Filed under: Motorsports, Audi
Le Mans front row full of Audi R10s
Despite the fact a diesel-powered racer has never won the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, Audi's pair of 650-hp oil burners will be sitting pretty on the front row this weekend after both posted the fastest qualifying times Thursday. Dindo Capello drove one of the R10 racers to the fastest time of 3 minutes, 30.466 seconds. Meanwhile, Marco Werner drove the other R10 to a time just 0.118 seconds behind his teammate. The next fastest qualifier was a full two seconds behind the Audis.
It seems as if Audi has a lock on Le Mans before the race has even started, so assuming the durability of the diesels is not a problem during the race, we think it'd be fun if Audi fills their tanks with french fry oil on the final pit just to gloat.
[Source: Audi Motorsport]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve 10:41AM (6/16/2006)
Damn, that's pretty impressive.
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Jon F. 10:49AM (6/16/2006)
The question isn't going to be engine durability, but gearbox durability. Those engine produce serious torque, which no production racing gearbox can even touch. The oil burner will require less shifting than the R8 around the course though.
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Manolo 10:55AM (6/16/2006)
The 800 miles on one tank of gas in an A8 was even more impressive to me....
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that's impressive! 11:18AM (6/16/2006)
It's impressive Audi could get the ACO to bend the rules so far so they could make a marketing splash.
The R10 has a motor 50% larger than the R8 was allowed (3.6L) and while the R8 only ran 1.6bar of boost in the beginning and won last year with only 1bar of boost, the R10 is allowed 2.94bar. The R10 is restricted with 39.9mm (x2) restrictors.
The Pescarolo-Judds competing against the R10s are only allowed 5.0L of engine and zero boost. They're also intake restricted to 32.7mm (x2) (the R10 restrictor is 50% larger in area).
And some even say the ACO increased the minimum weight in LMP1 because the R10 couldn't make it down to 900kg due to the very heavy motor (50% heavier than the Judd).
Audi stands a good chance of winning. And hopefully the ACO will change the rules next year to level the playing field a bit.
It's sad the R10 retired due to engine difficulties in its very first race. After 5 years, no R8 had ever retired due to engine difficulties. I haven't kept track since then, but I don't recall it happening since then either. In recent years, it's odd for an R8 to retire for any mechanical reason, despite the ACO's banning of the quick-change rear end. Even when slammed into walls, they usually get them back out there and running full-speed laps.
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ZipperSeven 11:38AM (6/16/2006)
I second Manolo's motion.
Although I am pysched up to see Audi thrash some ass this year with smokers.
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Phil L. 12:15PM (6/16/2006)
RE: Gears - Reportedly, the R10 makes do with one less cog than the R8.
IIRC, the Car & Driver article on the R10 guessed that they would be able to get by on about 4 fewer pit stops than an R8. Given that endurance racing stops tend to be much longer than other forms of racing, 4 stops over 24 hours is an advantage.
Now... Why can't all of this diesel interest everywhere else turn into a good selection of diesel sedans and - I'm serious - minivans in the US? It seems that the latest tier of emissions has conspired to leave the US out again, in spite of the arrival of low sulphur fuel.
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spdracerut 12:32PM (6/16/2006)
I seem to recall them using one less gear in the box also. The super fat powerband of the diesels allows them to get away with fewer gears. And by taking one gear out, the others could be made wider and stronger to handle the torque.
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JayP 12:38PM (6/16/2006)
I'd take a TDI A4 quattro S-Line.
But by then, the car would be $45k and any cost advantage in using diesel is lost.
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Steve 12:58PM (6/16/2006)
A little off topic, but the minivan comment made me think of this.
Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I always thought that diesel engines would be perfect in lawnmowers and other small engine pieces of equipment.
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chewy 1:21PM (6/16/2006)
Great job for the Audi. I bet they could have had an even better time, because they were 2 second slower than the pole time all of the other practices. The problem is that the governing body (ACO) doesn't want any cars to go below 3:30 a lap. Watch the race tommorow on Speed to see how Audi does in the race.
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Phil L. 2:20PM (6/16/2006)
Diesels are great for many equipment applications - but the extra weight, cost and complexity of high-compression pump and injector components means they generally don't make sense for low-end applications.
A single-cylinder diesel lawnmower would be heavy and expensive.
Quick example (the only thing I could find on-line in a hurry):
A 1 cylinder, 5000 watt gasoline generator can be found at your local Home Depot/Lowes for (at the low end) something like $600. It probably weighs 140 pounds.
A 1 cylinder, 5000 watt single-cylinder diesel generator will cost more like $2300, and will probably weigh nearly 200 pounds.
If you occasionally need 5000 watts for a few hours, the gas generator will do fine. If you regularly need 5000 watts for days at a time, diesel is the way to go.
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m 5:11PM (6/16/2006)
One thing that might give Audi problems is rear tire wear, unles they finally got the traction control figured out. The first race the R10s ran was without TC and with that much torque it is easy to spin coming out of turns. For some reason they were having problems with TC and the new engine.
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