with that funky V10 they got lying around and hunt those oil burners down for overall honours.

[Wouter Melissen]

I think they should stick with the R8 for another year until they have a perfect R10. I don't want to see them lose....... :(

The R8 is no longer eligible.

[Coventrysucks]

All of these series seem to be stuck in a perpetuating cycle.

The big manufacturers jump in and dominate, pushing out the smaller teams.
Numbers dwindle, support falls away, it gets less coverage, money etc, so the big manufacturers walk away.
Now the door is open again for the smaller teams, so more and more entrants return, it becomes more popular, gets more coverage, so the big manufacturers jump in...

I wouldn't mind if some manufacturers stayed in the series permenantly, like in F1 or WRC, but they only go GT/ LMP racing when it suits them, and screw it when it doesn't.

I can't Imagine Ferrari saying "oh, F1 isn't that great at the moment so we'll pull out."

[Guest]

How does everybody actually feel about the diesel engines?? I think it's a cool plan: racing with diesel engines.
well Diesel needs al the publicity it can get, especially in the USA

[henk4]

I can't Imagine Ferrari saying "oh, F1 isn't that great at the moment so we'll pull out."

Isn't that what Ford did?

[Dino Scuderia]

well Diesel needs al the publicity it can get, especially in the USA

Why? There are plenty of diesels here for sale and on the road.

[Coventrysucks]

Isn't that what Ford did?

That's an American Coproration.

There will always be manufacturers pulling out of race series, due to various reasons of finance, suitability of products (Touring cars, GTs, Rally), etc.

But you have companies like Subaru and Ferrari who's reputation is founded in a particular motorsport, so they are sort of tied into it.

There isn't a manufacture particularly "tied" to GT in this way, apart from maybe Porsche in the GT2 class, so they just come and go as it pleases them.

Audi appear to be commited, but with no competition it is a bit hollow.

[RacingManiac]

First Diesel to win Le Mans....

[Wouter Melissen]

Audi appear to be commited, but with no competition it is a bit hollow.

What surprises me most is that no other manufacturer jumped in to give Audi a run for their money. The Lola, Courage and Zytek chassis with the variety of engines managed to bridge the gap pretty quickly, and I'm sure they could have leaped over easily with the $80 mil Audi had available for the R8.

[Dino Scuderia]

Audi sells so many diesel cars that it's smart for them to do this whether they win or not, whether it's good for racing or not....they don't care as long as it's good for their sales and publicity.

[Wouter Melissen]

Audi sells so many diesel cars that it's smart for them to do this whether they win or not, whether it's good for racing or not....they don't care as long as it's good for their sales and publicity.

This might be true, but it's still sad.

[NuclearCrap]

The R8 is no longer eligible.

Then they should put a hardtop on it and give it to me on Christmas. :D It's better than the coming-to-production R8.

[NuclearCrap]

First Diesel to win Le Mans....

I hope that's true. :)

[Wouter Melissen]

Then they should put a hardtop on it and give it to me on Christmas. :D It's better than the coming-to-production R8.

How is it better for the production R8's proposed purpose?

[RacingManiac]

All of these series seem to be stuck in a perpetuating cycle.


I wouldn't mind if some manufacturers stayed in the series permenantly, like in F1 or WRC, but they only go GT/ LMP racing when it suits them, and screw it when it doesn't.



WRC maybe, but F1 I don't know about that. Other than Ferrari which has its root in Grand Prix and is pretty much the meaning of its existance, most manufacturer have not been fully commited to F1 until very recently. As in compete as themselves, not just an engine partner. It'll be very interesting to see whether they can stay commited to F1, as some will bound to have success, while other will lose(you can only have one winner afterall), and it'll be tough for those without success to justify their long term commitment to something like a money blackhole like F1. This is the reason I think series like GPWC will never fly as exactly like you said, manufacturer don't stay commited for long....Despite the money involved and whatnot, F1 has long been a "privateer" based series....

[RacingManiac]

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/news.html

Interesting read for some rumors about this car, and the recently announced rule change....(paragraph dated Dec 12).

