Audi switched to hybrid endurance race cars due to competitive pressure from Toyota TS030

For the 6 Hours of Bahrain, Audi switched the team lineup to race with two Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid race cars.  In prior 2012 endurance races, the team had raced with a split lineup:  The Audi R18 ultra is a conventional LMP sports car with a TDI engine, while the Audi R18 e-tron quattro is a hybrid race car.  It's been clear from the series results that the hybrid race cars, both the Audi e-tron quattro and the Toyota TS030, have performed much better than the conventionally powered race cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Audi went on to win the 6-Hours of Bahrain taking 1st and 2nd after the Toyota TS030 had to retire due to a crash.

As we see by the quotes below, Audi's reasoning is that the team needed a competitive edge due to pressure from the Toyota TS030.  The hybrid drive train gives racers a racing advantage over gas powered racing cars ("It makes it easier for our drivers to overtake other vehicles").

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "We decided to compete with two hybrid vehicles in Bahrain. Our analysis has shown that we’ve got an advantage in traffic with the R18 e-tron quattro. It makes it easier for our drivers to overtake other vehicles. This means that with two hybrid vehicles we’re in a better position in the battle with Toyota. At the same time, we’re giving both our driver teams identical material in the battle for the title. Bahrain will be a completely different race than the previous rounds. We’re expecting very high temperatures. Unlike the most recent round in Brazil, Bahrain also takes a high toll on the brakes, which require good cooling. Handling the tires will be crucial too."
   
Tom Kristensen, No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro:  “In Bahrain, a large number of challenges are awaiting us that we’re all looking forward to. It starts with the hot climate, but the desert sand and driving in darkness are special too. Allan and I are expecting a lot of the R18 e-tron quattro after we were able to make good use of the car’s strengths at Le Mans. That’ll hopefully help us in the battle for the title.”
 
Allan McNish, No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro:  “I think the race in Bahrain will be a lot different from our run in Brazil. With Le Mans, Silverstone and Interlagos, we’ve been experiencing a nice variety since June, and now something completely different is coming up again. Temperatures in the Middle East at this time of year can go up to 35 or 40 degrees. We’ll only be driving about an hour and a half or a maximum of two hours in daylight. But even when it’s dark the temperatures will hardly drop. I’m expecting a lot of the R18 e-tron quattro, which has been developed quite a bit further since Le Mans.”

Source: http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/audi-to-field-two-r18-e−tron-quattros-in-bahrain_603.html

Audi takes 1-2 hybrid race car sweep in 6 Hours of Bahrain

In the 6-Hours of Bahrain, in the FIA World Endurance Championship series, Audi won the 1st and 2nd podium spots with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro.  The team had switched to an all-hybrid team for the Bahrain race, and while the regular Audi R18 race car was giving excellent results, the R18 e-tron quattro was giving even better results.  The other hybrid race car, the Toyota TS0300 hybrid, had to bow out after completing 144 laps.

In the 1st hour, the Toyota TS030 hybrid, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, held a 23.3 second lead over the nr1 Audi while the nr2 Audi had an extra long pit stop to repair a broken headlight.  The lead had slipped by the end of the 2nd hour to 19.8 seconds.  However by the end of the 3rd hour the Toyota TS030 had slipped to fifth place, and four laps behind, after a lengthy pit stop to repair a number panel light.  By the end of the 4th hour the TS030 had made up some ground on the nr2 Audi, due to that car having had a long pit stop to replace headlights again.

Photo : JEAN MICHEL LE MEUR

However by hour 5 trouble struck the TS030 when Nicolas Lapierre went straight on at Turn 12 with front end damage after being involved in an incident with a back marker.  This forced the Toyota hybrid race car out of the race, after the team had made a strong effort to catch up with the Audi's.

This left the two Audi R18 e-tron quattro's clear to take 1st and 2nd.

For the 6-Hours of Bahrain, Audi switched the team lineup to two R18 e-tron quattro's.

The competitors in the FIA World Endurance Championship set off at 1600 hours for the 6 Hours of Bahrain, sixth round of the season, under a scorching sun and a suffocating heat relative to that of the past few days.  That, however, didn’t prevent two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer from emerging ahead of the rest of the field with the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at the finish.

Source: http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/lmp-report-audi-1−2-and-strakka-on-podium-in-the-middle-east_671.html

Hybrid braking zones in use at Bahrain, source: http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/hybrid-braking-zones-for-6-hours-of-bahrain_596.html

Audi R8 e-tron sets fastest yet electric car lap record at Nürburgring

Audi is the latest automaker to set an electric car lap speed record at the Nürburgring.  This week the company brought a pair of Audi R8 e-tron's to the fabled 20.8-kilometer (12.92-mile) race track to have a go at the lap record for series production electric cars.  They achieved success with a 8:09.099 minutes lap time.

