Quote:
Originally Posted by hcl123
I don't believe those rumors. The true is that Audi got a hell of a luck to win this year in lemans, and 1 -2 -3... 1 in 50 years... they gave Peugeot the upper hand in torque, 6 power strokes per rev of their V12, against 5 power strokes per rev of his V10... and clearly they were not a match to Peugeot.
Hard to believe they risk to make the same mistake again.
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I don't understand the logic there, as displacement governs torque to a larger extent then the number of cylinders.
Look at the old Ford based pushrod 6.0 V8 that Panoz used and the 6.0 V12 that BMW used. The Ford/Elan V8, by your logic had 4 strokes/rpm vs the 6 strokes/rpm of the V12. However, the Ford V8 made as much if not more power, and had more torque. And that with a heavy crossplane crank compared to the V12's crank, let alone the flatplane crank the Audi 3.6 turbo V8 used.
The Ford's biggest failing was that it got relatively poor fuel mileage, while the Audi V8's big advantage was turbocharging, which meant that the 3.6 V8 had to rev to 6250 rpm to make 600+ hp, and normally redlined at 7000rpm, like the Ford V8 and the BMW V12, and got better fuel mileage, especially when the FSI direct injection system was used, which boosted power and torque as well, and essentally got rid of any low rpm turbo lag the Audi engine had.
The Audi and Peugeot engines, be it the Audi and Pug V12s and or the Audi V10 are all 5.5 liters, and all are easily making 680-700hp, if not more, and are making close to 900ft/lbs(1200nm) of torque, if not more. Audi went to the V10 from a V12 with the R15 because the engine was about 4-5 inches shorter and weighted 50 or so pounds less, and helped give the R15 better weight distribution compared to the R10 or the 908. So I don't see powerwise where Audi has given anything up-if anything, they've gained over the R10's V12, as at Paul Ricard the R15 had no trouble keeping up with(and at times out running) the Oreca 908 down the Mistral straight(while having similar or somewhat superior cornering) and had better straightline speed at Spa(though the LM areo setup probably helped in that area).
The only thing I'd have against Audi going the V6 route is that not counting the various incarnations of the Porsche Boxer 6, V6s haven't had much success at Le Mans-the WM's Peugeot branded PRV V6s were either underpowered or were handgrenades. Hopefully Audi won't go the V6 route for that reason, and if they do, I hope they know what they're doing.