Audi LMP1 Discussion

[CTD]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

In http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/the-ra...-audi_638.html Ralf Juttner explains the process of converting the #2 to an e-tron quattro on site. The biggest problem was putting the e-tron livery on the cars because of the extremely hot temperature in Bahrain

I love when the big teams have issues with the little things - Make them seem so human

[TF110]

In other words, the conversion to hybrid wasn't the hard part! lol, nicely played Audi.

[Tim the Grey]

Masters of PR, indeed!

[gwyllion]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...-wec-notebook/ has some more information about the #2 hybridization.

Audi’s switch to a second e-tron quattro has resulted in the build of a new car on-site in Bahrain instead of converting its R18 ultra to a hybrid-powered prototype. The team began assembly of the new No. 2 car, based around the tub of a test car, on Monday, with work finishing just over 24 hours later.

...

Juttner said there was no option to fly in an existing e-tron quattro due to its parallel test program that currently utilizes two cars.

[Dead-Eye]

This is getting confusing. Can't they just tell us the chassis numbers and let us work it out ourselves?

[gwyllion]

H is back in action.

Howden ‘H’ Haynes engineers a car for the first time since Le Mans this year when he was in charge of the #4 R18 Ultra. It’s his first time back with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen since Sebring and his first time engineering a hybrid. #2’s regular race engineer Kyle Wilson-Clarke is best man at a wedding this weekend.

source: http://www.dailysportscar.com/viewAr...537439F563C57F

[gwyllion]

We know that Audi intends to participate in Sebring 2013 as a way to say farewell to the ALMS (and of course to prepare the 2013 WEC season). See http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121004/alms/121009920

According http://twitter.com/johndagys/status/257087169997459456 they might even enter the 2013 car.

Originally Posted by @johndagys

@specutainment it would be final Sebring for P1 cars.. Ullrich indicated to me they might even run the 2013 car in the race!

[gwyllion]

Antonio Pannullo made a drawing of the 2012 R18 pullrod rear suspension:


He based his drawing on this picture on http://www.gurneyflap.com/GURNEY2/12fos.html:

[CTD]

I Haven't spotted this in here yet, so here it goes:

Got it from Mulsannes Corners Facebook Group, originally posted by "Alex Ripstein"
It can get even larger when viewed from original link:
http://i.imgur.com/D1LpW.jpg

[Creep89]

Oh dear.. Sitting in this position for a triple stint and my back would be pretty much broken.

[skeeskirrt]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Antonio Pannullo made a drawing of the 2012 R18 pullrod rear suspension:


He based his drawing on this picture on http://www.gurneyflap.com/GURNEY2/12fos.html:

It is amazing to see how far forward the upper control arm is compared to the axle centerline.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

We know that Audi intends to participate in Sebring 2013 as a way to say farewell to the ALMS (and of course to prepare the 2013 WEC season). See http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121004/alms/121009920

According http://twitter.com/johndagys/status/257087169997459456 they might even enter the 2013 car.

A longer article by John Dagys: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...-sebring-2013/

[Simmi]

New Audi promo video celebrating their Le Mans victory this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=lewwGOP5Hco

Fair play to them for still making it exciting by repeatedly sticking it in the wall after the Toyotas had bowed out.

[gwyllion]

That video is not new. It was up online on audi.tv between Silverstone and Sao Paulo.

I do not understand why it appeared on youtube only yesterday.

[Tim the Grey]

Cutaway R18, and rear end uncovered, and STILL no answer as to what those silver tubes were that ran into the bellhousing from the cockpit area???

[gwyllion]

In the Porsche LMP1 thread knighty explained that Ulrich Baretzky gave a lecture in London.

On the Midweek Motorsport Listeners Collective forum someone posted some of his most interesting comments: http://radiolemans.0157.org/content/...ngines-le-mans

Some facts about the R18 engine:

- The variable geometry turbo used on the R18 (a different and bigger design to the twin turbos used in the R10) does not feed air into the engine banks via a plenum, it has two direct outlets, one on each side to each bank.

- Exhaust gas temperatures currently up to 1050 C would definitely come down for the 2014 engine to improve efficiency.

- One of the design principles is that they try not to use exotic materials in the engine to keep costs down and keep it relevant to road car application.

- Fuel rail pressures have increased with each diesel model - 2000 bar/ 2400 bar/ 2500 bar and would likely hit 3000 bar in 2014.

- The DPF(s) have never needed regeneration time due to the amount of time spent on full throttle i.e temp goes up and then sudden cooling when the throttle is reduced in braking zones. The effect of the oxygen in the exhaust gas in this phase causes an almost instant regen.

- DPF backpressure with the DOW sourced ceramic unit is less than 200 millibars.

- Advancements in the air intake system, even with restrictor size limits in place, have led to up to an extra 250rpm from the R18.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Cutaway R18, and rear end uncovered, and STILL no answer as to what those silver tubes were that ran into the bellhousing from the cockpit area???

Ralf Juttner gave an explanation on http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsmay11.html

Audi's Ralf Juttner tells us that the R18 is using "waste air" to cool items in the engine bay.

The 2012 car the tubes are gone and the air drawn from the cockpit exists from the engine cover directly.

[Tim the Grey]

Ah. Right. So much for the conspiracy theorists...

[chernaudi]

Right now, I'm wondering why Audi are about the only LMP1 team to not have given in to the epidemic of the "splitter feet" extensions attached to the outboard sections of the front diffuser? Almost all the Wirth developed cars (the Acura/Honda HPD family of LMPs) have them, the Toyota TS030 has them, and even the Lola LMP1 and -2 cars have them, as well as the Oreca LMP2s.

From what I've read on Mulsanne's Corner, they seem to be a pretty profitable tuning/aero device, but Audi and Peugeot (who aren't around anymore) don't seem to have done much with them.

