The Audi R18‘s digital rear view mirror. The R18 has no rear visibility aside from the side-mounted mirrors. This is a very cool, tech solution is an active matrix OLED display with excellent image and screen quality. On top of that, there are NIGHT and DAY settings, to avoid headlights glaring at night and to avoid sun glare in the day.
src: Fourtitude
I saw this film at an official Audi screening several weeks ago and it was fantastic. The 2011 Le Mans will go down in history as one of THE best Le Mans races—-extremely exciting to watch and unnerving after unexpected incidents. You don’t have to be an Audi fan to enjoy this—you just have to love racing. A must watch, in my humblest opinion.
Truth in 24 (original) is also still available for FREE download on iTunes, however Audi have just released Truth in 24 II—-which chronicles the last year’s heroic R18 win. The perfect price for a fantastic documentary. Go check it out!
iTunes link for Truth in 24 II
(note that the link above is for the US iTunes; please check your country’s iTunes to make sure if it is available)
This has to be one of THE best openings to any video i’ve seen in a long time….cryptic night time scenes with slowly evolving funkified 1970s psychedelic music makes for video perfection! What a year for great cars in rallying as well! That Fulvia is off-the-hook cool.
What an amazing 25 minute documentary this is! Enjoy
Thanks to Simon C for sharing this!
I’m buzzing about Le Mans already . Time to get the Audi flags out. I’m excited to see if the Toyota TS030 is up to the task…it certainly looks the part!
src: Audi Motorsport Blog (via Audi Sport Unofficial)
foto by Jake Yorath (L’endurance)
It’s raining a storm! The Audi R18 E-tron quattro debuts! Audi is currently 1-2-3-4. wicked!
Watch the race LIVE on Audi.tv
also alternatively you can watch this feed with live timing: FIA WEC
(foto below courtesy of Fourtitude)
Last night I attended the debut showing of Truth In 24 II (Part 2, “Every Second Counts”) at the Audi Forum NYC. If you haven’t been to the Audi Forum in NYC, well it’s another lovely place for Audiphiles such as myself to hang out for an hour or two for special events such as this one. Set on Park Ave. and 47th street—it is open during the week to the public, and on the weekends for special events such as this one. Thanks to George (who makes a striking cameo in the film!) for getting me on the list for this.
I am a huge fan of the original Truth In 24, as I think it is one of THE great motorsports documentaries ever made. Jason Statham returns as the voice behind the action, with a slightly overdramatic tone—-however one that really does capture some of the excitement of the spectacle which is Le Mans.
So we all know the story here—-the 2011 Le Mans was one of THE greatest in the history of the La Sarthe beast…..and hence the idea behind Ti24-II was even stronger than the original. The race was even more interesting, the car was even more stunning (the R18 TDI is just blisteringly cool), and the storyline of that race creates a total atmosphere of how one team battled fierce competition against crashes, adversity odds during the race to become the outright winners.
You don’t have to be an Audi Sport fan to love this documentary—you just have to love the idea of motorsports. Part 2 lifts off where Part 1 closed the door—and it feels more like a continuation of the story rather than a new one. I was captivated by the documentary—by the beauty of the race cars, the trauma of watching a stressful race which I remember watching live last summer, and by the excellent narration, cinematography, and conversations with race personnel.
This is a must watch, as was the first one. Truth In 24 II will be made digitally and on DVD very soon, and will be showing in premieres around the country until then. Go see it.
Audi R8 V10 Spyder parked in the Audi Forum.
The photos here have been REMOVED due to their unoriginal effects as I was informed by the photographer (Anke Luckmann). The ORIGINAL PHOTOS have now been uploaded into a new post, thanks to Ms. Anke Luckmann for sending me her original versions of these photos:
https://iedei.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/vettel-alpine-a110-updated-with-original-photos/
DRIVE has done a fantastic job editing this……these days, my absolute favourite form of motorsport is endurance racing……watch this 15 minutes and you’ll see why!
Octane has taken some cool photos of the first rally spec 1980 Ur quattro prototype rally car….although the car needs more dirt on it!
src: more pics and read the great write-up about the car at Octane
Audi qualified 1-2-3 for this with the glorious R18. There are 9+ hours left in the race, so go to ESPN3 to watch this live now!
