Stunning Audi R18 Le Mans racer revealed

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Audi R18

Audi’s new R18 Le Mans sports car looks better than most F1 cars if you ask me.

Links

Audi R18 Le Mans prototype unveiled with full roof, epic LEDs (Autoblog)

To me, Le Mans Prototypes should always be closed-cockpit coupes. I think the new Audi R18 looks gorgeous – especially in the black livery (which I don’t expect will stay!) More pictures of this fabulous car below.

F1 World Champion 2010 – Sebastian Vettel (Make and model)

Infographic by Patrick.

David Wormald – A Formula 1 addict

Check out this blog by F1 Fanatic reader and live blog moderator David.

Peter Windsor on Twitter

“I hear that Tony Fernandes was told at the F1 Commission meeting yesterday that he “must” change his team name.”

Will Buxton on Twitter

“Have it on good authority that Team Lotus has not been asked or told to change its name.”

Comment of the day

No sympathhy for Nelson Piquet Jnr from Maksutov:

I don’t care what Piquet says, his last and final attempt to make people feel sorry for him is not going to get him anywhere. We live in a world where bullying by your boss/manager in a professional sport, job or "level" doesn’t work and hardly happens any more.

There are rules, civil and sport law that prevents this type of thing, and if appropriately addressed the victim is always a winner. Piquet had plenty of opportunity to come forward to FIA and WMSC to complain about the mistreatment, he could have done this behind closed doors at any time even without risking his seat. But he chose not to, so he can benefit from it in an unorthodox, crooked and corrupt manner. Sorry but to me that sounds no better than Briatore himself.

Piquet is just a sad loser and the more he says the more desperate and ridiculous he sounds. Briatore is nothing but an opportunistic corrupt business man, and he will continue to be like that forever. That is what got him to become rich in the first place.
Maksutov

From the forum

An unusual question from James_mc on what was the coldest Grand Prix. Ciaran Walsh suggests the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix.

Happy birthday!

A very happy birthday today to Connor Ryan!

On this day in F1

One year ago today the FIA announced that former drivers would assist the stewards during race weekends:

Audi R18 pictures

Image © Audi Motorsport

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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81 comments on “Stunning Audi R18 Le Mans racer revealed”

  1. Stunning in the same way a sharp blow to the temple will stun you.

    1. Will they keep it black? Or will new sponsors change the colour of this machine? It is b-e-a-utiful!!

      1. I think it’s like Sarah Jessica Parker: she might have a great body, but I wouldn’t know because I’m way too distracted by her face. In the case of the R18, it’s that big honking nose on the front end. You’ve got a hemispherical cockpit, and rounded wheel arches; just about every line on the car is curved in some way. But that nose is just flat and square and clashes with the whole thing.

        1. haha, no SJP is jus 100% ugly!! If it wins, it will be a beauty, coz all cars that win end up being the best looking somehow. I remember Ross Brawn saying that about his Brawn F1 car.

          1. That Brawn was fugly though.

        2. I disagree. I think it’s stunning, and very elegant… particularly in that natural carbon look. Too bad it won’t stay that way.

          1. At least Audi put together a decent livery.

          2. A lot better, and more authentic, than Mercedes GP painting their carbon fibre car in “brushed aluminium” look to mirror some of their success decades ago.

            But it will probably get a new livery painted anyhow. Just a shame the “sharkfin” thing is getting into LeMans/GT cars now as well. Or is that an F-duct hid in the fin? :-D

      2. it’s a marvelous machine can’t wait to see it race. Talking about beautiful machines how bad I wouldn’t like to see the RedBull X1 in LMS Prototype class. =)

        I hope that they keep it black like that.

        1. Is it me or does that thing got an f-duct? It does as well.

          Oh hey and hey there again chaps, I’ve been traveling a bit, good to be back!

        2. Looks a bit like Daffy Duck’s head on wheels if you ask me…

          1. Yeah the more I look at it the less i like it. First look had it swish and menacing. Now it just looks blocky and normal.

