Le Mans, one of the three legendary racing in the world, started in 1923 in the French country side. Racers drive as fast as possible and the one who completes the most laps in 24 hours wins. This is the dream of every racers in the world. Every famous car manufactures races here. Famous drivers such as Paul Newman raced here and finished second. For nearly a century, Le Mans has been the ultimate racing. Driver and cars are pushed beyond their limits. They race under any weather. Every single manufactures produce their own cars. Every single cars is different, uses different engines, built with different frames and races with different characteristics.
Audi joined in 1999, and a year later, Audi introduced the R8.
The R8 immediately proves itself. Winning the 24 Hours of Le Man in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. R8 was not only fast, but also reliable. However, in 2005 during the qualifying, the R8 didn't perform as well as before. It started the race in third. Tom Kristensen was able to finish in first and proved R8's reliability again for the last time.
In 2005, Audi revealed the new R10 TDI, equipped with a 650 horsepower diesel powered engine.
No diesel powered race car has ever won the race, but Audi proves itself again. Winning the race in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2008, Peugeot introduced their new diesel powered race car, the 908 HDi, bring the heat of Le Mans even higher. The 908 was three seconds faster than the R10 TDI EACH LAP. However, it wasn't as reliable as the R10 TDI. Tom Kristensen, driver of R10 TDI of the Audi North America Team, won his eighth race of 24 Hours of Le Mans and broke his own world record, the most amount of wins of all drivers. No one has ever won more than six races.
The appearance of 908 shows that the R10 is now, outdated. Audi announced the new R15 TDI.
The R15 wasn't so successful as the R8 or R10. It finished third in 2009, and Peugeot won the race for this year. In 2010, Audi modified the R15 TDI to R15 TDI Plus.
With the improved aerodynamics, the R15 TDI Plus achieved higher speed and better turning.
The R15 triumphed in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans and regained the championship for Audi.
Audi has nine victories now, same as Ferrari. It still need seven more to tie with Porche.
Fun facts:
The average Le Mans race cars can generate about 500+ pounds of down force.
Drivers sometimes experience 2~3Gs of lateral force during cornering.
Audi's always earlier than any other companies to be on the track to practice.
Le Mans was cancelled in 1938 due to workers strike and from 1940~48 due to WWII and reconstruction of France.
沒有留言:
張貼留言