Following the lap record of 8:09.099 minutes, driver Markus Winkelhock took out a second R8 e-tron onto the Nordschleife, this one was limited to a 200 km/hr speed, and took two hot laps. The 8:30.873 and 8:26.096 minutes lap times were meant to "underscore the production-relevance of the R8 e-tron and the capability of its drive technology."

“The R8 e-tron has given a magnificent demonstration of its potential on the toughest race track in the world,” said Michael Dick, AUDI AG Board Member for Technical Development. Dick, who completed a fast lap himself in the R8 e-tron, added: “The record-setting drive confirmed that we are on the right track. To us, electric mobility has never been about sacrifice, but rather is about emotion, sportiness and driving pleasure.”

Those with a good memory may recall that the Toyota Motorsports Group EV P001 ran a 7 mins 47.794 secs lap at the Nürburgring.  How, then, can Audi claim a lap record when Toyota's EV P001 is faster?  It's simply a matter of how you define each car.  The EV P001 is a race car, while the R8 e-tron is a series production car.

But, the electric R8 e-tron is not in production as an electric car?  That's true, however the gasoline powered R8 is in production, and the electric R8 e-tron is slated to go on sale at the end of 2012.  Further, Audi says the drive train used for this lap record is the same as will be on the production version.  It has two electric motors, each generating an output of 280 kW and 820 Nm of torque. This gives the R8 e-tron a 0-62.14 mph (100kph) time of just 4.6 seconds. Top speed is normally limited to 200 kph (124.27 mph), and a 250 km/h (155.34 mph) limit was approved for the record-setting lap. It carries a lithium-ion battery pack with 49 kilowatt-hours of capacity, which Audi claims will give a 215 kilometers (133.59 miles) driving range, but the company does not specify the test protocol behind that range claim. The battery pack is in a T shape, allowing it to fit into the central tunnel, and behind the passenger compartment. The car body is primarily made of aluminum along with carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastics (CFRP) giving it a weight of just 1,780 kilograms (3,924.23 lb), despite the large battery pack.

A curious little detail I noticed in the pictures below.  That is the charging port uses a Yazaki charging connector of the same style used for CHADEMO electric car fast charging systems.  Audi is one of the 8 companies signing onto the SAE fast charging standard, making it odd that they would use a CHADEMO connector to charge the car.  Plausibly, Audi went with a CHADEMO off-board charger to a) save weight, b) for pragmatism because it is the only available electric car fast charging system on the market today.

Source: http://www.torquenews.com/1075/audi-sets-fastest-yet-electric-car-lap-record-nurburgring

Audi in historic first Hybrid Race Car win at 24 Hours of Le Mans

At the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, Audi made a historic achievement with the first hybrid cars to win that race.  While the title of this site is Electric Race News, we'll mark this achievement under the rubric of "Electrified Vehicle Racing" because it was an electrified vehicle which won the race.

The vehicle in question was four Audi R18 e-ton Quattro's.  With this car Audi Sport Team Joest took 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th places in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fassler (CH), Andre Lotterer (D), Benoit Treluyer (F)

“By achieving this further success at the world’s most important endurance race our engineers demonstrated their high technological expertise in a particularly impressive way,” commented Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, who personally watched the race on location. “With the e-tron quattro in combination with ultra lightweight design, we put a completely new technology on the grid and immediately won with it – this cannot be taken for granted by any means, particularly here at Le Mans. This weekend again showed the type of things that can happen in this race and how important perfect preparation is.”

The winning group, consisted of drivers Marcel Fässler (CH), André Lotterer (D) and Benoît Tréluyer (F), who were also the winners of the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Audi describes the drive train as the "all-wheel drive of the future in which the conventional drive system is intelligently combined with an electrically driven axle." Audi is already testing this technology in which the drive shaft is replaced by electric cables for use in production vehicles. Operating at the rear of all four Audi R18 cars was the latest evolution of the compact V6 TDI engine with VTG mono turbocharger that was used at Le Mans for the first time in 2011. The new ultra-light transmission with a carbon fiber housing – a novelty in a Le Mans sports car – held up to the Le Mans endurance test covering a distance of 5.151 kilometers in all four vehicles without any problems as well. Like quatto all-wheel drive, ultra-lightweight design is a core competency of the company.