        3. Talking about beautiful machines how bad I wouldn’t like to see the RedBull X1 in LMS Prototype class

          The X1 will never be built. Not because it’s a car in a video game, but because nobody could survive it. Formula 1 drivers routinely experience four or five times the pull of gravity; in the X1, they would be experiencing nearly double that. However, the human body can only endure so much – most people black out at around eight or nine times the force of gravity, and if you were to experience twenty times the pull of gravity for a sustained period, it would prove fatal. You’ll occasionally get someone who somehow survies massive forces (I remember a case of a guy who experienced over a hundred and fifty g-forces at Silverstone when his car went from over 300km/h to 0 in the space of thirty centimentres during an accident, but he only felt them for a moment). Nobody would be able to drive the X1 because they’d just black out before long.

          Plus, it doesn’t conform with LMP-1 regulations.

          1. Hmm, Red Bull Air Race pilots regularly pull 10G for 3-5 seconds. They survive and some of them are even old men.

          2. I agree it will never be built, but they could wear a G-suit while driving it in order to survive the G-Forces.

            It’s a shame really as it would be interesting to see just how fast a car can be build given no restraints other than the laws of physics!!

          3. Actually the prototype IS built. But if a fully functional version will ever be built only a handful people might ever know if even that. The estimate is that the car could produce 8G lateral G-force. With g suite in a reclined position human body can handle up to 9G in subsecond maneuvers and handle 7G in multi second forces. Since it’s built extremely low, just like a F1 car the driver is literally laying down already. With a G-suite there is no reason why a fit and trained racing driver wouldn’t be able to handle this car in reality.

            As for LMP regulations I’m not to well versed with them, just first time I saw the X1 that was what came to my mind.

          4. The guy you are talking about is David Purley. From wikipedia:

            He survived an estimated 179.8 G’s in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall. For many years, this was thought to be the highest G-forces ever survived by a human being. He suffered multiple fractures to his legs, pelvis and ribs.

            He was also the guy who tried to help Roger Williamson.

        4. The Sri Lankan
          12th December 2010, 1:29

          i think the Rebellion Lola-Toyota looks better than this. we are yet to see this thing in full livery and if Audi holds the same lame red and silver scheme then this will be a bummer, anyhow its a whole different story on the performance side.

      3. I’m pretty sure they tested and showed off most of their recent prototypes in black, before using a still good, but not as good livery. A bit like Williams testing in all navy blue, or how McLaren used orange a few years ago.

    2. looks like it uses the old mclaren “shark fin” as well

      1. If they have to ruin yet another otherwise good-looking racing car with a shark fin, couldn’t they at least make it out of perspex to hide the fact that it exists?

        1. Unfortunately that is one of the new regulations of 2011 to stop the cars flipping over apparently.

          1. Were they flipping over a lot before??

          2. That sounds like a ridiculous regulation. I echo adrian’s sentiment

        1. But the shark fin wouldn’t have any impact on the way the first 2 crashes happened anyway. Admittedly it may have made the third one less serious… or, the air would still have gotten under the car and the combination of air pressing against the shark fin on top would send it into and even faster barrel-roll

  2. There’s a guy who is continually broadcasting old f1 races on Justin.tv for those of you who are getting any withdrawal symptoms

    http://www.justin.tv/s/17/f1_legends_18

    1. sshhhh!! you have to be quiet incase “you know who” hears about this lol.

      1. Nah, they don’t care about races that old, it’s that other sight we’re all keen on hiding. Bernie can’t do anything about Justin TV.

  3. Audi R18 is the sex, but shark fin, seriously?

    1. Yeah im not to sure about that either.

      1. I hate who ever came up with the idea for the shark fin. Safety or not, they destroy the look or LMPs.

        1. Except for on the old D-type, where it’s just iconic

    2. They’re mandatory for the new LMP cars as a safety measure to reduce the chance of them flipping over if they spin at high speed.

