• Only seven weeks before the 24 Hours of Le Mans• Company’s lightweight technology expertise is visible• Audi R18 TDI with innovative detail design solutions
Lightweight design expertise expressed visually: This is the principle under which Audi enters the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans this year.
The three Audi R18 TDI cars, which join the grid for the French endurance classicon June 11/12 and which make their first public appearance over the Easterweekend at the Le Mans test day, perfectly embodies – also visually – Audi’s coreexpertise in lightweight technology.
The livery of the three Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 TDI cars is dominated bypuristic carbon fiber. The car of last year’s Le Mans winners carrying start number“1” even runs in the characteristic black of the extremely light and, at the sametime, high-strength material, which also plays an increasingly important role in thedevelopment of new production cars.
“Carbon fiber is ideally suited for lightweight design and construction,” explainsHead of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We have deliberately made thismaterial and the ultra lightweight technology visual for Le Mans. Lightweight designhas occupied us for many years in motorsport. Everything that we have learnt overthe years and especially about lightweight design and construction duringdevelopment of the R18 TDI will also be available for our customers in the future –either in the form of greater performance or in the shape of low fuel consumptionand lower emissions.”
The R18 TDI is a particularly authentic ambassador for the company’s lightweighttechnology which will be bundled by the term ‘ultra’ in the future. “Lightweightdesign is a very important factor at Le Mans because a light car is also always a moreefficient car,” says Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. This year, it is of even greater significance
since the regulations stipulate smaller engines producing less power – for the AudiR18 TDI this means over 540 hp (397 kW).
Although there is a minimum weight of 900 kilograms for LMP1 cars at Le Mans, thetarget is to produce a car weighing significantly less than this limit in order tooptimize the weight distribution with the help of ballast and to lower the center ofgravity as much as possible.
“With the R18 TDI every component was optimized logically with regard to weight,”stresses Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at Audi Sport. “The same applied tothe chassis and the bodywork, the gearbox and the engine. We scoured the car forevery superfluous gram.”
The carbon monocoque produced in a single-piece, for which a highly complexmanufacturing process was developed and which is an impressive proof of thecompany’s lightweight design expertise, is not only revolutionary for a Le Manssports car. The same applies for the bodywork which was lightened by 40 kilogramsbetween the first and second version. “Such a consequent lightweight design is ahigh technical challenge,” says Christopher Reinke, Technical Project Leader at AudiSport.
The V6 TDI engine in the R18 TDI is about 25 percent lighter than the V10 TDIengine in its predecessor. “On one hand through downsizing, but also to a certainextent because we explored completely new directions and chose an unusual engineconcept,” explains Ulrich Baretzky, Head of Engine Development at Audi Sport.The new six-speed gearbox, which has a high amount of carbon-fiber compositematerial, and the complete LED headlights also help to save weight. It was alsopossible to omit the electric cooling of the light-emitting diodes in the headlightscommonly found in production cars. Because the gearshift is no longer activatedpneumatically but rather electrically, the R18 TDI requires no more pneumaticsystem. Optimized airflow through the cockpit should make air-conditioningredundant.
“The Audi R18 TDI is equipped with many innovative solutions,” says Head of AudiMotorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich proudly. “It was built for regulations specificallytargeting future technologies – and with the background enabling thesetechnologies to be introduced into road going cars in the future. This is what makessport prototypes so interesting for Audi. That we will now see the first impact ofAudi ultra lightweight technology at Le Mans demonstrates just how motorsportand production line development go hand in hand at Audi. I’m convinced that ultrawill be mentioned in one breath with terms like quattro or TDI in a few years.”
The Audi Group sold around 1,092,400 cars of the Audi brand in 2010. The Company posted revenue of€35.4 billion and an operating profit of €3.3 billion in 2009. Audi produces vehicles in Ingolstadt andNeckarsulm (Germany), Gyor (Hungary), Changchun (China) and Brussels (Belgium). Aurangabad in Indiasaw the start of CKD production of the Audi A6 at the end of 2007, of the Audi A4 in early October 2008and of the Audi Q5 in July 2010. Production of the new Audi A1 has been running at the Brussels plantsince May 2010. The Company is active in more than 100 markets worldwide. AUDI AG’s wholly ownedsubsidiaries include AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., Automobili Lamborghini Holding S.p.A. in Sant’AgataBolognese (Italy) and quattro GmbH in Neckarsulm. Audi currently employs around 60,000 peopleworldwide, including around 46,600 in Germany. Between 2011 and 2015 the brand with the four ringsis planning to invest around €11 billion, mainly in new products, in order to sustain the Company’stechnological lead embodied in its “Vorsprung durch Technik” slogan. By 2015, Audi plans to increase thenumber of models in its portfolio to 42. AUDI AG will present the full results for the 2010 fiscal year atits Annual Press Conference on March 8, 2011.
Audi has long been fulfilling its social responsibility on many levels – with the aim of making the futureworth living for generations to come. The basis for Audi’s lasting success is therefore formed byenvironmental protection, the conservation of resources, international competitiveness and a forwardlookinghuman resources policy. One example of AUDI AG’s commitment to environmental issues is theAudi Environmental Foundation.
