Audi unveil new R18 e-tron quattro racer

After travelling almost ten kilometres through the city in a motorcade, the new car did a lap on the Circuit Bugatti and arrived in front of the race track's modern Welcome Centre.

"I've been competing at Le Mans since 1997, but this was absolutely new for me, too, and very exciting," said Tom Kristensen, who in 2006 drove the Audi R10 TDI on its world premiere - in Paris - in public traffic as well.


The body of the new R18 e-tron quattro was still black with red details when the car made its world debut in December, but now, the le Mans contender is finished in a new colour scheme of white, silver, red and black.

"The colours are symbolic," explains Dirk van Braeckel, Design Manager Motorsport and Special Projects at Audi. "Silver emphasises the past success in racing. It provides the base for our livery. White, as the second colour, harmonises well with silver and appears very light. It stands for the hybrid drive. White is used asymmetrically in order to symbolise the complexity of this powertrain technology."

The contours are modelled after the conductive tracks on printed circuit boards, but clearly featured as an abstraction.

Black is used for the front and rear wings, as well as on sections of the fenders and sides with highly defined geometric contours.

"Matt black nicely contrasts with the gloss white," says van Braeckel. "Black stands for lightweight design. The black look of the large fin on the engine cover is intended to represent something like a backbone."

A unique red - Audi's performance colour - completes the graphics. Reflective surfaces, with Audi's logos and inscriptions, are exclusively applied to these areas, as well as the pronounced longitudinal orientation of the colour in the overall concept.

"The reflective livery is particularly impressive at night and provides the spectators with an enhanced experience," explains van Braeckel. "Due to its longitudinal orientation the graphics express the speed that is so typical for Le Mans. Even the rims include a red segment. With the wheel rotations, it achieves a very dynamic effect."


More cubic capacity for higher efficiency
The Audi R18 e-tron quattro's powertrain includes a cubic capacity increase from 3.7 to four litres for the V6 TDI powerplant, in order to further optimise the engine that had already been very efficient.

After testing various energy recovery systems, Audi decided to compete in the class of up to two megajoules of recuperation energy at Le Mans. The energy exclusively flows through a motor generator unit (MGU) at the front axle and is stored in a flywheel energy storage system.

"We opted for this concept following extensive testing," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "In our opinion, it provides the optimum balance between efficient energy use, size, weight, energy conversion efficiency, responsiveness, driveability and a favourable operating strategy - combined with durability, which is the basic prerequisite for success at Le Mans."


On March 28-29, Audi will take the new R18 e-tron quattro to the official FIA WEC test session at Le Castellet (France) before the defending world champions begin their title defence at Silverstone on April 20.