The Race Ends wIth an Audi Diesel Victory

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In the final hours of the 74th running of the 24 Heures du Mans, there were no more surprises - unless one counts the unlikely eventuality of the world's premier endurance race being won by a diesel-engined sports car. Unlikely as it may seem - and it would have been deemed impossible until recently - diesel is not just economical, not merely practical, beyond unexpectedly torquey, it is now a type of engine with a Le Mans win to its name.

Even before the victory of the No.8 Audi Sport Team Joest R10, in the capable, mature hands of Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, and the third place of its sister No.7 car driven by Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, the car was changing the face of racing. Peugeot announced it will contest the great race next year with its own V12 diesel, with much the same specifications as Audi's TDI.

TempestSabre

Theres been suggestions of sand bagging which detracts a little bit from it. Still those Audi's are amazing. Love Le Mans, its a great event.

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TempestSabre wrote:

Theres been suggestions of sand bagging which detracts a little bit from it. Still those Audi's are amazing. Love Le Mans, its a great event.

haven't heard.... tell more.

dubtom

Poor spectators, i'd imagine it was impossible to see anything with all that black smoke:D

What kind of speeds where they reaching does anyone know, hard to imagine a diesel doing 180 mph or so. Fair play to audi.

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dubtom wrote:

Poor spectators, i'd imagine it was impossible to see anything with all that black smoke:D

What kind of speeds where they reaching does anyone know, hard to imagine a diesel doing 180 mph or so. Fair play to audi.

apparently a faster time that the petrol

Alun

5.5 litre V12, 650bhp, god knows how much torque ... can't see why it shouldn't top 180mph, personally!

I seem to remember that they were getting up to 320km/h plus (200mph) on the Mulsanne straight.

peasant

In fairness ...it isn't that new or astonishing. A diesel engined car was already doing 200 mph in 1978 !!

See here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=103&i=6730

TempestSabre

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haven't heard.... tell more.

Sand bagging is were you run slower in practise and qualifying, and even in previous races, to disguise the real performance of your car. New to me, only heard it on the TV during the race.

TempestSabre

Alun wrote:

5.5 litre V12, 650bhp, god knows how much torque ... can't see why it shouldn't top 180mph, personally!

I seem to remember that they were getting up to 320km/h plus (200mph) on the Mulsanne straight.

I can't find stats, but the they changed the straight design over the years. At one point cars where doing 230mph on it. http://www.maisonblanche.co.uk/circuits.html Whats really impressive is the acceleration and braking of these cars.

demac

The Audi R10 diesel's also set a record in that they completed more laps than any other car including their older petrol R8 in the 24 hours in the previous years.

Amazing stuff. Next year Peugeot will bring their V12 Diesel to Le Mans.

The Shell engineer said that the diesel they run on is no based on black crude oil liek road diesel but is based on "natural gas" ??? (Don't ask) It is a clear liquid and very eco friendly.

el tel

The Audis also posted the fastest lap times too - 3:31.211
as well as the distance record (380 laps).

Alun

TempestSabre wrote:

I can't find stats, but the they changed the straight design over the years. At one point cars where doing 230mph on it. http://www.maisonblanche.co.uk/circuits.html Whats really impressive is the acceleration and braking of these cars.

Yes, it's effectively three straights now, split up by two small chicanes. I'd like to see what kinds of top speeds they could achieve now if it was restored to it's former glory.

You can see here how the track has evolved over the years.

zilog_jones

demac wrote:

The Shell engineer said that the diesel they run on is no based on black crude oil liek road diesel but is based on "natural gas" ??? (Don't ask) It is a clear liquid and very eco friendly.

Some form of LPG maybe, but does that even run on diesel engines?