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Is it me, or does Audi have a huge stockpile of body panels just for the noses of the R18s? I've been examining HQ photos of the LM and sprint noses, and it seems that most, if not all, the body panels there are a modular design that are built up around the actual headlight bins, front diffuser, and nosebox. There are tons of parting lines that show were the body panels attach, and the sprint nose has head light lenses that are flush fitting over the headlight bins, vs the LM variant where the lenses are held in front of the bins.
Also, the "foot" where the front fenders and dive planes attach seems to be retracted compared to the LM noses.
I'm wondering how modular the R18's nose is and if it's built up around the concept of modular parts that can be used to build up different areo specs around a basic nosebox, front diffuser and even headlight bins. Probably one advantage of being a factory team and an attempt to optimize packages aside from tacking on dive planes and gurneys and "dirtying" up the cars. Toyota seems to have opted for similar solutions.
And of course, it seems that the ACO might be "cost capping" LMP1s to an extent under the '14 rules to revert back to the pre-2011 regime of using dive planes and gurneys to add downforce to cut down on cost. After all, dive planes and gurneys--small pieces of plastic and carbon--is a lot cheaper than having stock piles of interchangeable body parts to build up a new areo spec.
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