The hardcore diesel performance guys are a uniquely awesome bunch. Torque and black smoke give their rides a certain attitude and swagger. Case in point is this amazing Powerstroke powered dually hot rod. Everything about it is wonderfully done.
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.
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.
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.