Audi repeats racing history
50 wins for Le Mans car beats pre-war Auto Union pioneers
Seventy years after the reign of the all-conquering Auto Union Grand Prix racing cars of the 1930s, the Audi Le Mans R8 sports car has just become the most successful modern-day prototype ever by achieving its 50th race victory in only five years. Its pre-war Auto Union forebear posted 32 wins over four years.
Auto Union, 
established in 1933, was the first marque to use the legendary four-ring Audi emblem. In the ensuing four years, the company took part in 54 races, winning 32 and setting 15 world records and 23 class records with the A, B, C and D-type single-seater Grand Prix racing cars. In the hands of legendary racing drivers Bernd Rosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari and Hans Stuck, these mammoth V12 and V16 "heavyweights" achieved competition glory at speeds of over 240mph.
The Auto Union was the first successful mid-engined Grand Prix car, the precursor of current Formula One design. It would take 26 years from when Hans Stuck Snr set new World speed records on the Auto Union A-type’s 1934 debut for this layout to become the norm in Grand Prix racing.
50 outright wins
The latest Audi success in the new millennium is the Audi R8, a sports racing car that, since its race début in March 2000, has claimed 50 outright wins in 60 starts. And Johnny Herbert and co-driver Jamie Davies powered their Audi to its 50th victory in the final round of the Le Mans Endurance Series at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium last month.
The Audi R8 has chalked up four Le Mans 24 Hour victories and five consecutive wins in both the Sebring 12 Hour and 1,000-mile Road Atlanta "Petit Le Mans" races. The latest of these titles was achieved earlier this month (25 Sep) at Road Atlanta by JJ Lehto and Marco Werner. Audi R8 drivers have also won five successive American Le Mans Series (ALMS) titles and now the inaugural Le Mans Endurance Series (LMES) "crown".
The R8 has set new standards not only for performance, but also for reliability. There has not been a single engine failure in a race to this day.
Since 2001, the Audi R8 V8 engine has been using FSI direct injection technology. This pioneering combination of turbo charging and direct petrol injection, which reduces fuel consumption while simultaneously improving throttle response, is featured in Audi’s new A3 and A4 2.0T models.
Audi engineers also demonstrated "Vorsprung durch Technik" in many other areas. The R8 was the first Le Mans prototype with a pneumatic gear shift, and remains unique in this respect, helping Herbert and Davies plus fellow Briton Allan McNish to achieve success.
This year’s Le Mans 24-hour race was one of the most exciting in the illustrious eighty-year history of the race, with the final result hanging in the balance until the closing minutes. For Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx it was the most important race in a season long campaign to prove themselves the best sportscar team in Europe. The team, which only came together in the New Year, had an ambitious programme to race at Le Mans and in the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series.
Audi racers in new TV series
A Channel 4 series broadcast in five parts on consecutive weeks - "Inside the mind of a sportscar team"- tells their story as they rise to the challenge of races at Sebring, Le Mans, Monza, the Nürburging, Silverstone and Spa. The series started on Sunday September 26th at 8.00am and will continue on October 3rd at 8.00am and then at 8.30am on Sundays for the remaining three parts.
A limited edition DVD has also been produced that provides extended footage of the race at Le Mans. The DVD will be released in advance of the series to provide journalists with a tantalising sneak preview of just how exciting sportscar racing is, particularly from within the pit lane.
Confirmed TV times for "Inside the mind of a sports car team" are;
- Programme One: Sunday 26th September - 8.00am
- Programme Two: Sunday 3rd October - 8.00am
- Programme Three: Sunday 10th October - 8.30am
- Programme Four: Sunday 17th October - 8.30am
- Programme Five: Sunday 24th October - 8.30am
Anyone know where you can get hold of the DVD, is it publically available? If not, anyone know of a friendly journo with a copy that I could burn?
Must admit that when the Audis first appeared at Le Mans in '99 that I thought it was hilarious when they didn't perform following the hype that preceeded them. Fair play to Audi for the commitment and investment sportscar racing...even if the Bentley win was a bit of a fix!
The odd thing about the article is that they have chosen now to make a big deal about the 50 wins of the R8. Surely it surpassed the pre-war "record" of 32 wins quite a while back?
To some extent it belittles the achievement of the R8 as it is essentially the same car which has been used over the 5 years. Also, the pre-war programme was partly bankrolled by the Nazi government. The R8 is an entirely privately funded project.
neilchills said:
Must admit that when the Audis first appeared at Le Mans in '99 that I thought it was hilarious when they didn't perform following the hype that preceeded them. Fair play to Audi for the commitment and investment sportscar racing...even if the Bentley win was a bit of a fix!
The hard top R8Cs were a bit rubbish, I agree, but the R8Rs were third and fourth at their first attempt at Le Mans, which was pretty good compared to BMW's '98 debacle.
Eric Mc said:
As usual, the "spin" overlooks a few pertinent facts. The pre-war Auto Unions weren't Audis for a start. Secondly, the various versions of the Auto Unions were quite different cars - particularly the D Type, which was a completely different design. The only commonality it had with early cars being the location of the engine.
The odd thing about the article is that they have chosen now to make a big deal about the 50 wins of the R8. Surely it surpassed the pre-war "record" of 32 wins quite a while back?
To some extent it belittles the achievement of the R8 as it is essentially the same car which has been used over the 5 years. Also, the pre-war programme was partly bankrolled by the Nazi government. The R8 is an entirely privately funded project.
Yes and they forget to mention that, with a few exceptions they only won when Mercedes didnt enter- I bet they are including the hillclimb "races" as well. Certainly the pre-war mercedes record is probably more impressive.
The R8, however is in my opinion a beautiful car and I always look forward to seeing it race
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