[boydkilsby]

Audi are entering Lemans 2006 with a Diesel powered engine. Does anyone have any more information, I think its around 5.5 litres V12 TDi Twin Turbo with 650 BHP and of 1100 Nm Torque

What do ya think?

 

[Geo]

I think that engine looks the dogs....

I reckon they wouldn't be doing this if they weren't sure it was the way forward.

After all the car it is replacing was pretty unbeatable so they'll want to stay at the top.

 

[boydkilsby]

I wonder if going to a Diesel allows them to run more miles before a pitstop or whether their tyres will still determine when they will stop?

 

[RiccsonTDI]

Pardon my ignorance, but will this be on TV at any stage? I don't have satelite.

 

[johnny99]

I think I see it on Eurosport every year. It's never on terrestrial channels.

John

 

[johnny99]

Pit stop' are usually regulated by fuel and not tyres at Le Mans. There maybe a few laps more they can run, but I can,t see it doing more than 2 more laps than the R8, possibly only one, which was very economical for an endurance racer.

The engine stats

V 12
5.5 Litre's
90 degree V angle
2 cams per cylinder head
4 valves per cylinder
Torque 1100 Nm +
Bhp 650 +
Fuel pressure 1800 Bar (26460 psi)
Boost 2.94 Bar (43.22 psi) with a 39.9 mm air restrictor

This engine has an all aluminium block for light weight. The power band is between 3000 to 5000 rpm. The biggest problem Audi had was making the tramsmission last with so much torque. The combustion chamber is in the piston and does not have it in the cylinder head like the car ran by Zytek last year.

The injection system inject's in 3 stages.
The first stage injects a microscopic amount well before TDC. As the piston nears TDC the main injection happens and combustion takes place. Then as the cylinder goes down the bore, and cylinder pressure drops off, another small amount of fuel is injected. It's this third phase that assists in producing the massive torque figures.

This last injection phase needs to be microscopic, as too much will create black smoke (unburned diesel) which is an instant black flag, and out of the race. This rule was brought in by the ACO to limit over fuelling.

John

 

[Dave Red]

From Autosport:

Capello goes even faster with R10

Rinaldo CapelloThe new diesel-powered Audi R10 again proved just how fast it is going to be at the Sebring 12 Hours in March, after Rinaldo Capello recorded a lap 0.7 seconds inside the track's qualifying record in the final day of American Le Mans Series testing.

With his best time of 1:47.308, Capello beat the 2002 track record, and was less than a second slower than the fastest laptime of the car's successful predecessor, the R8, set during tyre testing last winter.

Frank Biela achieved a personal best of 1:48.284 after completing a different test programme.

The time was the fastest set at the Sebring track during the three days of pre-season ALMS testing.

The R10 did provide some minor problems to overcome during the three-day test session.

On Monday, the team made modifications to the suspension. On Tuesday both Audi's remained in the pits in the afternoon to work out why Capello had sustained a puncture. A damaged electronic cable had cost Biela almost the entire morning session.

On the final day however, the car complete 262 two laps.

 

[johnny99]

243 laps more than McLaren then.

John