Since it's 2006 debut, the Audi R10 TDI has raced exclusively in the American Le Mans Series except for the annual June trek to France for the big all-day race. This past weekend a pair of R10s campaigned by the Joest team made their first run in the European Le Mans series with a second place finish in season opener at Barcelona. The Audis were again competing against the pair of Peugeot 908 HDi coupes which won the European championship last year. The Audi of Dindo Capello and Allan McNish finished second to the Peugeot of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. The second Audi and Peugeot finished 5th and 6th respectively. The Barcelona race, like most of the European races, was more of an endurance run with a length of 1,000km compared to the 2-3 hour sprints that make up most of the American series. Audi is planning to run both the full European and American seasons this year with Joest handling the duties overseas while Champion Racing campaigns the cars in the ALMS. Unfortunately, it appears that we won't be seeing the Peugeots stateside again this year. Hopefully they will at least come over to participate in the Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta in the fall.
Peugeot may well be the first team to run a hybrid vehicle at Le Mans and it looks like it will be a diesel, too. New Peugeot CEO recently told the French paper L'Equipe that a diesel-hybrid prototype is currently under development and that it may make some trial runs as soon as this June at Le Mans. Collin also said the car would begin racing in 2009. Peugeot Sport team manager Serge Saulnier, however, is being a little more cautious, acknowledging that a diesel hybrid is in the works. However, Saulnier would not confirm when the car would appear in public. Peugeot has already shown several diesel hybrid concepts based on production 307s and 308s and has acknowledged that they are planning to introduce such a powertrain in the next few years. Toyota may also be making a return to Le Mans as soon as 2010 possibly with a gas-electric hybrid. Let's just hope they bring some of these cars over to the American Le Mans Series and really spice things up.
Life can be rough. I had just received a press notice telling me about this "green" race car, the Radical SR10 LMP1 prototype, that the British Eco Racing team has entered in the American Le Mans Series opener at Sebring. I did a little digging so I could better inform you when I found headline-reversing type news. Apparently, there was an incorrect provision of homologation (yeah, I had to look it up too) papers from chassis manufacturer, Radical, according to a report in the well-informed PlanetLemans. The team does hope to get its affairs in order in time to race in the fourth installment of the ALMS in Salt Lake City.
What exactly makes this car so green besides the (water-based) paint scheme? It has been engineered to run on a 50 percent biodiesel mix (though because of "rules" it may have to use Shell GTL diesel for now). Also, the car uses bodywork components made from 100 percent biodegradable hemp fibre and it has solar panels to juice up some of its electrical systems. No word on any carbon offset program.
According to AFP, the Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting Toyota plans to bring a hybrid to the Le Mans 24 hour race in France. An unnamed Toyota official told Yomiuri Shimbun, "Audi proved the superiority of the next generation diesel engine at Le Mans. Toyota wants to do the same with the hybrid." Yomiuri Shimbun also says that to make a hybrid race car, "Toyota has to significantly reduce the vehicle's weight and increase its efficiency." Toyota last raced in Le Mans in 1999 and placed second but now hopes a hybrid race car will take them to victory.
Update: The original article which also mentions Toyota will use a "special capacitor."
UK Defence Minister Lord Paul Drayson took a "leave of absence" (that's a nice way of saying he quit) from his job to race a bio-ethanol car in Le Mans. Here's part of what Lord Drayson said in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown;
As you know I have a passion for motor racing and over the past year have competed in the British GT championship racing a unique bio-ethanol fuelled race car, achieving a 'historic first' win for a green-fuelled car and coming second overall in the championship. ... A number of special circumstances have now presented me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take my racing to the next level. ... I have the opportunity to race next year in the American Le Mans series in the US, a key step towards my eventual dream of success in the Le Mans 24-hours endurance race. ... So this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase British motorsport technology for environmentally friendly racing.
Let's see, Drayson's choices were to oversee a $30 Billion war in Iraq (it's an unpaid position) or try and win Le Mans with a bio-ethanol race car? I wonder if Rumsfeld is racing green cars now that he resigned?
Today we have the pleasure of introducing you to our new AutoblogGreen project car. The vehicle that you see in the photos is a 1966 Pontiac LeMans convertible. If you don't know what a LeMans is, or if the LeMans that you know is from the '80s, this is the car that the venerable GTO was based on. As a matter of fact, in 1964 when the GTO was introduced, it was merely an option package on the LeMans... like the ZO6 is an option package on the Corvette. Back in 1966, when GM had market share to spare, they built their cars large and rear wheel drive. This was before the age on emissions regulations, so this car is dirty. All right, all right, so it might be dirty in more ways than one! The car has been sitting in a garage, then a barn and back into a different garage for at least the last twelve years or so, and from the pictures, I am sure that you can tell. The good news is that the car is sound. The rust is all just on the surface; the floors and frame are very solid - which is the most important thing when you are considering putting an older vehicle back on the road.
Putting this vehicle back on the road is exactly what we are planning to do.
Click past the break to see what we have in store for this classic car!
The Peugeot 908 with the Audi R10 in the background
The battle of the diesels is only a couple of weeks away now at the 24 hours of Le Mans and the Peugeot 908 and Audi R10 met on the track for the first time last weekend during the pre-race test day. Until now the Audis have been running the American Le Mans Series and the Peugeot have done their training in the Le Mans Endurance Series in Europe.
This opening round ended up with Peugeot on top, about 1.5 seconds faster than the second-place Audi. The other Audi came in third, followed by the Pascarolo and the second Peugeot with the fifth fastest time. The big question mark now is can the French cars run the distance at Le Mans. We already know what the Audis can do, but the 908 is still a question mark in that regard.
