Tag Archives: Le Mans

Green Cars of the 2012 Le Mans

Posted on by

The “green” race cars participating in this year’s Le Mans got together for a good old fashioned photo-op. Moving from left to right we start with the Nissan Deltawing. It’s half the weight and aerodynamic drag of a normal race car so it only needs half the power and fuel. The blue and white car is the Toyota TS030 which ended up not competing in Le Mans due to a heavy crash in testing. It’s powered by a gasoline V8 on the rear axle and electric motors on the front. The silver and red car behind the Toyota is the Audi E-tron Quattro. It’s rear axle is powered by a diesel V8 with electric motors powering the front axle. The interesting aspect of the Audi is that it uses the electromagnetic flywheel energy storage system that’s been campaigned on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS Hybrid. The black and orange car on the end is the hydrogen powered GreenGT H2.


Source: TechVehi

Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro and Ultra Testing at Sebring by Drive

Posted on by

This is an absolutely fascinating video posted by Drive on YouTube. They got an exclusive inside look at the Audi Le Mans racing program as they tested their new 2012 cars at Sebring. Audi will be fielding two cars this year, the R18 E-Tron Quattro and the R18 Ultra. Both cars use a V6 direct injection diesel engine to drive the rear axle. The only difference is that the E-Tron Quattro also has an electric motor that drives the front axle. For energy storage, the E-Tron is using the magnetic flywheel system that Porsche has been developing with the Williams F1 team in their 911 GT3 RS Hybrid endurance racer. Drive does an amazing job providing footage of the car as well as interviews with the drivers about how the cars have changed throughout the years and interviews with the team leaders about development of the cars as well as Audi’s Le Mans program.


Source: Drive

The Nissan DeltaWing

Posted on by

Road & Track got an exclusive look at the new Nissan DeltaWing race car doing some full power testing. It’s currently being powered by a turbocharged and direct injected 1.6 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. Nissan makes the engine and it’s related to the optional turbocharged engine for the Juke. The goal behind the car was to make be lighter and more aerodynamically efficient than a traditional car in order to reduce fuel consumption. That’s why the nose and front tires are so narrow. The DeltaWing is able to turn because its center of gravity is almost on the back axle. That gives the front wheels a lot more leverage on the weight of the car. The design was in the running to become the new chassis for Indy but was passed over for a more traditional design. Now Nissan is picking up the project to race in the 24 hours of Le Mans.


Let me give you full disclosure here. I’m all for new technology and efficiency in motorsports more than most, but I absolutely hate this car. It’s my opinion that the DeltaWing is too far in the realm of idealistic engineering theory and not a practical design. It makes some sense if you analyze the forces on the tires and the center of gravity while the car is static, but I think the car will suffer in wheel to wheel racing when the drivers are trying to pass using aggressive line changing with the weight of the car shifted forward from heavy braking. A lot of passing maneuvers depend on how the car behaves in situations like that and I don’t see the DeltaWing being particularly good for them. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

Source: Road & Track YouTube Channel

Toyota TS030 Hybrid

Posted on by

Toyota unveiled the car they would using to return to Le Mans LMP1 racing earlier this year. It’s called the TS030 (TS stands for Toyota Sport) and it’s a gasoline/electric hybrid. The gasoline end of things is taken care of by a 3.4 liter V8. Toyota’s press release stated that they were still deciding on which electric motor system they were going to use. The rules limit them to driving only one of the axles with an electrical system. Toyota was considering a system by Aisin for driving the front wheels and a Denso system to drive the rear wheels. The energy storage duties will be handled by an ultra-capacitor made by Nisshinbo. Capacitors are much lighter than batteries and are better suited for the high energy charging and discharging duties of road racing. The car will operate in pure EV mode in the pit lane.

Unfortunately the last news I heard about this car was that there was a crash in testing which would push back it’s official debut. Toyota Europe released this video with the press release announcing the car. It’s in-car footage of Alex Wurz driving the TS030 around the Paul Ricard track in France. Pay attention to how the car sounds as it first leaves the pit under electric power only.


Source: Toyota Europe YouTube Channel

Audi R18 E-Tron Hybrid Testing

Posted on by

This is a “pure sounds” video of the new Audi R18 E-Tron Hybrid LMP1 Race Car doing some testing. This car is the same as their diesel race cars but with the addition of an electric motor that drives the front axle making this a “through the road hybrid.” What that means is the electric drive train is not directly connected to the diesel engine. The electric motor provides regenerative braking and then uses that energy to drive the front wheels on acceleration. Energy storage is handled by a carbon fiber 30cm diameter, 20cm tall flywheel that spins up to 45,000 rpm in a vacuum. Batteries are too heavy and don’t charge/discharge quickly enough for road racing regenerative braking duties. The alternatives for energy storage are flywheels like on this car and the Porsche 911 GT3 RS Hybrid and Ultra-Capacitors like the ones found on Toyota’s new Le Mans car.


Source: YouTube User: NM2255