      1. You have to hand it to Audi on this one – compared to the other LMP coupes that have been launched, they’ve amanged to make the shark fin look half-decent. Spy shots of the Peugeot 908 and the new Riley LMP-2 have emerged showing the cars with a fin bolted on at right angles to the point where the fin is the highest point of the car. Audi’s backwards-sloping fin is quite aesthetic, even for a shark fin.

        1. it still looks horrid. Spoils the looks of it, completely

          1. +1000103120310201401501350

        2. Oh god just saw the 908’s fin, totally ruins a fantastic looking car.

      2. I hope it helps, but it’s ironic and odd that no one seems to have pointed out that Mark Webber, the passenger of that infamous Mercedes CLR backflip at Le Mans in 99′ managed to find a way to nearly flip his RB6 this year as well.

        Ok, so he had a little help, but he also had a sharktail.

        1. Different kind of flip both times man.

          1. I know it is, but how many racers have had 2 flips? None that I can think of.

            That said, I agree with everyone about the sharkfin, while it’s ok on the Audi, it looks awful on the other Le Mans cars, and I hate it on the F1 cars too, I really hope with the new adjustable rear wings next season we see sharkfins disappear.

  4. And if you ask me, all F1 cars could look like that (without compromising their speed) – it has more to do with actual cars.

    1. If you looks at Neweys unrestricted F1 car it’s no suprise to see he’s covered the wheels. I reckon without the regs, all out track cars would look more like Le Mans cars than F1 cars.

      1. Yeah but although Formula 1 should be the pinnacle it should also be an open-wheel formula as that’s just what it is- with the exception of the W196 streamliner, before the rules were refined, the prettiest F1 car ever.

  5. wow! there are some really big headlights.
    and they also took F-Duct from F1 :)

    1. do the led’s have the same power as normal headlights?
      or do they need about 800 of them to make a difference

      1. It takes many of them, but they are brighter and more powerful than both normal halogen lights and the high intensity xenon beams as well. Plus, they look awesome!

    2. I’ve been told that F-ducts have been banned from Le Mans cars. Looking at the behind shots, the fin does appear to be too thin to hold an F-duct channel.

  6. Well said Maksutov, he could have done many thing better but he chose to do the worst.

  7. Saw the Audi earlier and hoped it would show up here, much more exciting than talk of flat-4s 2 years off, looks like two B2-bombers got frisky behind the hanger, and had themselves a little batmobile.

    Clearly taking it’s design cues from here, Ludicrous Speed:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTJq8co38Pk

    Even got Tron stripes on its headlamps:
    http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2011-audi-r18-lmp1/#3667491

    Sadly I can imagine some dead-eyed imbeciles in Audi marketing already putting together their presentation to have it painted, leave it alone, pure raw carbon.
    Stunning creation.

    1. Stunning indeed, that thing is downright scary looking! Between this menacing bruiser and the angry looking and also new Peugeots this Le Mans might be the most fearsomely awesome since Ford and Ferrari clashed in the late 60’s!

  8. Lush, just lush!

  9. looks like the next generation of sportscars will be certainly cool looking. I am surprised at the timing of photos. How will this car affect the copycats??

  10. Horrible car!! Just for one thing: That “dorsal tail”… i dislike it like i dislike in F1!!!

    But, nice cars if the give one to Jacques to win LeMans on 201!!!

  11. In regards to that Audi – its stunning.

    As a little kid I started watching F1 as the late 80s/early 90s cars were physically appealing. They are heading in the right direction given the cars of 2007/2008 will go down as some of the ugliest cars produced but I do think a certain amount of consideration does need to go towards the aesthetics of the car, as a beautiful car is the best marketing for motorsport. Will the new R18 attract people to the Le Mans – probably.

  12. Awsome, cant wait to see it run.

  13. HounslowBusGarage
    11th December 2010, 8:05

    Dear Santa . . .