About the hollow victories of the R8, IMO despite the lack of competition Audi was certainly not taking it easy over the 2000-2005 period. Other than the 2003 when Bentley was "designated" to win, Audi certainly didn't let up on the development of the car. They could probably ran the 2000 spec car in all these years and still end up winning all those Le Mans, but they updated the car every year, introducing technology like the FSI turbo, and perfected the reliability of their incredible quick change gearbox, such that they needn't change them anymore, and even when the aero rule was altered for 04, when Factory team was long gone, they updated the aeropackage for all their private teams that complies with the rule. The R8 was such a good package in the end, that in 05 when the car is pretty much the dog of the class in terms of speed, it still won the race when it competitors all ran into trouble. While initially its hard to compete with Audi's budget, one would think in after all this time the competitors like Pescarolo would catch on, as their "hybrid class" LMP1 has bigger gas tank, has a engine that got development since 2000 under its belt, and the team has had that C60 chassis since 2001. And yet they still lose to the freight train like R8 which in Lehto's own word, had trouble passing GT car on the straight. As much as R8 "had no competition", it was also simply the competitions had lost their own plot. R8 certain did everything perfect by itself, winning more the 70% of the races it entered, and had no engine failure in its history. A feat to be sure for any car ever in history....

[Wouter Melissen]

R8 certain did everything perfect by itself, winning more the 70% of the races it entered, and had no engine failure in its history. A feat to be sure for any car ever in history....

This alone is proof that Audi was never pushed by anybody. If the competition would have had the budget of Audi, they could have worked on getting this kind of performance with the huge margin for error the engine had.

[RacingManiac]

The fact that the car had no engine failure since 1999 when the engine itself(the non-FSI variant anyway) debuted means the car had that kind of reliability to begin with. And the fact that in most sprint races (ALMS races in particular, where R8 was actually beaten several times) suggest that pace wise the car was often matched. But none had the stamina to run with it in the long race. And that certainly should not be taken away from what the car has achieved, since during this same period we've seen countless 675 cars, when in their own class there are maybe 5 cars, and 4 of them had mechanical trouble and yet the winner by default can still faulter and crawl through to the line....

Besides, look the the overall distance set by R8 over the years, in the 24 hours, that is a benchmark, if not the ultimate benchmark to judge a car by at Le Mans, and that certainly suggest that they don't pussy foot through the 24 hours. And could even be the reason why the competitor breaks as they struggle to match that kind of pace.

[Wouter Melissen]

The fact that the car had no engine failure since 1999 when the engine itself(the non-FSI variant anyway) debuted means the car had that kind of reliability to begin with. And the fact that in most sprint races (ALMS races in particular, where R8 was actually beaten several times) suggest that pace wise the car was often matched. But none had the stamina to run with it in the long race. And that certainly should not be taken away from what the car has achieved, since during this same period we've seen countless 675 cars, when in their own class there are maybe 5 cars, and 4 of them had mechanical trouble and yet the winner by default can still faulter and crawl through to the line....

Besides, look the the overall distance set by R8 over the years, in the 24 hours, that is a benchmark, if not the ultimate benchmark to judge a car by at Le Mans, and that certainly suggest that they don't pussy foot through the 24 hours. And could even be the reason why the competitor breaks as they struggle to match that kind of pace.

I'm not saying that the Audi is a bad car, probably it's one of the best to ever race. Sadly it was never seriously opposed to really show its worth. The Audi engineers are not the only ones that can design a similarly fast and reliable car. In 20 years time nobody will remember this, just like the lack of competition for for example the Porsche 956/962 is remembered.

[RacingManiac]

I think R8 will be well remembered, maybe as you say not for itself but for marking a turning point where the bar for winning the endurance race is raised to another level, and how an endurance racer should be designed...

