Porsche of late is doing everything to remain in the news. Crystal balls are still trying to glean what Porsche plans to do with Lamborghini and Bugatti, which have thrived under Audi's watch. Now the brand, for which there is no substitute, has struck a deal with Audi to develop an entry level sports car called the R4 as well as the next Boxster and Cayman. The R-car will be the lowest rung in an "R" lineup that will hop even numbers from R4 to R10.
The R-cars will be geared not to compete with Porsche models: the R4 will ride below the Boxster and use turboed 4- and 5-cylinder engines. The R6 sandwiched by the 911 and Boxster, the second generation R8 to come in coupe and roadster versions, and an R10 supercar based on Audi's perennial Le Mans conqueror.
What will each party get? Audi gets Porsche engineering, Porsche gets aluminum spaceframes, diesel tech, DSG for all torque ratings, and they both get massive R&D savings. Both the R4 and the Boxster will then benefit from each company's pool of goodies, like night vision, heads-up display, brake energy recuperation, MagnaRide from Audi, and PDC from Porsche. The only thing left to decide is the timing: the Panamera drops in 2009, and Audi wants the R4 in showrooms in 2010. Stay tuned for a lot of in-house wrangling and a slew of hot new sports cars.
Not many automakers have accomplished as much as Audi at LeMans. Though it only began competing at LeMans in 1999, the automaker has achieved six overall victories from its eight starts, including the first ever win for a diesel-powered car with its R10 last year. This Saturday before the start of the 75th running of the 24 Hours of LeMans, a 12-meter high sculpture will be unveiled in the circuit's "Village" to honor Audi's success in what many consider to be the most demanding race in the world.
Fourtitude has pics of the "Audi Tower" as it looks today, which appears encased inside a giant box shaped like, well, a 12-meter-tall tower. According to Audi, the actual sculpture features 24 rotating rings that light up between the tower's base and its top. There's also a video wall on the sculpture's front face, and its glass surface will be etched with the names of every driver to have ever won the 24 Hours of LeMans.
We're excited to see what this thing looks like, but have enough faith in Audi's aesthetic taste to expect a finely crafted work of art. You can check out a few more pics of the tower as it stands by clicking the Read link.
When the topic of conversation at the Autoblog bunker shifts to the R8, it's simply a matter of time before one of us brings up the idea of a diesel version of Audi's new supercar. With the recent success of the TDI R10, Audi has both the technological prowess and the racing creds to make a serious play towards being the first automaker to offer an oilburner in an exotic. According to Car and Driver, it's not only plausible, it's undergoing development.
C & D breaks down the engine choices into " the good, the bad and the ugly," with the good going to the 4.2-liter TDI (326 HP and 561 lb.-ft. of torque), the bad being the 3-liter V6 (233 HP and 369 lb-ft. of twist) and the ugly as the twin-turbo V12 found in the R10 racecar. The latter is making close to 500 HP and a kidney-punishing 738 pound-feet of torque, which because of its high weight and intricacies would make it a poor choice.
Notable absent from the mag's lineup is the 5-liter V10 found in the Touareg that produces 308 HP and 550 lb-ft. of stump-destroying torque, but considering that the 4.2-liter TDI makes more power and more low-end grunt, we understand why it was left out of the mix.
If Car and Driver's sources are to be believed, expect the TDI R8 to come to market in 2009. That, along with a rumored Targa version supposedly due that same year, would cause the R8 line to swell beyond feasibility. Time will tell, but we like what we hear so far.
Despite racking up its eigth victory in a row at last weekend's 12 Hours of Sebring, Audi is reportedly considering dropping out of the American Le Mans Series. Rumors of Audi yanking its unbeatable R10s from competition in the U.S. have been swirling ever since last season when race organizers began changing rules to slow down the Audis and give their competition a hope in hell of winning. Those revisions didn't work and the Audis kept winning.
ALMS organizers also instituted "special" rules for the Audi in last weekend's running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, forcing the R10s to run with a smaller fuel cell that held 81 instead of 90 liters of diesel. Changes like this slow the Audi R10s enough to bring them within spitting distance of the LMP2 class that is incredibly competitive this year thanks to the arrival of Acura on the scene. From Audi's perspective, the temporary rule changes instituted at Sebring apparently were not in line with what it considers fair racing. As such, the German automaker is reviewing where it stands with the American Le Mans Series.
We would hate to see Audi pull out of ALMS, even though it dominates every single race it enters. Ideally, ALMS should be recruiting more competitive LMP1 contenders, or perhaps it could institute a new class of diesel-powered racers called LMD1. We hear the French might be interested.
Click on the photo for a gallery of high-res shots from Sebring
The updated 2007 Audi R10 TDi is continuing to dominate in qualifying for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Marco Werner driving the #2 R10 shaved almost almost a full second off the lap record for the race he won in 2003 and 2004. After winning last years ALMS opener in the R10's debut, Dindo Capello, got the outside of the front row for the second Audi. Capello missed a chance at the pole when the practice session was interrupted while he was going for a hot lap. The German diesels will lose some of their fuel economy advantage in the race due a reduction in fuel tank size from 90 to 81 liters. The race starts at 10AM Saturday at Sebring. The Audi press release is after the jump.
Click on the photo for a high-res gallery of the 2007 Audi R10 TDi
See that? It's the rear end of a 2007 Audi R10 diesel-powered ALMS racer. The 2007 American LeMans Series kicks off this weekend with the storied Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, and judging from the first day of test sessions on Monday, this view will become quite familiar to the rest of the field.
