[chernaudi]

And no turbocharged gasoline efforts gave a sustained serious shot to the R10 either--the Dyson effort with the AER 3.6 TT V8 had some serious potential, but was never fully developed, as it was ditched when the went into LMP2 with the RS Spyder.

I'd argue that forced induction engines--gas or diesel--have had a huge advantage since the Audi R8 came out in 2000. This is pretty much an established fact because of the torque that a turbo engine can make and the fuel economy that they can also bring to bear, and that the only cars that were able to run with the R8 on a consistant basis were the Panoz (big V8 engine) and the ex-LMP675 Dyson Lolas (lighter weight and turbo engine).

On the subject of the R18, I'm more interested in if having a VTG turbo(s), and if the new 908 has them or not. And if the new 908 doesn't have them, what advantages could Audi gain with a VTG, aside from having virtually no turbo lag and instant response, or if there's any advantage at all.

And to close the subject of KERS, Audi and Peugeot have chosen not to run KERS as they don't need or want the distraction of working with added parts on the car that aren't proven yet. Peugeot even scrapped plans to run the 908 H4 at the test weekend because the car simply wasn't ready yet, and even though Peugeot said that they wanted to start testing after Sebring, I feel that LM and the ILMC has taken precidence and they don't need an extra program to take any resources away from what they want to do this year.

Both cars were designed with KERS in mind, but they don't want the extra complexity to distract Audi or Peugeot from Le Mans, as both cars are still fairly new and not 100% proven in a 24 hour race.

If the R18 and 908 do well in their endurance test programs before LM and at LM, then we might see them work on KERS later this year to prepare for 2012. But I doubt that the hybrid 908 will race before year's end, and that Audi will do much with KERS until after the end of the ILMC season as well.