What's the news?
Are you listening, Porsche? Sitting down, Toyota? Audi wants its Le Mans 24hrs crown (nicked from under its nose by Porsche's unstoppable 919 Hybrid last year) back and the new LMP1-class R18 TDI e-Tron quattro is the car that just might do it.
Forget the fact that this car shares a name with the racers Audi rolled out for the past three Le Mans campaigns. It's entirely new - new monocoque, new engine, new hybrid system. It jumps up a class in terms of how much electrical energy it's allowed to use on a single lap (now up to six megajoules) and the 4.0-litre V6 TDI diesel engine is bigger than the old 3.7-litre unit, plus much more powerful. It can pump out a ridiculous 1,000hp and 850Nm of torque, yet it uses, says Audi, 49 per cent less fuel over a 24-hour race than the first R10 TDI diesel racer from 2006 (handy, as the ACO, Le Mans' governing body, has reduced the amount of fuel the LMP1 cars can fit into one tank). The hybrid system, which previously used a Williams Engineering-developed flywheel, now switches to more energy-dense batteries. As before, the diesel engine powers the rear wheels, while an electric motor powers the front ones, under hard acceleration.
"The flywheel accumulator definitely proved viable for the lower energy classes," explains Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Electrics, Electronics and Energy Systems at Audi Sport. "But due to the fact that we now have to process even more energy than before, a technology change suggested itself."
"The result is a race car that manages energy even more effectively than before. This is an objective we're pursuing for our road-going automobiles as well," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "This type of motorsport continues to set an example for automotive engineering. For Audi, production relevance has been a core topic of all racing programs for 35 years."
Underneath, there is a new pushrod-front, pullrod-rear suspension system, where both ends of the car are linked together to find better balance and allow the hybrid system to more easily recover power under braking. The whole car is lighter than before and the nose is slimmer to make it more slippery through the air. "The new proportions influence weight distribution and aerodynamics," explains Jörg Zander, Head of Engineering at Audi Sport. "Our most important objective was to improve airflow." At the front end, airflow has to be directed across the top of the race car and between the wheel wells, enter the cooling ducts through the body shell, and optimally approach the underfloor. "In this process, vortices must be avoided, as this costs energy."
The R18 even gets Audi's Matrix LED headlights with laser high-beams to better light the way when plunging into the darkness at the end of the Mulsanne Straight at 3am. Inside, there's an AMOLED digital screen which means the car can do away with a rear-view mirror.
It'll be a fascinating competition for both the Le Mans 24hrs and the World Endurance Championship crown this year. Audi will be hungry to win back its lost titles, Porsche will be keen to prove that 2015 wasn't a fluke and Toyota will want to prove that it's not just there to make up the numbers anymore. With Audi's rumoured Formula One shift left in the dust of the Volkswagen Group diesel scandal, we're all set for another vintage season of sports car racing.