Audi R10 will be presented tomorrow

[Lorry]

Are Audi that confident that it will run straight from the box for 24hrs and win?

My guess would be   YES    - boring

I prefer the sound of V8s, but at 5000 rpm a V12 could be good.

[Fax]

I think at 5000 rpm with twin turbos muffling the exhaust its barely going to make a sound at all.  You'll get more noise from the tires than the engine.  Like I said, technically its an interesting concept, and challenge and its still a hundred times better than Spec 1..er, huh F1.
But this is going to be one boring, souless device.
Fax

[Lorry]

and there's the particulate filters in the exhaust.  It'll sound like my generator, with even less smoke.  As you say soulless.

Did you see the A1GP.  Overtaking (and swapping paint) has returned

[Nordic]

The program in 06 is going to limited to Sebring and Le Mans. Other races may be added later but not a complete program in either the ALMs or LMEs

Ian Dawson's Taurus Lola is back so the Audi won't be the
only oil burner on the grid in 06. Sebring has been confrimed for them as the money is coming from a US Bio Deisel company.

Don't forget Peugeot will also be around somtime late 06 with there deisel car as well. 07 Le mans is going to be a very strange sounding race.

[Nordic]

But this is going to be one boring, souless device.
Fax

Sad but true, most of the new cars are going to be the same I think.

However this car may not be the full story, there are strong rumours of a different car the R12 with a petrol V8 engine designed for the ALMs waiting in the wings.

Audi has a histroy of hedging bets, the R8C and the R8R, different concepts, both good.

Weather or not it lights your fire design wise, its sure to generate loads of press coverage which in turn should increase the sponsor pool that the other smaller teams can feed off.

[nopanic - neil]

See following link - it was on google news section

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=207111&FS=ALMS-LEMANS

[smokie]

Some more from Audi here http://tinyurl.com/d7vga

[hgb]

I have to agree there. Let's wait and see until other manufacturers step in... and they will for sure.  Although this might be a heartless car (and I have to agree there too, no noise, no fire, no glowing. Oh dear, where are we heading to... a political correct LMES ?) which might change the way we will perceive LM there's still one credit for Audi though: They stuck to LM as a manufacturer for the last couple of years and still invest big money. They seem to be first with diseasel technology, so let them have the fruits this year (ehm no, probably next). I very much hope some of the other big manufacurers got the message today and step in. Well done still, Audi. 

[Fax]

Agreed, I was perhaps being a bit harsh calling it souless, just that the R8 has never made me warm & fuzzy all over, its just sort of cold, clinical & efficient.  Full kudos to Audi for not taking the conventional route and going in a different direction, they could've played it safe and just built a better R8.  Also kudos to the ACO and IMSA for allowing different ideas like this within their tech regs.  This is one of the reasons I love sportscar racing in the first place, if I want to watch spec racing I'll watch F1 where they've got a restriction on everything right down to the brolly girls knickers.
Fax

[jpchenet]

Interesting to see that they'll be giving the R10 to Champion straight away. I thought they may have run it as a works team initially.

[chop456]

Interesting to see that they'll be giving the R10 to Champion straight away. I thought they may have run it as a works team initially.

the word on the street is that one Joest R10 will be in Champion colors for Sebring, then back to Europe for Le Mans prep.  Champion won't get their own mule until sometime after June (at the earliest).  Take this with a grain of salt.  Sounds unlikely to me.

I must admit I'm a little dissapointed with the reaction to this car.  In my opinion, it could be a barrier-smasher and a wake-up call for those who still believe that diesel is what it was 30 years ago.  (Americans, mostly).  It's a bold step for VWAG and I applaud them for it.  Audi's in it to win it and I doubt if the engine and exhaust notes played important roles in their decision-making process.  I, for one, am greatly excited by this news and will be cheering them on louder than anyone.

Of course, I'm a huge diesel geek, so for what it's worth... 

[Werner]

Interesting to see that they'll be giving the R10 to Champion straight away. I thought they may have run it as a works team initially.

Audi has no race team (mechanics, trucks, all the infrastructure and setup you need on a race weekend) of it's own, even when acting as a works team in Le Mans, it was actually the Reinhold Joest Team which was contracted to do the job and Audi hired the drivers and filled up the team with engineers, technicians and of course PR people. I think letting the new car race under the "Champion" flag will be pretty much the same, many people from Ingolstadt will be on site in Sebring, so not much difference to an official "works" team

[Fax]

Hi Chop,
I'm kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum, I hope they fall on their faces.  Domination by any one manufacturer is never good for the health of a racing series, the old Can-Am series proved that.  After years of watching R8's run off with races, I'm ready for a change.  If you go to ALMS races, you notice how few spectators you actually see in Audi Sport gear, the only ones I ever see are those geeks who go running around on the track before & after a race waving those annoying little Audi Sport flags.  One gets the impression rightly or wrongly that they go racing for PR and as an engineering excerise, without any real passion for it.  Sort of a "lets keep throwing money at it until vee dominate" philosophy that most others teams can't adopt.  I'll cheer for Rob Dyson Racing to kick their asses because they go racing for all the right reasons.
Fax

[Nordic]

Not sure I want them to fall on there faces, but rather hope that Dyson and the others like Zytek and Pesca can raise there game to the Audi/Joest/Champion combos. Hopefully the money can be found by these other teams to do so.

Both Joest and Champion deserve to be at the front of any field and there can be no doubting there commitment to the sport.

My main gripe with the Audi way, is the restricted way the cars are allocated and run. I think it would be better if there are more available and the team could tinker with them in the same way the 962's where.

Clearly this may lead to hordes of them, but in the 80's it did not put others off from trying to come up with alternatives to the 962.

[Fax]

Hi Nordic,
I don't necessarily think its a question of Zytek or Dyson raising their game as much as it is a case of how much can they afford to spend.
Its like a small market baseball team competing with a team from New York or Chicago.  Audi can simply out-spend the little guy.
Roger Penske once said that money = speed, how fast do you want to go?
Fax