[Zytek_Fan]

Maybe since Zytek and Courage are making new cars, Audi will have some competition.
I heard the Courage C70 could have Panoz power :confused:

[Zytek_Fan]

Here are some specs

Audi R10 technical data (LM-Version 2006)
Vehicle type Le Mans Prototype ("LM" P1)

Monocoque: Carbon-fibre composite construction

Engine: V12 engine, 2 Garrett-turbo chargers, diesel direct injection TDI

Engine management system: Bosch MS14

Lubrication system: Dry sump, Shell oil

Cubic capacity: 5500 cc

Power: over 650 hp

Torque: over 1100 Nm

Drive: Rear wheel drive

Clutch: Ceramic clutch

Gearbox: Pneumatically-actuated, sequential race gearbox, partner X-trac

Differential: Viscous-mech. locking differential

Steering: Electronically controlled power steering

Suspension: Independent front and rear double-wishbone suspension

Brakes: front and rear ventilated carbon fibre brake discs

Wheels: O.Z. magnesium forged wheels, front: 13x 18 inch, rear: 14.5 x 18 inch

Tyres: Michelin radial, front: 33/68-18, rear: 37/71-18

Length: 4650 mm

Width: 2000 mm

Height: 1030 mm

Minimum: weight 925 kg

Fuel tank: capacity 90 litres

[ruim20]

I really don't like the ideia of diesel racing engines, but when diesel sales are booming it comes in handy to do something like this, it's a great chalenge to make a diesel racer, BMW did it in Nurburgring and won!
All of us that live in Europe can see petrol engines behing left behind in development in relation to diesel engines. just my two cents.

[RacingManiac]

I really don't like the ideia of diesel racing engines, but when diesel sales are booming it comes in handy to do something like this, it's a great chalenge to make a diesel racer, BMW did it in Nurburgring and won!
All of us that live in Europe can see petrol engines behing left behind in development in relation to diesel engines. just my two cents.

Won overall? When?

[henk4]

Won overall? When?

a 24 hour race IIRC

[RacingManiac]

Nurburgring?This is before their M3GTR took overall?

[henk4]

Nurburgring?This is before their M3GTR took overall?

could be I am not sure. I know a Golf Diesel participated there as well...

[RacingManiac]

I know there are a lot of different classes and cars at the 24 hours, but I don't recall a diesel winning overall....its usually Porsche, Viper, DTM car and last 2 years the V8 M3 GTRs...

[ruim20]

24 Hour race like Henk said, a 320d

[netburner]

24h at the Nordschleife in 1999 IIRC. It was the only time a Diesel won at the Nordschleife! It was an STW car (compareable to BTCC in that time, car from the supertouring car reglement), which they changed to a Diesel engine.

[RacingManiac]

wonder what kind of laptime it was running....

[henk4]

wonder what kind of laptime it was running....

may be fast enough to benefit from the economy of the car, resulting in less stops:)

[RacingManiac]

And the fact a lot of the cars tend to have a lot of problem at Nurburgring, like running into a Polo or something...

[aNOBLEman]

This car should definitely do well against its competition. Although I'd like to see it do less well because I like Zytec. :)

[Zytek_Fan]

This car should definitely do well against its competition. Although I'd like to see it do less well because I like Zytec. :)
If you like Zytek so much, why do you spell it wrong? :p

[RacingManiac]

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/juhaAudiR10.html

Some more insight into R10's potential....

[sic]

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/juhaAudiR10.html

Some more insight into R10's potential....


well , the potential is there ... but a 5.5liter TDI V12 Bi-Turbo and 650 hp :confused: and 1100Nm ... what was wrong the 3.5liter V8 ?
At least factory has a great advertisement...for its TDIs
And can I then get the Veyron also in Diesel ?

[Zytek_Fan]

Audi R10 at Sebring Winter Test :D

[Zytek_Fan]

Some more

[RacingManiac]

well , the potential is there ... but a 5.5liter TDI V12 Bi-Turbo and 650 hp :confused: and 1100Nm ... what was wrong the 3.5liter V8 ?
At least factory has a great advertisement...for its TDIs
And can I then get the Veyron also in Diesel ?

Audi said it clearly that they chose the diesel because they want to establish a connection between their road and racecar, and to push the boundary of their technology in that area. To that extend the R8 with FSI direct injection have proven its worth on track and now it starts to filter into their production model. So I think they have a very good reason for going diesel...

[Vaigra]

Nice high-res shots Zytek! :D

[GT40]

nice..