In addition to this marking the first time a hybrid car has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was also the first time a hybrid car took the pole position to open the race. André Lotterer in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro designated as car number “1” to achieve a fastest lap of 3m 23.787s in the final qualifying session on Thursday night shortly after 22:00 – and thus an improvement of last year’s best time by nearly two seconds. André Lotterer in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro designated as car number “1” to achieve a fastest lap of 3m 23.787s in the final qualifying session on Thursday night shortly after 22:00 – and thus an improvement of last year’s best time by nearly two seconds.

Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen in the number “2” Audi R18 e-tron quattro set the fourth-fastest lap (3m 25.433s) behind the quickest hybrid vehicle from Toyota. Le Mans rookie Marco Bonanomi in the number “4” Audi R18 ultra took grid position six (3m 26.420 s. This meant that all four vehicles fielded by Audi Sport Team Joest qualified for the three front rows.

Audi is fielding two varieties of the Audi R18 in this years FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC); the R18 ultra and the R18 e-tron quattro. This first diesel hybrid race car at Le Mans fundamentally differs from the conventionally powered model in some respects. The e-tron quattro, for example, has an electrically driven front axle in addition to the conventional rear-wheel drive, a motor generator unit (MGU) on the front axle, a rotating mass storage device, an additional cooling system and new detailed solutions.

"This makes it all the more surprising that our engineers have implemented a principle featuring a high level of carry-over parts,” emphasizes Dr. Ullrich in praise of his team’s achievements. "The R18 ultra is the basis that has made it possible to make the R18 e-tron quattro reality in the first place. We would have had no chance if we hadn’t achieved the weight saving between our 2011 Le Mans winner, the R18 TDI, and the current R18 ultra because we had to additionally package the entire hybrid system in the vehicle. And in spite of this, we continued to pursue the aim of staying below the minimum weight of 900 kg in order to have some latitude to balance the car with ballast.”

Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fassler (CH), Andre Lotterer (D), Benoit Treluyer (F)

Start with leading Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fassler (CH), Andre Lotterer (D), Benoit Treluyer (F)

Audi R18 ultra #3 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Romain Dumas (F), Loïc Duval (F), Marc Gene (E)

Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fassler (CH), Andre Lotterer (D), Benoit Treluyer (F)

Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fassler (CH), Andre Lotterer (D), Benoit Treluyer (F)

Technical data Audi R18 e-tron quattro / ultra (2012)

Version: February 2012

Model Vehicle	Audi R18 e-tron quattro / ultra (2012)
Vehicle type	Le Mans Prototype (LMP1)
Monocoque	Carbon-fiber composite with aluminum honeycomb, tested according to the strict FIA crash and safety standards
Battery	Lithium ion batteries
Engine	Turbocharged 120° V6, 4 valves per cylinder, DOHC, 1 Garrett turbocharger, mandatory intake air restrictor of 1 x 45.8 mm diameter and turbo boost pressure limited to 2.8 bar absolute, diesel direct injection TDI Fully stressed aluminum cylinder block, diesel particle filter
Engine management	Bosch MS24
Engine lubrication	Dry sump, Castrol
Displacement	3,700 cc
Power Over	375 kW / 510 hp
Torque Over	850 Nm
Hybrid system*
Type of accumulator	Electric flywheel accumulator, max 500 KJ, WHP
Motor Generator Unit (MGU)	MGU on the front axle, water cooled with integrated power electronics, 2 x 75 kW
Drive / transmission
Type of drive	Rear wheel drive, traction control (ASR), four-wheel drive e-tron quattro from 120 km/h*
Clutch Carbon clutch	Gearbox Sequential, electrically activated 6-speed racing gearbox
Differential	Limited-slip rear differential
Gearbox housing	Carbon-fiber composite with titanium inserts
Driveshafts	Constant velocity sliding tripod universal joints
Suspension / steering / brakes
Steering	Electrical assisted rack and pinion steering
Suspension	Front and rear double wishbone independent suspension, front pushrod system and rear pull rod system with adjustable dampers
Brakes	Hydraulic dual circuit brake system, mono bloc light alloy brake calipers, ventilated carbon disc brakes front and rear, infinitely manually adjustable front and rear brake balance
Wheels	O.Z. magnesium forged wheels
Tires	Michelin Radial, Front: 360/710-18, rear: 370/710-18
Weight / dimensions
Length	4,650 mm
Width	2,000 mm
Height	1,030 mm
Minimum	weight 900 kg
Fuel	tank capacity 58*/60 liters
*Different specification for R18 e-tron quattro