Make sure you select the “ALMS” race on the right hand menu.
and YES this is going to be running in the 2012 Le Mans as an experimental prototype, unclassified in any class per se. I have to say that aside from how hideous it is—I will be very excited to see this freakshow rummaging through the field at Le Mans! Let’s just hope it doesn’t cause any accidents….and take over Ferrari’s role of poor driving.
Can it even bloody steer!? see the videos at the bottom to find out..
from Nissan:
“A highly-advanced and hugely-efficient Nissan engine will power the remarkable DeltaWing car as it races in anger for the first time at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June).
While Nissan DeltaWing will not be classified in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Company is looking to showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, that filter down to Nissan’s road car product range.
A race-prepared 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, featuring direct petrol injection and a turbocharger, will power Nissan DeltaWing, which is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer.“
videos:
src: prwire via l’endurance
I’m so excited about this; the next Le Mans is going to be absolutely wicked! Audi today introduced the latest variation of last year’s Le Mans winning R18, the R18 e-Tron quattro, marking the first AWD race car entry by Audi in a looooooong time. This is a complicated drivetrain, with electric motors driving the front wheels, and the diesel motor driving the rear wheels—-with variation between them, so the front wheels serve as stabilizers depending on when the electric motor is on and what direction the car is turning in. Surely this has added weight as well, but it will be fascinating to watch the TDI R18s running simultaneously with the e-tron R18 quattros! As with most street and prior race-spec’d Audis….the grip gained by quattro will likely make up for any weight difference.
src: Audi
Audi entered 3 cars into the 12 hours of Bathurst this year, and the #1 car came out on top after pouring rain and a kangaroo crossing the track! These R8 LMS specially put forth for Bathurst looks sweeeeet!
Photos and videos:
Official 2 part video:
src: Audi Sport
I cannot wait to see Lotus entering this into the 2012 FIA WRC GT class, and although Lotus still hasn’t officially begun its season with this rally version of the Exige, they claim it will enter in competition for this 2012 season at some point.
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus’ Director of Motorsport, said: “When you consider that we’ve only began working on this car in July, I think what we’ve achieved in that time has been incredible. For me the Exige S makes the perfect GT rally car, it has an awesome 3.5-litre, supercharged engine, and we’ve managed to balance the weight perfectly to meet the minimum weight regulations.
365hp, to be exact! Wicked.
Video:
src: Lotus
Is this the best looking hot hatch ever made? I am starting to think so…
the Peugeot 205 GTI, photographed by Autostyle
National Geographic recently ranked the greatest sporting events in the world. What do you think they ranked #1? LE MANS!!
“Skill, speed, and stamina are the three s’s that mark the world’s best automobile race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race, organized by Automobile Club de L’Ouest, bridges past and present on the automotive circuit.
The competition is set on a non-permanent track at Circuit de la Sarthe near the city of Le Mans on the Sarthe River. Roughly 46 cars start the race, in a series of classes that include prototype high-performance vehicles, dedicated race cars, and street cars. The diversity of autos gives the race a mix of old-fashioned and modern competitors. The winner is the car, driven by a team of three drivers, that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours.
The first Le Mans contest took place in May 1923; today it is held every June. The race begins at 4 p.m., and for 24 hours the sound of roaring engines fills 8 miles (13 kilometers) of French countryside.”
mad respect, NG….mad respect.
src: National Geographic via Le Mans
Nigel Smuckatelli has catalogued many of his photos from the 60s and 70s on his flickr page, and in his own words: “Most of my photos were taken as a college student who volunteered as a safety official at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in the late 60’s and early 70’s.”
He has literally thousands of photos on his page….a good percentage of them are photos he took, although mixed in there are also stock and obtained photos…..but well worth sifting through them…so make sure you follow the link above! Here are some of his original photographs i loved:
This is just epic. Here’s the list of Silver Arrows race cars that will be at Goodwood this year——driving on the track! This is the first time in over 70 years that these cars will be racing on the same track. I can’t wait to see/hear the footage when this happens.
The list of cars planning to be there:
Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165
&
Auto Union Type C and Type D
full story here: Fourtitude
IEDEI 