Audi R10 will be presented tomorrow

[NeilE]

I think this is definitely and primarily a marketing exercise by Audi to sell more diesel cars outside of Germany.

What always struck me as strange was that Audi never used their victories at Le Mans in any of their advertising campaigns at least not here in the home market. A high profile entry into the world's biggest and best motorsport event with a diesel powered car is going to look very good on Eurosport etc. and should clock up lots more sales for their TDI range abroad.

I agree with many of the comments here, that Audi were always really clinical in their approach and lacked the soul and passion of teams like Pescarolo who were in it for the 15 minutes of glory on Sunday after the race. The R10 is certainly not going to win any new fans at Arnage corner on Saturday night - it'll be there and gone around the corner before anyone knows it's there! Nor can I imagine the tribunes on the start finish straight full of fans wearing "powered by diesel" Audi gear.

The news that Peugeot is also planning a diesel entry is also a worry - in the long term LM could become a diesel dominated event which would reduce its appeal for the true fans and eventually it would become a curiosity event instead of a real race.

Oh dear, maybe I'm too old for all this......but I can't imagine going to LM and not being woken on Sunday morning with the crackling and banging of lots of backfiring engines rattling through my poor hungover head...

[Lorry]

Hi Chop,
I'm kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum, I hope they fall on their faces.  Domination by any one manufacturer is never good for the health of a racing series,

Did somebody almost mention Schumaker without a donation to the swear box?

[Nordic]

Hi Nordic,
I don't necessarily think its a question of Zytek or Dyson raising their game as much as it is a case of how much can they afford to spend.
Its like a small market baseball team competing with a team from New York or Chicago.  Audi can simply out-spend the little guy.
Roger Penske once said that money = speed, how fast do you want to go?
Fax

Hopefully Penske will be able to talk Porsche into spending a bit more on a big brother for the LMP2 car to take the fight to Audi.

Both Zytek and Dyson have proved that they have fast cars and drivers, they just need to keep the things running till the end of the race.
The new Lola is going to be a sweet car, and with the right engine choice I am sure it will be the car to beat for 06.

The fact that it will be pretty quite compared to petrol cars is not a worry to me, it could be pretty awesome to have the thing whistle by with only the wind and tyre noise.

[Steve Pyro]

I'm rather cold to the whole new Audi project.  I, like others, was pleased with the arrival of the R8C and R8R and the first one (maybe two) years that they won in the R8.
However, Audi's domination of LMP900 / LMP1 got rather tiresome after their n'th race win.

That's not to say that I don't applaud their continuing commitment to sportscar racing when other big name manufacturers (Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan etc) have given up and gone away to play in another arena.

I, for one, will try to maintain a bit of Anglo French entente cordial in June and will be routing for the Pescarolo team.  After their hard work over the last few years, they deserve an overall / LMP1 win.

[chop456]

Here's a pretty good article that also addresses most  Americans' ignorance of diesel power.

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/21219/

[hgb]

Steve, there're still loads of British teams around, no need to get the white flag out.  Sorry, that was harsh. I'll still scream for Rollcentre.  Sorry, sorry everyone.

There was a bit of alcohol involvedin this message though, I just came back from the christmas market. 

[Lorry]

There was a bit of alcohol involvedin this message though, I just came back from the christmas market. 

Sounds good.  Today is my last sober day of 2005.

And whats this about Americans being ignorant.

[Perdu]

I still have a soft spot for the dalmatian cars! (whose little girl was it that christened the Domes with that name?)
I didn't like the over Orangey look of this year's cars though.(Sorry Paddy but they did look more specacular in checks)  And the Pescas too.

I have to say that the Bentleys though petrolly fuelled were a hell of a lot quieter than almost everything  else on the circuit in 2003, weren't they.

And of course there should ALWAYS be a couple of Astons...

Diesel racecars? No ta.

 

[smokie]

[

And whats this about Americans being ignorant.

Written by an American no less!

[Fax]

Ignorant Americans?  One name, GEORGE WALKER BUSH!
Pretty much says it all.
Most Americans still think of rattling, smokey mid-80's VW Rabbits (Golfs to you guys) when they think of a German diesel.
Fax

[chrisbeatty]

This new idea from BMW sounds a little interesting. I wonder if we'll see this at Le Mans any time soon what with the upcoming invasion of diesels making fuel economy more important??

http://www.gizmag.co.uk/go/4936/

[Neal]

.

I, for one, will try to maintain a bit of Anglo French entente cordial in June and will be routing for the Pescarolo team. After their hard work over the last few years, they deserve an overall / LMP1 win.

Me too Steve got the t-shirt and the hat last year

[Lorry]

Sounds good.  Today is my last sober day of 2005.

I lied  hic

[Lorry]

Sorry but even at my age. Sabine round Nurburgring in a Transit is about all the diesel I can take.

[hgb]

Sorry but even at my age. Sabine round Nurburgring in a Transit is about all the diesel I can take.

hic, sorry ?