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New for 2007It is not only the new design that distinguishes the further developed Audi R10 TDI from its successful predecessor that started its winning streak exactly one year ago and remains unbeaten since then. To ensure that it remains the car to beat in 2007, innumerable details were optimized on the LM P1 Prototype.
The Audi R10 TDI will certainly not have things all its own way its second year of competition. The 150 kilogram lighter LM P2 cars are allowed to race in the American Le Mans Series with more engine power than at Le Mans. At the same time, diesel powered cars must manage with a nine-liter smaller fuel tank in the future – as stipulated by the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest (ACO) regulations.
Reducing the fuel-cell volume from 90 to 81 liters – realized by mounting a partition in the tank – was not the only modification made to the latest R10 TDI model by Audi Sport over the winter. The complex electronic system associated with the V12 TDI engine was optimized together with partner Bosch. The majority of the other modification targeted an improvement in efficiency, consumption, durability and drivability. The maximum power is unchanged at around 650 hp, but the power curve was noticeably improved.
More than 1100 Newton metersThe heart of the Audi R10 TDI is a V12 TDI engine with a cubic capacity of 5.5 liters – the maximum permitted at Le Mans. Audi ventures into previously unexplored diesel-engine terrain with power exceeding 650 hp and torque of more than 1100 Newton meters from the V12 power plant. | |
The V12 TDI engine“This engine is the specifically most powerful diesel there is in the world and, up until now, the biggest challenge that Audi Sport has ever faced in its long history,” explains Ulrich Baretzky, Head of Engine Technology at Audi Sport. “There has never been anything remotely comparable. We started development with a clean sheet of paper.”
The V12 TDI used in the R10 is the first Audi diesel engine with an aluminum crank case. The cylinder-bank angle is 90 degrees. The V12 TDI has, like Audi production car engines, four valves per cylinder and twin overhead camshafts. The fuel induction is made by a modern “Common Rail System”. The injection pressure easily exceeds the 1600 bar achieved in production cars. The ignition pressures also reach values never previously seen in any Audi engine.
The engine’s power and the high torque are available to the driver practically from idling speed – a specialty of diesel technology, to which the Audi drivers must now become accustomed. The usable power band lies between 3000 and 5000 revs per minute.
| Main targetInside the V12 TDI, the extremely high pressures in particular create forces never seen before in a racing engine. However, the main target of the Audi technicians is to reach the reliability level of the R8, which never recorded a single engine failure in the 77 races it has contested to date. |
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Experience
Experience
