Filed under: Motorsports, Audi
Audi R15 TDI to debut at Sebring in March, attack Le Mans in June
Click above for a hi-res gallery of the Audi R10 TDI
The Audi R10 TDI is dead. Long live the R15. That's the moniker given to the next-generation Le Mans prototype set to wear the interlocking rings. The car will make its race debut in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and by the time the 24 Hours of Le Mans rolls around in June, Audi will have three of the cars ready to defend the trophy won by the R10 earlier this year. Details on the new car are very limited at the moment. All that's known is that it'll have a smaller, lighter, more efficient TDI motor, will once again be a roadster, and is a more significant change than Audi undertook when it went from the R8 to the R10.
The car will be publicly revealed closer to the Sebring race. According to the ALMS website, Audi Motorsport honcho Wolfgang Ullrich was quoted as saying, "It was clear to us that we must develop a new car if we wanted to continue to be successful in Le Mans." We read that as code for, "Those Peugeots were f**king fast this year. Here's our answer." By the time the cars hit the grid at Circuit de la Sarthe, the hype's going to be at a fever pitch. Bring it. Thanks to Ashutosh for the tip!
Gallery: Audi R10 TDI at Sebring
[Source: ALMS]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BigMcLargeHuge 12:54PM (11/28/2008)
They must be going aluminum or a light alloy block.
Reply
Pyronick 1:28PM (11/28/2008)
The 5.5 TDI V12 is an all-aluminium block with light alloy head.
What they really need is a higher fuel rail pressure.
Somewhere near 2600+ bar (38000 psi), that way they can still get enough torque without clogging the particulate filters.
They needed a new car anyway, open cockpits aren't allowed anymore in about 2 seasons time.
I think the R15 TDI will have a 3.7 liter V8 twin-turbo diesel with direct drive piezo-injectors.
AZZO45b 2:01PM (11/28/2008)
Read the new ACO rules... open cockpits were NOT banned... & V10's & V12's were dropped so if Audi has a new car coming, it would be developing stuff based on those new rules... (so I would agree with you on the V8 based diesel).
DC 2:12PM (11/28/2008)
Says who?
Closed tops will be mandatory for LMP1.
AZZO45b 3:12PM (11/28/2008)
DC: The ACO released the new rules this week... try motorsport.com or any other sports car website. SPEEDtv.com had a story on it as well... I'm not making stuff up. Even the writers said the rules are confusing. Check 'em out.
The manufacturers asked to have an option in LMP1. WTF would Audi Sport spend serious $$$ developing an open top R15 if it will be ILLEGAL in 2010???
Pyronick 3:19PM (11/28/2008)
It's not if, but when open cockpits will be banned.
Some day the ACO will have to give up postponing the mandatory closed cockpit homologation.
The problem with the R10 TDI is it's length, which is a side-effect
of having such a long engine.
Unlike the 3.6 liter V8 from the R8, the 5.5 liter V12 is almost
double the length because of the wide-gear X-trac transmission.
A smaller engine would allow a smaller transmission, which also means
a shorter and lighter car.
AZZO45b 6:45PM (11/28/2008)
Pyronick: Changes are always expected SOME DAY (especially in racing regs...) Closed cockpits will gain no advantage until the next rule changes... 2011at the earliest.
With the world economy in a down period & racing organizations looking to save money (to attract or KEEP manufacturers) out right bans of specific types of cars are highly unlikely. That is one of the reasons the ACO backed off on revolutionary rule changes & just passed evolutionary ones.
Most car companies expect to dominate with a chassis for only a few seasons. Look at the IMSA history. The "stock" Porsche 962 started losing to modified 962s Nissan GTPs then beat the 962s. Then Jaguar came into dominance... then Gurney's AAR Toyotas. Look at the years all those cars dominated WITH OUT a re-design or update.
Sure the Audi R8 lasted longer but it had no direct competitor. The R10 looks like it lasted 2 seasons (if the R15 does indeed debut at Sebring '09)
why not the LS2LS7? 1:12AM (11/29/2008)
The R8 was just plain a better car. It wasn't oversized/over heavy for starters. Take away the gas tank downsizes, boost restrictions and intake restrictor changes the R8 endured over its lifetime, and the R10 couldn't even keep up with the R8.
AZZO45b 10:47AM (11/30/2008)
The R8 also had the benefit of NO COMPETITION.
BMW had won LeMans & then refocused on F1... The Bentley was an inter-corporate effort. The R8 became a customer car P1 effort... on a much smaller scale then the Porsche 962.
You can't judge the R8's run to the R10...
Nick 1:23PM (11/28/2008)
Dumb question. How much faster is a F1 car than a Le Mans car?
Reply
TORONTO 1:58PM (11/28/2008)
I think so.
Cypher09 2:03PM (11/28/2008)
At Silverstone Heikki Kovalainen's Pole Lap was 1:21.049 compared to 1:30.359 for the #8 Pug in LMS.
AZZO45b 2:05PM (11/28/2008)
F1 cars are MUCH lighter & are sprint cars (2 hour races) not endurance. Rules would be geared for durability not sheer HP.
At races where the IndyCar Series ran with ALMS the P1 cars were about as fast as the lighter IRL Dallara Honda powered cars. At times the P1 cars were faster
Tronxo 1:38PM (11/28/2008)
Audi no thanks, Peugeot for the winners, Audi for the losers.
Le Mans 24 h. 2009 Winner: PEUGEOT 908 HDI
Audi sucks.
Reply
AZZO45b 1:57PM (11/28/2008)
Peugeot LOST LeMans24 in '07 & '08. Peugeot LOST at this years Sebring & PLM. They LOST the European LeMans Championship to...
... let me think...
Oh YEAH!!!
A-U-D-I. Audi are the losers??? Wake the F*CK up
izzy 2:00PM (11/28/2008)
Yea,
Audi will lose like the past three years, oh wait. Peugeot does not have the reliability or driver experience audi does. Audi wins again!
Harrison 3:23PM (11/28/2008)
Did you, by any chance, work for John McCain's campaign?
EEL 12:54PM (11/29/2008)
McCain rally? Not quite. He was in charge of the Palin/Limbaugh "pep" rallies.
He was also going to pardon Alaskan turkeys as well but as you saw in video, didn't too good of job there either.
DC 2:03PM (11/28/2008)
The better question is, why the heck are they developing a "roadster" version when closed-top LMP1 cars will be the mandate in 2010?
I just hope they thought this out and will make the R15 easy to convert to hardtop because so far, someone dropped the ball if they didn't think of it.
Either way, sounds exciting and I cannot wait until they bring it out!
GO AUDI!
Reply
AZZO45b 2:10PM (11/28/2008)
DC: The ACO dropped the proposed rule for closed tops & body work reflecting the manufacturers street cars