Of all the different variants of motor sports, the Le Mans series can easily be seen as one of the most challenging and prestigious among them. And of all the races inside a session of Le Mans, none are more spectacular than the coveted 24 hours of Le Mans held at the historic Circuit de la Sarthe in France. This year Audi, who has been breaking Le Mans records for over a decade, is looking to take back what they think is theirs with the newly redone R18 TDI prototype.
Running in the highest level class, LMP1, the R18 will be going directly after Peugeot 908. Both of these cars run an extremely developed diesel engine which works wonders for endurance racing. Audi was the first manufacture to win the 24 hours with a diesel when they debuted their R10 TDI in 2006. Since then, they have been campaigning the alternative wonder with great success. Their success was so great that Peugeot followed suit in 2007 with their 908 diesel. Imitation, they say, is the most sincere form of flattery.
The new R15 is Audi’s first closed cockpit LMP car since 1999. The reasoning, according to Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsports, is aerodynamics. According to Audi’s press release, the Dr. was quoted saying, “In the future, aerodynamic efficiency will be even more important at Le Mans than it was in the past. A closed car has clear advantages in this respect. Our computer simulations have been confirmed in the wind tunnel and during initial track tests.” Did anyone else notice that the Peugeot has always had a closed cockpit?
Another new feature is the engine. For the R18, the TDI is a V6 instead of a the R15’s V10 and the R10’s V12. The 3.7 liter should yield better economy while still maintaining the massive torque that the older TDIs were achieving. The V6 is also lighter and weight was a big issue with the last Audi LMP diesels.
In all honesty, reliability shouldn’t be an issue. Audi has poured a large sum of money into its racing development and judging from past Le Mans, they know how to build an endurance race car. What will be interesting is to see another epic battle between the two alternative fuel powered machines. Peugeot better look sharp because the new 2011 Audi R18 TDI will be ready to drive all night and all day.