  14. Has nobody else noticed how Windsor and Buxton are contradicting one another on Twitter? I know it’s easy to write Windsor off because of the USF1 fiasco and the way he is generally disliked, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely without credibility. I mean, most people similarly despise James Allen, but if you read his blog and listen to some of the pre-race stuff he does for OneHD in Australia, he really does know his stuff.

    1. I was a regular reader of GP Week and looked forward to Windsor’s USF1 article when it was announced but after reading his totally self-serving non-explanation of what happenned at USF1 I will never read another word he writes and haven’t read a GP Week since.

  15. In the second link, the last photo regarding Suzuka is not of 2010, it shows a BAR Honda and Renault pit crew person.

    1. I think it’s intended more as a joke image than anything else. It is, after all, the lollipop man using a lollipop as an umbrella …

  16. There’s a lot of people on here and on the greater intertubes saying how they think the Audi R18 looks ugly, well your forgetting that a purpose built racing car doesn’t look good because of its Angelina Jolie hips, but because its fast.

    I think the R18 is stunning, although its the Uma Thurman of the racing car world, much like Uma if you pushed me to explain why its good looking, I wouldn’t know the answer.

  17. Coolest Batmobile ever.

    1. And just in time for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES …

  18. This car must be made of marmite. Personally, it’s the ugliest car I’ve ever seen. Literally. We’ll see how it races, but my god it looks awful.

  19. I don’t like the fussy looking headlights but damn that’s a good looking car. Almost back up to the standards of the Group C days.

  20. Peugeot 908 looks much better.

  21. @COTD

    We live in a world where bullying by your boss/manager in a professional sport, job or “level” doesn’t work and hardly happens any more. There are rules, civil and sport law that prevents this type of thing, and if appropriately addressed the victim is always a winner

    I’m afraid that that’s an awfully idealised view of how things work in real life. That’s like saying that since we have laws, there’s hardly any crime anymore. When you’re in a pressure situation with authority/boss figures bearing down on you and implying that the continuation of your career hinges on complying with them (which is what I’m sure it was like), I don’t think everyone’s automatic response is: “don’t you oppress me man, I have rights and there are rules against this sort of thing, I’ll have you know.”

    That he went through with it afterwards is not justifiable, but that two authority figures who should have known a lot better came up with it and then saddled him with the responsibility of choosing whether to do it or not, is even less so.

    I can’t help feeling that Nelsinho’s lack of success on the track makes people judge him even more harshly for crashgate than they would otherwise. Of course if he’d been better on track he wouldn’t have been in a position to be pressured into crashing that day, but for me his being a bad driver doesn’t make him into an even worse person.

  22. Looks brilliant, but the livery Audi has used in LM series for years is Silver base with red blocks of colour for their Tdi sponsor.

  23. Forget the F duct idea for a minute I wonder if they are implementing a KERS type system due to the new regulations requiring more speed/distance from smaller engines.

  24. That car is an orgasm on wheels! Thanks for the mention Keith.

  25. it looks like a locust from the side “/

  26. RE the coldest gp question: the 1976 US GP was the coldest I think. So cold that it snowed overnight, and the drivers struggled to get heat in the tyres it was that cold.

  27. note the lack of standard issue number panel and class running lights. to me, this looks like a prototype prototype.

    1. I noticed it had no tail lights and wondered why.

  28. Craig Scarborough has some nice drawings to explain the finesses of that Audi R18. Pretty good http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/audi-r18-contemporary-lmp-tech/

  29. ugh…..bring back group C already!

  30. Nothing will ever look better than the Porsche 956 Rothmans car

  31. how is this suppose to be better looking than an F1 car? I mean, look at it! The driver sits so far up the front, front-to-back the car doesn’t look balanced, and it doesn’t look aerodynamic at all!
    Yes, its the black livery is awesome, but for some reason I have a feeling Audi is just going to change it somewhere mid season just like the R15 plus. And the first version of the R15 looks so much better then R18 (and formula 1 cars!).

  32. I just took another look at the R18.

    I think its the worst looking Le Mans in recent years. Unless someone else is releasing something worse for 2011.

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