Auto & Car Blog

Filed under: Motorsports, Audi

The Audi R10 TDI is dead. Long live the R15. That’s the moniker given to the next-generation Le Mans prototype set to wear the interlocking rings. The car will make its race debut in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and by the time the 24 Hours of Le Mans rolls around in June, Audi will have three of the cars ready to defend the trophy won by the R10 earlier this year. Details on the new car are very limited at the moment. All that’s known is that it’ll have a smaller, lighter, more efficient TDI motor, will once again be a roadster, and is a more significant change than Audi undertook when it went from the R8 to the R10.

The car will be publicly revealed closer to the Sebring race. According to the ALMS website, Audi Motorsport honcho Wolfgang Ullrich was quoted as saying, “It was clear to us that we must develop a new car if we wanted to continue to be successful in Le Mans.” We read that as code for, “Those Peugeots were f**king fast this year. Here’s our answer.” By the time the cars hit the grid at Circuit de la Sarthe, the hype’s going to be at a fever pitch. Bring it. Thanks to Ashutosh for the tip!

[Source: ALMS]

Audi R15 TDI to debut at Sebring in March, attack Le Mans in June originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Sports/GTs, Aston Martin, Chevrolet

GT1-class racing is one of the most hotly contested in Europe, with cars like the Aston Martin DBR9 and Maserati MC12 competing among others for top honors in the Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship. Here in the American Le Mans Series, however, officials are considering the possibility that they’ll have to shut down the class altogether.

This season, the Corvettes have had the category all to themselves, which has made the class uninteresting, with predictable outcomes. Bell Motorsports announced their intention to run Aston Martins to compete with the Corvettes for GT1 victory, but that may be another case of too little too late. Itching for a good fight, GM is reportedly dropping down to the paradoxically more competitive GT2 series. Not anxious to run another season of an empty GT1 roster, ALMS could very well cut the class out altogether.

[Source: AutoWeek]

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Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, Audi, Legislation and Policy, Peugeot

It seems that Audi and Peugeot’s winning ways have not gone unnoticed by the powers-that-be in the assorted racing series in which they compete. Whenever a design does well in racing, you can count on a few things happening, usually either other teams begin using that particular technology, rule modifications are made to minimize its advantage or it gets banned entirely. This seems to be exactly what is taking place with the turbo diesel engines now being used in the Le Mans racing series. The Automobile Club de l’Quest, the sanctioning body of the series, will mandate smaller air-restrictor size and reduced turbo pressure for the hugely powerful oil-burners.

Other changes will be made across all teams and cars, regardless of fuel type, including smaller rear wings, one tire gun in the pits and no tire heaters. These latter modifications are supposed to make the cars a bit slower and make them cheaper to operate. Perhaps Peugeot had an idea that changes might be made when it developed its new hybrid racer. As technology marches on, so must the rules … and the teams’ attempts to stay one step ahead.

[Source: Autosport]

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Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, Peugeot

In the current world of big time international endurance racing, two cars stand head and shoulders above the rest, the Audi R10 TDI and the Peugeot 908 HDi. Put these two Le Mans Prototype class 1 cars, both powered by 5.5L turbo diesel V12s, on a wide open track and nothing can run with them. With Formula 1 introducing hybrid kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) in 2009 and the American Le Mans Series introducing a Green Challenge award, Peugeot has decided to take the next step with its program. The French manufacturer is using the last race of the 2008 Le Mans Series at Sliverstone to unveil a demonstrator called the 908 HY which may foreshadow the next generation of its Le Mans challenger. The 908 HY adds a 60 kW electric motor, a set of lithium ion battery packs and corresponding power electronics. The diesel hybrid system will allow the car to operate in electric-only mode in the pits, and get a power boost on the track thanks to recaptured kinetic energy. The current demonstrator has a net weight gain of 45 kg (99 lbs) compared to the standard car. Whether Peugeot runs a car based on this powertrain depends on the ACO, the organization that sets the rules for Le Mans. Corsa Motorsports recently announced its plans to compete in the American Le Mans Series beginning next month with an E10 fueled hybrid electric racer.

[Source: Peugeot]

Continue reading Peugeot shows new 908 HY diesel-hybrid Le Mans racer!

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Filed under: Motorsports, Time Warp, Sports/GTs, Ferrari

The Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta is one of the most sought-after collector’s cars of all time. It was the first true Ferrari; only 25 of them were built and only a handful remain in existence - these cars were raced, and raced hard. It was an especially big deal to classic automobile aficionados and Ferrari historians when s/n 0052 M was found after nearly fifty years in obscurity, stored by a collector in Arizona.

As exciting as it was to find a 166, nobody had any idea just how unique this car was until Ferrari expert Marcel Massini got it back to his workshop. Massini brokered the purchase of the car from the late owner’s estate after his passing, and was commissioned for a full mechanical rebuild. The exterior was to be left as-is in reverence to the car’s extensive racing history, but when Massini started disassembling the engine he found the car was actually fitted with a two-liter Formula 2-spec competition engine, with a gear-driven camshaft instead of the conventional chain drive. When the numbers were found to match, it became apparent that this was a factory prototype, built that way from the start, and not retrofitted somewhere down the line.

166 MM Touring Barchetta Speciale s/n 0052 M has a deep racing history, having competed at Le Mans, the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and took the chequered flag at the 12 Hours of Paris. The restored machine, which appeared on the September/October ‘06 cover of Cavallino Magazine, re-emerged to the public at the 2007 Cavalinno Classic, and the guys at Ultimatecarpage.com were there to snap some photos. Check it out.

[Source: Ultimatecarpage.com]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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