This does go, I think, in hand with the rumors that Audi, who have tested a rear wing endplate deal similar to Toyota, might make some fairly major changes to the nose of the '13 R18 to balance out the aero changes made at the rear.

It's also worth noting that the R18's overall areo package, which seemed cutting edged in 2011, is now basically nothing special, and that privateer cars have more new aero bits on them than the R18. I think that the stale aero is an issue for Audi, and may be why they're not doing a ton of development (in public, at least) on the 2012 cars--they're working on the '13 cars. What we'll see with them, we won't see until at least November when Audi announce their '13 motorsports programs, and probably later with the next gen R18, which, aero and cosmetic wise, might be a major change I'm guessing. Remember, I'm just guessing, but if they run the wide endplates, they're gonna have to make changes to the front to make the whole aero package work.

Hopefully, that'll also cure, along with changes to the tires themselves, the wear issues that they've had, especially considering how easy the '11 R18s were on their tires, especially at LM.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Right now, I'm wondering why Audi are about the only LMP1 team to not have given in to the epidemic of the "splitter feet" extensions attached to the outboard sections of the front diffuser?

Because Audi froze the specification of car early in the year. With the busy WEC schedule and the challenging logistics involved, Audi did not have to time to introduce new components (e.g., Toyota's rear wing loop hole) or to do any extensive testing after Le Mans.

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Hopefully, that'll also cure, along with changes to the tires themselves, the wear issues that they've had, especially considering how easy the '11 R18s were on their tires, especially at LM.

You seem to forget that Peugeot won all the ILMC rounds except Le Mans in 2011. Audi often lost the race because of tyre related issues.

6 hours of Spa 2011:

His team-mate Benoît Tréluyer had to make an unscheduled stop after picking up an unsually large piece of rubber on his front left-hand tire. Shortly afterward the same phenomenon occurred again, causing the Frenchman to slide into the gravel trap and losing two laps. Marcel Fässler subsequently complained about a car that was too demanding to drive – he, too, was struggling with pick-up.
...
Dindo Capello (Audi R18 TDI #3): “It was a difficult race for me. On my first stint I was really struggling with the car. The front didn’t have any bite at all. I had the feeling that there was way too little downforce or a lot of pick-up on the front tires. It was strange that the car was suddenly feeling normal again toward the end of my second stint. That was a bit confusing.”
...
André Lotterer (Audi R18 TDI #2): “The start was great. I had a good lead. Things were beginning to get more difficult when the tires started becoming more slippery. That allowed the others to come closer again.

6 hours of Zhuhai 2011:

Timo Bernhard and Marcel Fässler were running at the front of the field for a long time. However, toward the race’s midpoint the Audi R18 TDI designated as car number “1” lost too much time since the tires started degrading much more heavily than expected during the second stint.
...
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “The season finale of the ILMC was like the previous races of the season: It started really well and in the beginning we had the impression that we were quicker than our competitors. That changed after about two hours though. At the end of the second stint we lost a lot of time but our strategy had paid off up to that point. The Peugeot cars though apparently benefited from the increasing amount of pickup on the track. In these conditions they weren’t struggling quite as much with degrading tires as we were.

[gwyllion]

Michelin is organizing their traditional winter development test at Aragon. Audi is attending, but strangly Toyota is not.

Some teams will have little time to catch their breath after their return since their winter test programmes will begin almost as soon as they get back to Europe. Honda Performance Development (HPD), for example, has chosen Strakka Racing to represent it at the mid-November session organised by Michelin at Aragon, Spain. That will give the British team just one week to rebuild its HPD-ARX03a following its return from China. Audi, Porsche and Ferrari will also attend the Spanish test.

source: http://lemanslive.com/Lemanslive/New...300-000-tonnes

[TF110]

Maybe they'll test on their own schedule/track?

[chernaudi]

Could that lack of development also be causing the tire issues? That also seems to be running head on to what John Dagys has mentioned about the Audi test program (why an already completed e-tron quattro wasn't sent to Bahrain, because Audi is using one or two of them for testing).

It seems that Audi after LM just stopped development of the 2012 R18 in favor of doing work for the 2013 car. Of course, that hasn't helped them against Toyota who have continued at least some work on the TS030 at least until after Silverstone as far as the aero package. But then again, Audi did that in 2011, too, and it cost them against Peugeot, and it seems that Audi have a "win LM at all cost" mentality, even if it cost them race wins elsewhere and championships. Or at least it's seemed that way since they pulled out of the ALMS.

[gwyllion]

Traditionally Michelin uses these winter tests to evaluate tyre developments for next year.

Each year, Michelin organises test sessions with its partners as part of its preparations for the following season.
This year saw Michelin invite its endurance racing partner teams to Aragon Motorland in the south of Spain for three days of intensive testing. The programme is focused on working on evolution-spec slicks for 2011.

source: Michelin's partners testing at Aragon (13/10/2010)

This week, MICHELIN and a number of its partners were at Aragon-Motorland, Spain, to evaluate new solutions for 2012. Audi, Porsche and Ferrari all attended this session which was given over to slick tyres.

source: MICHELIN go testing in Spain (07/10/2011)

In that past, Peugeot did not join these tests either. Remember that Audi and Peugeot received different tyres from Michelin. This year Toyota is using the Peugeot tyres, but next year they will get a tyre that is more suited for the TS030.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

It seems that Audi after LM just stopped development of the 2012 R18 in favor of doing work for the 2013 car. Of course, that hasn't helped them against Toyota who have continued at least some work on the TS030 at least until after Silverstone as far as the aero package.

Toyota did not do any substantial development on the car after Le Mans, except for the high downforce aero. Nor did they do any track testing, except for the shakedown of new aero package.