Dow Automotive is teaming up with Peugeot to supply particulate filters for the 908 HDi that will be running in the 24 Hours of LeMans in June. Peugeot will be joining Audi as the second team in the big-boy LMP1 class to run diesel engines. The 908 is a closed cockpit prototype powered by a 5.5L turbocharged diesel V-12. Dow has developed a particularly lightweight, compact filter with low back pressure. This will help minimize the impact on performance under the extreme conditions of running a LeMans for 24 straight hours at high speeds. Peugeot particularly wants to demonstrate the performance capabilities of their race car while at the same time having very clean emissions.
We have shown you the Peugeot 908 racecar a fewtimesnow, and even video of the machine on the racetrack. Now, we can show you the official livery of the vehicle. Interested? Check out the gallery, hosted over at Autoblog.
The reason that this vehicle is here on the green side of things is the diesel engine which powers it. Similar to the Audi R10 racecar, the hope is to take advantage of the fuel mileage benefits of the diesel engine over its petroleum-fueled competition. Audi did this to good effect last year, dominating the racetrack when it was on the grid. Peugeot hopes to do the same this year.
Two diesel powered racecars on the track this year, hydrogen powered racers, ethanol and hybrid powered rally cars. Maybe it's not so hard to be green after all?
Peugeot's new diesel powered LeMans racer hit the pavement at the Paul Ricard circuit in France last week and video is now available on YouTube. Peugeot will be running two of these torque monsters against the Audi R10s at the LeMans this June. Check out the new car in all its tail-wagging, bare carbon fiber glory by clicking above.
Click on the image for a gallery of high-res testing pics of the 908 HDi
Peugeot first showed off their new diesel powered LeMans challenger at the Paris Motor Show last September. This June they will we taking on the totally dominant Audi R10s at le Sarthe and it should make for an exciting show. The first track testing photos of the new 908 HDi in raw carbon fiber with a few sponsor stickers at the Paul Ricard circuit in France were just revealed. Peugeot also announced the addition of ChampCar veteran Sebastien Bourdais and former Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve to the driving lineup for the two cars running at LeMans. The drive to get the best possible mileage while maintaining performance is continuing to demonstrate that efficiency and speed are not mutually incompatible.
Audi, which has been winning races with their diesel powered R10 race car, has decided to attempt the next Le Mans race on biodiesel. Audi and VW are hoping that their racing successes will transition to additional knowledge on biofuel vehicles to be produced for public consumption.
The biofuel that they will be using is not exactly the same as the biodiesel that many home consumers are using, which in many cases is simply slightly refined restaurant grease. Audi is teaming up with Shell, a sponsor of the group creating the biomass-derived fuel, and team sponsor of Audi's racing efforts. The fuel is apparently a synthetic derivative of oils found in various plant life.
With Audi's recent successes with running diesel in the R10, and with competition coming soon from other manufacturers running diesel engines in their race vehicles it should be interesting to see how this pans out. Stay tuned!
The green evolution in big-time racing is continuing. Audi may be getting some serious competition for overall victory at LeMans since 1999 (the Bentley victory was really a closed top R8 in spite of the British racing green paint job). Today Peugeot finally showed off their new 2007 LeMans challenger, the 908 RC. Mechanically this one has similar specs to the all-conquering R10 with a twin turbo-charged 5.5L V12. Where the new car is different is the closed cockpit. The first year of the Audi R8 in 1998 had both open and closed versions, as was the Bentley, but all the other winning Audi's have been open cars. This is one sleek-looking car and may even have an aerodynamic advantage over the open Audi. The twin exhaust systems each feature a particulate trap downstream of the turbos to clean the emissions. You can read all the details over on sibling blog AutoBlog courtesy of Autoblog editor John Neff.
Gasoline-fueled cars have long dominated most racing classes around the world. But they have definitely not had an exclusive. As far back 1931 Dave Evans' Cummins Diesel Special, became the first car to complete the Indy 500 without a pit stop. At various times methanol fueled cars have run in Formula 1, particularly in cars with supercharged engines. Indianapolis type cars have run exclusively on methanol since the mid-1960s and in 2007 they will be switching to ethanol. Now as the 2006 racing season comes to a close (except of course for Nascar which never really ends) more and more race-car manufacturers are announcing a move to alternative power-train choices. A couple of years ago the organizers of the 24 Hours of LeMans announced some rule changes to make alternative fueled racers more competitive. All this year in the ALMS and at LeMans the diesel powered Audi R10 has been completely dominant. Next year Peugeot will also run a diesel car at LeMans.
Formula 1 rule-makers have talked for several years about introducing hybrid drive-trains. Now comes word of a new hybrid powered race-car that is expected to run in Japan's Super GT series next year. If that works out the drive-train could eventually power a LeMans car. The power unit developed by Tokyo R&D combines a 4L Mugen V8 with twin Pues liquid cooled DC motors. It is estimated to produce 800 bhp and 686 ft-lbs of torque. This combination in a suitable chassis with a regenerative brake system could potentially give the R10 a serious run for its money. One of the main advantages the Audi had this year was the ability to run two extra laps per tank of fuel than the gas powered cars. At LeMans where they limit the fuel flow rate for safety reasons, this is a huge advantage.
Not just Audi is betting on diesel engines for its endurance racers. Peugeot decided to enter the Le Mans 24 Hours race with a car powered by a Hdi diesel engine equipped with a diesel particulate filter. More than 60% of all Peugeot-Citroen cars sold are equipped with diesel engines, and more than 70% of all cars sold in France are diesels. Peugeot was one of the first manufacturers to fit particulate filters as standard equipment on their diesel engines. The engine of choice will be a V12 engine with 5.5 liters in displacement, the maximum capacity the rules allow. The engine will produce more than 1200 Nm of torque.
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