For the first time the history of the interworld, a race car is going to be powered by a Diesel engine. An engine technology that is seen as noisy, backward, smelly and slow is being repackaged as the next big thing by the company that first invented TDi technology. Hell yeah. There's been a couple of reasons behind this.1) Diesel tech has improved as fast as international communication has since the 1900's.
2) Audi is the leader in diesel engines having invented the TDi engine as mentioned earlier
3)Because ALMS rules, mirroring those at Le Mans, made the R8 obsolete last year, so regardless of power plant, Audi had to build a new car. As for the diesel, Le Mans rules for 2006 and beyond favor the engine.
4) Diesels are significantly more economical that petrol engines requiring lower rpm to reach full power, and this plays a big role in the lemans marathon race.
5) Tyre smoking, gearbox shredding, buckeloads of torque.
As one journalist who experienced the monster said, "Like a poorly dubbed Japanese monster movie, the sound just doesn't sync with what you're seeing. The brand-new Audi R10 racecar streaks by, and instead of the urgent exhaust note of the now retired R8, the R10 just sounds…odd. A low, but authoritative, rumble, not unpleasant at all. And certainly not what we were expecting. No smoke, no smell."
In fact the diesel is quieter by a factor of two than the petrol engine it replaces.
Just imagining a diesel engine revving up to race car rpm speeds is mindblowing but Audi went all out and made a 733t video featuring the builiding and designing of the car and also featuring the mighty engine with 12 butterflies firing on full throttle!
This is one of the most well made videos i have seen. There is a sense of natural progression of design, testing and building. The soundtrack beautifully synchronizes to the video with one of the best soundtracks i have heard in a while, a fucking 650hp diesel V12 revving up and you can hear the sweet turbo whine kicking in as the turbos spool up. The video goes through the complete assemby of the engine. The white stallion on the treadmill reminiscent of the origin of the term horsepower, with the graphs of the engine on the dyno, the valves kicking in and out to the sound of the music, the gear box and clutches being put together, you can actually see a quick scene with four valves of a cylinder injecting fuel at more than 1600 bar being ignited! Carbon ceramic brakes and exhaust manifold heating up to near melting temperature. The extremely complex car finally gets put together, fueled up and leaves the pit garage. Hottest video of the year. period.
If you can find the sound track to this video, i want it.
"The engine’s power and the high torque are available to the driver practically from idling speed – a speciality of diesel technology, to which the Audi drivers must now become accustomed. The usable power band lies between 3000 and 5000 revs per minute."
Thats right, no more revving up to high rpms to get your power fix in those oh so outdated petrol engines. Instant 1100 Newton meters of torque on tap. Diesel is where its at.
watch the damn video
