Audi reveals its new Le Mans fighter

Just four months after being beaten to the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship by fellow Volkswagen Group brand Porsche, with help from Aussie Mark Webber, Audi has revealed a completely new R18 race car for 2016.

Claimed to be its "strongest and most fuel-efficient LMP1 race car", Audi says the MY16 R18 is "redesigned from scratch" and shares "almost nothing in common anymore with its predecessor".

As you can from these first images, Audi's latest Le Mans prototype (LMP1) racer features more radical aerodynamics including a new safety cell, while its hybrid drive system is battery-operated for the first time and the diesel V6 TDI engine has been upgraded.

Audi says all that makes the R18 more powerful, with a power output of "more than 1000hp [746kW]" – as well as more efficient, consuming 10 per cent less fuel than any previous LMP1 racers from the German car-maker.

Weighing a minimum of 875kg, the latest R18 is constructed around an FIA-spec carbon-fibre composite monocoque with an aluminium honeycomb core, Zylon side panels and CFRP front and rear 'crashers'.

Its 120-degree, 24-valve 4.0-litre TDI diesel V6 features a Garrett VTG turbocharger, direct-injection and fully stressed aluminium crankcase, delivering more than 378kW (514hp) and 850Nm of torque.

The electromechanical hybrid storage system includes a lithium-ion battery with more than 2 megajules of usable storage capacity, powering a 350kW Motor Generator Unit (MGU) on the front axle with integrated limited-slip differential (300kW for boost at Le Mans).

Although the e-tron quattro system is four-wheel drive in hybrid mode, its conventional engine powers the rear wheels via a CFRP clutch, sequential six-speed racing transmission, limited-slip diff, CFRP transmission housing with titanium inserts, constant-velocity tripod-type plunge-joint drive shafts and ASR traction control. It's powered by a 49.9-litre diesel fuel cell.

Steering is via servo-assisted rack-and-pinion and there's front and rear independent suspension on upper and lower wishbones, with a
pushrod system at the front and pullrod system at the rear axle, both featuring adjustable dampers and two wheel tethers per wheel.

Rounding out the package is a hydraulic dual-circuit braking system with monoblock light-alloy callipers and ventilated carbon-fibre brake discs front and rear, and the R18 rides on OZ magnesium forged wheels with Michelin radial race rubber measuring 31/71-18 at the front and 31/71-18 at the rear.

The 2016 R18 measures just 4650mm long and only 1050mm high, but an expansive 1900mm wide. Other key features include Matrix LED headlights combined with Audi laser lights, maximising the night vision of a car that can reach speeds of up to 340km/h.

Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich said the new R18's improved efficiency will meet strict new rules for the 2016 WEC season, when the fuel consumption limit will decrease by 10MJ per lap at Le Mans.

“The result is a race car that manages energy even more effectively than before. This is an objective we’re pursuing for our road-going automobiles as well," he said.

"This type of motorsport continues to set an example for automotive engineering. For Audi, production relevance has been a core topic of all racing programs for 35 years.”

As a result of switching to the 6MJ class, the MY16 R18's hybrid system now recovers 50 per cent more energy, while its V6 TDI consumes 32.4 per cent less fuel than the first-generation's smaller 3.7-litre engine did in 2011.

Despite being its most powerful Le Mans racer ever, Audi says improved aero and reduced weight allow its latest LMP1 racer to use 46.4 per cent less fuel at Le Mans, while lapping 10 to 15 seconds faster than a decade ago.