Audi LMP1 Discussion

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by seanyb505

Potentially stupid questions/observations:

- Can the engine rule be spread across the team or is it strictly regulated to one car? i.e. can #7 use the #8's engines?

very likely is forbidden... otherwise it would not make any sense the 5 engine per car rule


- Would Audi even be allowed to enter a 3rd car due to overall grid size cap? Or are we nowhere near that? I thought with the Nissans now full time we'd be right against the 32 car grids.

I guess it's possible, but the third car won't be able to score points for manufacturers cup; the only reason to get a third car is to try to steal some points to porsche (but audi could steal points to it self too)

- Do one off entries score points for various manufacturer championships? I'm not sure how this year played out with the 19 winning LM, but I know last year the highest placed WEC P2 was pretty far down, but still got 1st place points.

As far I know the third manufacturer car can score points for manufacturers cup only at le mans. From to 11th to the last classified are awarded 0.5 point in the overall driver championships, but only for the full season WEC cars!
this year corvette won the GTE-PRO class at le mans but taylor/westbrook/milner or GM corvette racing didn't earn any point because are invisible for the championship! indeed the #71 AF Corse gained 50 points because was the best placed gte-pro car of the full season WEC roster.

a little tribure for my 997th post

[Brake dust]

Congrats Carbon T! Like the look of the 997 over the 991 too!

[chernaudi]

Has anyone gotten any decent shots of either the sprint or LM R18's front diffuser as of yet, or anyone know of any that are floating around?

And we know that the LM version had the flap adjustable by a system that all that was needed was as socket wrench since the adjuster was out in the open.

But on the sprint nose, wouldn't the two screws on the flaps inboard of the front fenders be the adjusters?



They're the two silver circular things in the black area on the front "wing" ahead of the Michelin man decals. I know that they're very hard to see, but I couldn't find an attachment function in the post editor that would've allowed me to post a much higher quality photo.

[chernaudi]

I know that this thread is a bit of a dead place right now, but this is a HQ photo of a sprint spec R18 from the Paul Ricard WEC test.

Does anyone know what we're seeing though the hole that's in the inboard face of the front fender visible though the BHH and above the brake rotor and rotor shroud? Radiator duct? The hole itself some wheel well vent? This hole isn't visible on the inboard side of the front fender:

[J Jay]

Can you upload the picture again/elsewhere? It's not loading for me.

[chernaudi]

Since the attachment function doesn't work here, try looking it up and opening it here:

https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/...ellet-2015-348

Specific photo:

https://audimediacenter-a.akamaihd.n...ion=attachment

I forgot that some sites you have to be logged in to the site from where the pic came from.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I know that this thread is a bit of a dead place right now, but this is a HQ photo of a sprint spec R18 from the Paul Ricard WEC test.

Does anyone know what we're seeing though the hole that's in the inboard face of the front fender visible though the BHH and above the brake rotor and rotor shroud? Radiator duct? The hole itself some wheel well vent? This hole isn't visible on the inboard side of the front fender:

It looks like a hole on the inner face of the front-left fender... Weird as there isn't supposed to be any...

[chernaudi]

It seems to have been on the sprint race bodywork all season.

I wonder if it vents into the exits in the rear of the pontoon or into the air vents above/in front of the where the rad ducts are:

[chernaudi]

RCE have reported that Audi may've had possible fuel flow issues during the night that might have limited their pace during those hours--they mention this just as they're reporting in their print magazine about the FIA/ACO adoption of competing fuel flow sensors for next season in the WEC.

Also, thanks to MyNameIsNigel on Facebook, Race Tech Magazine has an article about various bits of the LM-spec R18. Most interesting thing I found is that this year it seems that the R18 has a quick change side pod complete with integrated/quick change radiators and oil coolers.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

RCE have reported that Audi may've had possible fuel flow issues during the night that might have limited their pace during those hours--they mention this just as they're reporting in their print magazine about the FIA/ACO adoption of competing fuel flow sensors for next season in the WEC.

But does the data really bare this theory out? If we look at laps under 3:25.0 (so fast unimpeded race laps) we find that the Audi # 7 actually improved its average "fast" laps times by 0.2 seconds from lap 151 to lap 301, whilst the #19 Porsche improved its average by 0.4 seconds per lap. During this period, the Audi # 7 average lap time was 3:21.6 and the Porsche # 19 was 3:21.4. Both cars improved from the period before (laps 1 to 150). Another difference was that the #19 did 101 laps @ 3:25.0 or below, whilst the #7 only managed 79. Only the #8 and #9 Audi were slower during that period of time,..but so were the #17 and #18 Porsche's. If it was due to the fuel flow meters, then Porsche can claim it had the same issues. No?

