Autoblog

After countless spy photos and appearances at auto shows for the past several years in two different styling forms, the Lexus LF-A made its first official appearance on the road this weekend at the Nürburgring 24 hour race. At some point during the weekends festivities, Automobile managed to snag a shot of the engine lurking under the race-prepped Lexus' hood. We can't derive a lot of details from this single shot, but we can get a few tidbits.

Looking at the area behind the intake plenum near the firewall on the driver's side, the engine looks long enough to likely be a V10 as has been previously postulated. The bank angle appears to be 90 degrees for a lower center of gravity than would be available from the normal 72-degree bank angle for a V10. The intake plenum is apparently made up of a composite material, again, likely for both overall weight reduction and and lowering the CG. Under that however, the intake runners appear to be metal. Finally the engine is set well back in the chassis for a front mid-engine layout, almost entirely behind the front axle line. Now that the LF-A has hit the track in anger, maybe we'll see it in production form soon, perhaps even at the Paris this October or Geneva next year.




[Source: Automobile]

Click image to enlarge

If you've been looking in on the live stream of the Nürburgring 24h race, you might spot the car above crossing your video window. It's basically a production-spec Kia pro_ceed (fitted with whatever safety features are required for race participation) powered by the stock 138 hp/225 lb-ft 2.0L diesel. The skinny on this one is that it was entered by Continental Tires' Italian division and will run the entire race on ContiSportContact 3 street tires. The team's goal is to complete the race while making as few tire changes as possible, after which Continental will likely talk about how awesome its tires are in advertising that points back to this particular effort. We'll try to remember to drop the Kia Europe people a line post-race to get the final tally on the number of tire changes they wind up going through.

[Source: Kia/Continental]

Many thanks to reader Dougall, who just emailed in to let us know that the Nürburgring 24 hour race is being streamed live on the web. Coverage appears to have just started a short time ago (as of 8:41 Eastern, the racers have just pulled out on the circuit behind the pace car). The full 24 hours of racing will be streamed. To watch, visit http://adac.24h-rennen.de/live/live-streaming.html. After sitting through a few commercials, it drops you right into the stream. Enjoy.

UPDATE: RadioLeMans.com is also streaming live video with English commentary. It's got a bigger video window, and you have on-track audio, so you can hear the cars' engines on the circuit. The commentators are also funny, as the Lexus LF-A had pitted and was having its rearview mirror adjusted while other work was done on the car. Next thing you know, it's being pushed into the pit garage. One of the announcers deadpans, "They're obviously having a lot of problems with the mirror there." RadioLemans.com wins.

UPDATE 2: Live standings (all classes) can be seen here (there's a slight delay, but it's useful). For a kick, keep an eye open for the #114 car. It's an Opel Manta with a fox tail hanging off the roof antenna. Great stuff. As LS2/LS7 points out in the comments, the Nürburgring 24h is not a "big" race compared to others, but it's definitely fun to look in on.

UPDATE 3: The race is over (podium ceremony taking place as I type at 9:25 AM Eastern). The Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by the veritable all-star team of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb, and Marcel Tiemann is the overall winner. Full results can be found here. Commenter "Philthy" also reports that tragically, the #114 Opel Manta lost its foxtail somewhere along the way. The Manta, in case you're curious, finished 46th overall and 4th in the SP3 class.

[Source: ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24h]

Gumpert is entering a hybrid version of its supercar, the Apollo, in the Nurburgring 24-Hour race. Instead of the normal car's Audi 4.2-liter twin-turbo with 650 HP, the racer gets a 3.3-liter V8 with something like 630-HP, in addition to a 100kW electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. The 190 kilos of batteries will be recharged by application of the brakes, but it isn't clear exactly how the electric motor will be applied -- slow speed (aka pit lane) use only, or to provide an extra boost during the race.

The car will be driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Dirk Muller. The hybrid Apollo will test its fortunes against the Audi R8 and Lexus LF-A, both of which are in the same class. If the car does well, it could mean good things for the introduction of hybrid technologies into other race series like Formula 1.

[Source: BridgeToGantry]

Click above for photo gallery

This year's Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race will feature perhaps the most wicked Audi R8 yet: a lightweight, custom-built racer that makes the road car look tame by comparison. To comply with the requirements for participation in the race, the stock 4.2L V8 donates its block and is rebuilt from there. The race-spec motor's displacement drops to 4.0 liters but it delivers a hefty 530 horsepower and 353 lb-ft of torque. The R8's stock front and rear bodywork is replaced by new, widebody carbon kevlar panels. Those outboard intakes in the nose are replaced by blanks, and out back, the custom exhaust's dual outlets poke through the spot where the license plate would reside on the production car. Other obvious additions are the front splitter, large rear wing, rear diffuser, and multiple cutouts in the aft bodywork to help with engine cooling. The entire package weighs in at just 2,755 pounds -- this thing should absolutely haul. German magazine Sport-Auto has been covering the car's development. We'll see how the car fares in competition next week.


[Sources: Sport-Auto, German Car Scene]

Click to view more of the Gumpert Apollo in hi-res

Gumpert intends to give new meaning to the term "the green hell", the nickname given by race drivers to the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife. The German supercar-maker has announced that it will be racing at the 24-hour endurance race there next month with a race-prepped hybrid version of its Apollo supercar.

To supplement the 630-hp Audi-sourced twin-turbo V8, Gumpert will employ a 100kW electric motor recharged by captured brake energy. The system is similar to the KERS mechanism being phased into Formula One, and to highlight the F1 connection (and hopefully score some points in the process), Gumpert has solicited the services of former F1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who will share driving duties with veteran endurance sportscar racer Dirk Müller.

Check out the images in the high-resolution gallery below and the press release after the jump.

[Source: Gumpert]