During the first day of test sessions yesterday, one of Audi's new drivers, Tom Kristensen, beat his teammate's record setting qualifying lap from last year by a full 0.7 seconds, while fellow teammate Emanuele Pirro was just behind and almost a second ahead of the fastest LMP2 Porsche of Andy Wallace.
Last year, Audi's pair of diesel-powered R10s were unbeatable, reaching the highest platform of the podium in each one of the eight races the cars contested, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the only race of the eight not part of the ALMS Series.
A few of us around the Autoblog offices are eagerly anticipating the oil burning fight about to take place at this year's Le Mans. Audi's dominance of the field last year made for some entertaining races, but for 2007, the R10 may finally have some serious competition.
The Peugeot 908 HDi was recently unveiled, and apart from looking the biz, the V12 diesel is laying down 850 ft.-lbs. of torque and over 700 HP. The images in our gallery can only begin to do such a beast justice, so Peugeot released a video of the 908 running the Le Castellet circuit in the South of France.
The video is after the jump, and if you haven't had the chance, be sure to check out the pics of Audi's newest rival.
click on above image to view high-resolution gallery
This little number caught us off gaurd when one of our sources directed us to the VWVortex.com forums. Audi already unveiled the Q7 V12 TDI back in September at the Paris Motor Show. We were in awe of the engine that doesn't have to trace its root far back before it runs right into the same V12 diesel that powers the R10 Le Mans racer. This angelic-looking Q7 has the same V12, according to the forum poster, and it produces the same 500 horsepower and 738 ft-lbs. of glorious torque.
Perhaps Audi wanted to dress up the Q7 V12 TDI for its debut in North America, because from what we know this vehicle is Detroit-bound. There are a few changes to the vehicle that set it apart from the one we saw debut in Paris, including a front end with more LEDs around the headlights and a slightly modified lowe air intake. Out back the reverse lights have been relocated from the stop lamps into their own strip along the bumper that was previously housing reflectors. The center stop lamp housed beneath the rear spoiler is now also a string of red LEDs. The faux-diffuser in the lower bumper is slightly different, and finally the pair of exhaust tips embedded in the rear skirt are now ovular. The white paint job is new (and nice), but the wheels, oddly enough, are the same as the one's we saw in Paris.
The interior of this mild concept has also been cleaned up with the creamiest-looking leather applied to every visible surface, new gauges (220 mph!), and a new center information display that now both color and sporting a higher resolution. If you check out our gallery of high-resolution pics, you'll notice the center information display is showing a g-meter.
We have no information on this Q7 V12 TDI concept other than the few words accompanying it in the forum we found it. Audi has said nothing official about it, so its attendance in Detroit is not guaranteed. However, if it were to arrive stateside, its presence at the Detroit show would certainly fuel our hope that Audi's thinking about selling the Q7 V12 TDI here in addition to Europe. We'll find out soon enough.
Automotive enthusiasts (racing fans in particular) and environmental lobbyists don't always see eye-to-eye. Make that seldom, if ever. But greener motorsports is something over which we can definitely sit down with our compatriots at sister site AutoblogGreen. In fact, we'd go as far to say that it's the one thing that could stand to keep automobile racing relevant in the modern era, and we'll applaud any series, team or supplier that moves the cause forward.
Audi, then, is a particular favorite, for their milestone achievement of fielding the diesel-powered R10 in endurance racing series and events – and winning, sweeping the field, in fact, despite the self-imposed oil-burning handicap. But the boys at Ingolstadt aren't about the rest on their proverbial laurels, they're pushing forward, together with their sponsors over at Shell. They've announced that at next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, they'll not only be racing on diesel, they'll be racing on biodiesel! Don't expect to see Audi engineers rummaging through the trash bins behind the local greasy-spoon, though. Audi will be using a synthetic derivative of plant-based oil (though we have no idea how something synthetic can be derived from something natural) produced by a subsidiary of team sponsor Shell.
Now that the announcement has been made, it seems such an obvious move, but then, all great developments seem so simple once they're done. Our hats go off to Audi and Shell for this, and we'll be looking forward to Le Mans next year.
The thrilling and historic first season for the Audi R10 TDI in the American Le Mans Series has concluded with Audi's two-car team scoring a 1-2 victory, its third of the year, at this season's final race at Laguna Seca. The victory caps an eight-race all-out win streak and mark's the first time an ALMS car has gone undefeated in its debut season. Though Audi did win every race outright this season, the two races occurring in between the 12 Hours of Sebring season opener and 24 Hours of Le Mans were ran by the R10 TDI's predecessor, the R8, that won both. Much credit should be given to the R10 TDI itself, not just for the win at Laguna Seca but for the entire winning season, as its extremely frugal use of fuel (for a 650-horsepower race car) often gave its four drivers a big competitive advantage. The drivers themselves, however, which include Allan McNish / Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro / Frank Biela, deserve a good deal of credit, as well, along with their teams. Most races throughout the season were never in the bag for the Audi team, each win being earned through excellent driving, pit management and the confidence that comes from piloting these Audi-engineered racers. Congrats to Audi for the unbeaten season and Capello and McNish for winning the Drivers' Title.
Check out a full gallery of R10 TDI pics at Laguna Seca here.
Porsche of late is doing everything to remain in the news. Crystal balls are still trying to glean what Porsche plans to do with Lamborghini and Bugatti, which have thrived under Audi's watch. Now the brand, for which there is no substitute, has struck a deal with Audi to develop an entry level sports car called the R4 as well as the next Boxster and Cayman. The R-car will be the lowest rung in an "R" lineup that will hop even numbers from R4 to R10. 
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