This video was just posted of the Audi R8 E-Tron setting the production EV record around the Nurburgring. The E-tron has four electric motors producing a combined 376 hp and 605 ft-lbs of torque. The time posted was an 8:09 which is only about 30 seconds off of a Ferrari 458 Italia.
I normally don’t like to post these Shakedown videos of the guys just sitting and chatting, but this one has a lot of interesting news that’s relevant to what we’re about here at Flux Auto. This episode revolves around the 2012 Le Mans 24 hour race that just finished up. Leo talks about how the Toyota TS030 and Audi E-Tron Quattro did as well as the future of the Nissan DeltaWing which was knocked out of the race by a driver who claimed he couldn’t see it in his mirrors. There’s also news about engine restrictions, energy consumption and hybrid drive trains for the race next year. The last part is an interesting bit of news regarding Mazda’s announcement that they were producing Skyactiv diesel engines for P2 cars next year as well. I’m glad to see that the movement to develop fuel efficient performance cars in racing is so strong. Racing breeds strong innovation.
This is footage of German rally legend, Walter Rohrl, driving the monstrous Audi S1 at some kind of historic rally event. The S1 was introduced in 1985 as an update to the original Audi Quattro rally car. It has a 2.1 liter turbo inline 5 that produces over 500 horsepower at 8,000 rpm. The engine produces a very unique exhaust note with some definite similarities to a high revving V10.
Ride along with Tom Kristensen as he pilots the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro for a night time qualifying lap for this year’s 24 hours of Le Mans. Two things of note: first is how crazy fast he’s going. Imagine having to concentrate hard enough to maintain that pace for hours at a time. Second, you can clearly hear the electric motors wind down the front wheel speed in the heavy braking zones. That energy is then stored by spinning up a magnetic flywheel that sits in the passenger seart. It’s the same system that Porsche has been running in their 911 GT3 RS Hybrid endurance car with a couple of upgrades. The flywheel housing is now carbon fiber to save weight. The housing’s job is to hold a vacuum so the flywheels can spin without air resistance which would have been significant at 40,000 rpm. The car in the video qualified fourth overall, but the other E-Tron Quattro was the first ever hybrid to take pole at Le Mans.
Road & Track put together this video that takes a closer look at the hybrid cars competing in this year’s 24 hours of Le Mans, the Audi E-Tron Ultra and Toyota TS030. They talk about how each car has different engines, energy storage and even electric motor power delivery.