The Audi R10 TDi is derived from the successful Audi R8, but equipped with a diesel engine. That engine develops officially 650 bhp, but it's generally expected that power is over the 700 bhp, thus slightly higher than that of the Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP. Motor bloc is in aluminium and equipped with a to Garrett turbos, injecting diesel directly. Respecting the ACO rules concerning the brides a maximal pressure of 2.94 bar can be reached at 5000 rpm. Handicap of the motor is (just as on the Peugeot 908 using also a diesel engine) it's weight around 200 kg. That's e.g. 70 kg more than the Judd fuel motor. Wolfgang Appel, responsible for technological progress at Audi, announced already by the end of 2005 that the German make had the intention to win the Le Mans 24 hours with a diesel motor, something that never happened before (despite the fact that already in 1949 and 1950 the Delletrez Bros tried to win Le Mans with a diesel engine: they never reached the finish due to overheating problems). The V12 motor development went under control of Ulrich Baretsky. There can be no doubt that the diesel motor was already under construction early 2005, and certainly not by December, because Audi came in March 2006 to Sebring with two reliable R10s. Chassis was still of the honeycomb type and body of carbon fibre, very similar with the extreme-ly successful R8. Although Wolfgang Ulrich announced early 2004 that Audi had decided to retire from competition, and that it should its cars let being raced by privateers, the whole 2005 season was used to prepare the new R10 TDi.
Audi R10
Audi R10
Audi R10