Audi R10: Monumental technology at Le Mans 2006 and beyond

AudiWorld has a great round-up of LeMans 2006 where Audi had a historical victory with the first diesel-powered race car ever. That's true Vorsprung!

So…Audi takes the checkered flag at the 74th running of the 24 hours of Le Mans race with a diesel powered race car. A diesel?!?! What? Why? How? The answer is simple. After literally dominating the Le Mans prototype class for the last half decade with the seemingly unstoppable FSI powered R8, Audi was looking for a new challenge. With each successful year, the restrictions imposed by the ACO (Le Mans race governing body) seemed to take more and more performance out of the R8 platform. By the end of the R8 campaign, the Audi drivers had been noted to say that driving the heavily restricted R8 was no longer fun. In 2005 trim, the output of the R8 was only about 520 hp. This is borderline competitive in the prototype class. In fact, Audi admitted to having problems overtaking GT class cars (which should be much slower) out on the track. The 2005 Audi team was forced to rely solely on the superior fuel consumption of the FSI engine and the proven reliability of the R8 to take the win. The R8 platform had reached the end of its competitiveness in Le Mans racing. It was time for something new.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi R10

Source: AudiWorld

Audi R10: Monumental technology at Le Mans 2006 and beyond

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