[Starfish Primer]

Paul Truswell also talks about flow meters in his latest blog entry:

http://trussers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/...mans-some.html

[chernaudi]

What does anyone think that Audi will show up with at the WEC Nurburgring test:

Sprint (Silverstone) package:



Or HD LM (Spa) package:

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

What does anyone think that Audi will show up with at the WEC Nurburgring test:

Sprint (Silverstone) package:



Or HD LM (Spa) package:

The high-downforce low-drag version raced at Spa seems to me to be the most likely choice for the remainder of the season.

[Articus]

The Spa Audi bends the laws of physics...

[YorkshireLad]

Originally Posted by Articus

The Spa Audi bends the laws of physics...

The one that kangaroo'd it's way down the kemmel straight?

[Ephaeton]

Articus, YorkshireLad, you've just set this up beautifully: (SCNR)
Nee, YorkshireLad, nicht des Audis Physis, die PHYSIK! / Not its physique, YorkshireLad, the PHYSICS!

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by YorkshireLad

The one that kangaroo'd it's way down the kemmel straight?

I think 'Articus' is referring to the one that gained >25sec on the tire double stint of the #18, and pass it on a tight right left chicane... passed it on the middle of the chicane !... manoeuvre that i don't remember seeing ever with this type of cars considering the speed they attain.

With those levels of *downforce* and yet better straight speed, i think the sprint version doesn't make much sense now(and of course there isn't pie in the sky... you push heavy at one end it comes short at the other->straight speed-> corrected for LM with the top speed record).

[And yet there could be improvements... the *real* LM version had the weird air front intakes covered and a different shape of the front fenders with a single dive plane.... i think this new shape is better of straight speed, and doesn't exclude the possibility of having those front intakes uncovered and higher angle double dive planes for each fender, and with it the same *jupiter* levels of downforce but better straight speed ]

[TF110]

I think the downforce explanation is only a part of why the low drag car worked so well. Iirc, it was spoken that the fric suspension was the real star. Not to mention it has the most engine power (and torque) on the grid!

[cokata]

I think it's going to be the HD Audi with some small tweaks and the wingmirror solution of the LD.

The Spa Audi was great, but some you may be forgetting the incredible grip advantage the Audi had in Silverstone. It was more than a second per lap quicker than the Porsches, despite of the massive disadvantage it had on the straights.

[Bandicoot17]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120080

Sticking with LD

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by cokata

I think it's going to be the HD Audi with some small tweaks and the wingmirror solution of the LD.

The Spa Audi was great, but some you may be forgetting the incredible grip advantage the Audi had in Silverstone. It was more than a second per lap quicker than the Porsches, despite of the massive disadvantage it had on the straights.

There's only the Nurburgring that would convey a similar advantage for Audi, the rest of the tracks would be much better suited to some variant of the LM aero.

It would seem Audi themselves have a similar line of thought.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120080

Sticking with LD

It would therefore seem that the comparative test at Spa was convincing enough to put the sprint package to rest. I do trust that we shall see some evolutions of the Spa package (not the LM package as such) possibly aimed at correcting the issues that Audi faced at LM.

[chernaudi]

So it seems that Audi--much like Toyota last year--developed a high downforce package that they heavily tested, only to basically run it in one race before sticking with a tuned LM kit for the rest of the season.

Probably also hints that Porsche's HD package won't be a ton different than their early season kits, either.

I'm not particularly fond of how the LM car looks, but in terms of cornering at Spa it was every bit as fast as the sprint spec car, without the drag penalty. And Audi will need that top speed against Porsche.

Personally, I'd have loved to seen what a hybrid of the packages would look like--HD front and rear fender leading edges with the rest of the LM kit.

[Articus]

I bet Audi realized that while a HDF package could be effective in the remaining rounds, it would only be so on a clear track with no cars around it. HDF Audi doesn't race well head to head with the Porsche. They most likely surprised themselves with the performance of the low drag kit and race the Porsches a lot closer in that spec. Seeing as how Porsche's are reliable, they can expect a lot of head to head with Porsche in the remaining rounds.

[cokata]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

So it seems that Audi--much like Toyota last year--developed a high downforce package that they heavily tested, only to basically run it in one race before sticking with a tuned LM kit for the rest of the season.

Probably also hints that Porsche's HD package won't be a ton different than their early season kits, either.

I'm not particularly fond of how the LM car looks, but in terms of cornering at Spa it was every bit as fast as the sprint spec car, without the drag penalty. And Audi will need that top speed against Porsche.

Personally, I'd have loved to seen what a hybrid of the packages would look like--HD front and rear fender leading edges with the rest of the LM kit.

Something was very wrong with the HD car in Spa. In Silverstone the car cornered harder than post 2014 F1 cars. Just for comparison in Silverstone and Spa Porsche ran the same aero config, and at Spa in S2 (which 90% about DF) the Audi was "just" 0.7-0.8 second faster on average, while in Silvorstone it generated similar advantage in just the Maggots-Beckets esses. Also just look at how much with both cars have and you will know that there is now way that the LD car has anywhere near as much downforce as the HD.