This is awesome news:
As the world’s first automobile manufacturer the inventor of “TDI” won with a diesel engine at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The new Audi R10 TDI is powered by a completely new 5.5-litre, twelve-cylinder bi-turbo TDI engine which is extremely economical and quiet.
The Le Mans Prototype, with over 650 hp and more than 1100 Newton metres of torque, significantly exceeds the power produced by the majority of previous Audi racing cars; including that of its victorious R8 predecessor.
1100 Newton metres? Wow. Apparently the unprecedented power of a diesel race engine meant the transmission and gears had to be completely redesigned. Wonder what it’s fuel efficiency was relative to the gas engines?
CarList provides this insight:
One of the diesel engine’s biggest advantages is the low fuel consumption, especially at part-throttle and overrun. However, when compared to more classic circuits which demand a higher ratio of part throttle, the lower specific consumption will hardly be noticeable at Le Mans because the quota of full-throttle is almost 75 percent.
Well, that means effeciency is lower because of the style of driving, but when comparing apples-to-apples (the diesel racecar versus other racecars at 75 percent full-throttle) AS boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich said the R10 will get several extra laps from a tank.
Audi revolutionized the modern engines in 1989 when it introduced the TDI design for diesel, as the TDI race site explains, and innovation has continued since then, spurred by government regulations:
Audi has constantly set new technical standards during the development of the TDI engines over the last 16-years. The current highlight is the Audi V8 4.2 TDI quattro with 326 hp and 650 Newton metres torque “one of the most powerful compression ignition engines found in a production limousine” and all this whilst complying with the EU 4 emission limits and with an average fuel consumption of 9.4 litres per 100 kilometres.
Can you find a US manufacturer with a similar success story? I can. They’re called Caterpillar and they too are innovating in response to government regulations:
As of the end of April, a total of 26 machine models are available! Each of these machines use Caterpillar engines with ACERT –Technology, the result of more than $500 million in research and development and more than 250 patents. The engines are compliant with the United States EPA Tier 3 emissions regulations governing off-road machines, which took effect January 1, 2005 for engines of 300 to 750 horsepower. Regulations for machines in the 175 to 300 horsepower range will take effect January 1, 2006.
If you think of regulations as a form of leadership based on moral conviction, then innovation is an obvious consequence, like landing a man on the moon.
Caterpillar engineers worked with approximately 125 variables to find the optimum balance. There are more than 10 million possible combustion combinations. Those engineers were challenged by the highly intertwined relationship of (1) reduced emissions, (2) engine performance, (3) fuel efficiency and (4) engine durability. Those are not necessarily complimentary objectives. Improving emissions, for example, can have an adverse effect on fuel efficiency. Their overriding goal is no different than the goal Caterpillar has had since its inception—to provide customers with the lowest owning and operating costs, and the lowest cost per unit of material moved.
Innovation is what Diesel always wanted for his engines, but Cat obscures the fact that reduced emissions is a direct result of government regulation that was spurred by scientific research and progressive groups who measured the external consquences of engine output.
Well, if I can’t convince Audi to ship me a new TDI, then maybe I’ll be driving a Cat soon. Or maybe I should wait for the Honda and Lexus diesel technology to arrive. What’s the matter with Detroit, or should I say Washington? Where are the American (bio)diesel passenger cars?
Edited to add: a Le Mans insider let me know that the TDI racecar engine is so quiet that you can barely hear it. While this offends some (traditionalists like the “roar”) I see it as another good sign. Why be noisy? Have you ever been in a major urban area without the noise of the automobile? Try it sometime (like early in the morning) and you’ll feel like you’re in a completely different (cleaner, healthier) city.