Audi Diesel Wins Le Mans
June 20, 2006 by Alborz Fallah
Audi have scored a history making win at this years 24 hr Le Mans race, beating all other competitors with… a Diesel car (The R10 TDI)! So much for all my “Diesel is better suited to a bus” talk. Audi has set out to prove to the world that Diesel doesn’t compromise performance.
“Our Audi R10 TDI is a real racing car,you can drive it very precisely, which is a combination of the diesel power and immense torque. It’s fun to drive. ” said four-time winner Kristensen.
AUDI AG has written an important chapter in the history of motor racing with its historic triumph in the Le Mans 24 Hour race. The new Audi R10 TDI was the first diesel car to win arguably the toughest car race in the world. In front of a record crowd of 235,000 spectators, Frank Biela (Germany), Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and Marco Werner (Germany) clinched the sixth and most important Le Mans win for Audi so far. Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland) also achieved a podium in finishing third overall.
That this target was extremely ambitious but in no way unrealistic, was proven by Audi in March when the new R10 TDI won the 12-hour race at Sebring (USA) on its race début – an impressive demonstration of Audi TDI Power. And all this less than four months after the very first exploratory laps made by the revolutionary Diesel sportscar.
Audi has already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times with the R8.
Offcourse Audi fail to tell you that Astin Martin were winning the race up until the 21st hour when the DBR9 suffered a clutch failure which set the car back a 45 min pit stop.
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Oooh, Aston were winning, until their car fell apart. Big deal! That’s the point of Le Mans. It’s an enduro race.
The fact that an oil-burner won shows that the performance shortcomings of diesel have largely been addressed.
I look forward to more diesel cars; torque matters more in most driving conditions than power; overcome the limitations on noise, pollutants, and rev-ranges, and diesels rock; torque with efficiency… who would have thought it?