Video: Evo's Chris Harris test drives Audi R8 LMS at Silverstone

In case you're not entirely familiar with Evo magazine's Chris Harris, we wanted to point out that in addition to being quite the wordsmith, this British scribe is also a professional racing driver (most recently driving the #175 Porsche 911 GT3 at the 24hours of Nürburgring). That said, Harris knows his way around a GT3 car. Watch as "Monkey" takes a few laps around Silverstone's Stowe Circuit in a United Autosports Audi R8 LMS.



Source: Evo
Photo: United Autosports

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Video: Audi at the Wörthersee Tour 2010

Earlier this month we posted a few videos of the various Audi A1 "motto vehicles" to grace the runway at this year's annual Wörthersee Tour in Reifnitz, Austria. There was more to the Audi stand than just the special edition A1's however. Audi TV has compiled a video highlighting all that Audi had to offer fans at this year's Wörthersee Tour. We have to make a point to visit next year's show, it looks like a really amazing time was had by all.



Source: Audi (YouTube)

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Video: Audi A1 "The Next Big Thing" - Episode 4

Audi has released the fourth episode of "The Next Big Thing" today, starring Justin Timberlake, Dania Ramirez and the Audi A1. The episode, titled "This is what happens next," picks up with John (Timberlake) and Toni (Ramirez) being held up by "bunny." The tables turn however, in more ways than one.



Note: Video contains some 'mature' language (NSFW).

Source: Audi (YouTube) - Audi.com/A1

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Audi DTM driver Mattias Ekström to test with Red Bull NASCAR team in Virginia

Following his DTM win in Valencia on Sunday, Mattias Ekström is fulfilling a long-time dream of driving a NASCAR Sprint Cup car. Invited by his team sponsor, Red Bull, Ekström will be performing track tests with the NASCAR Red Bull team today at the Virginia International Raceway.

The opportunity arose after Brian Vickers (driver of the #83 Red Bull Toyota) was unable to test due to health reasons. "It’s no secret that the NASCAR series fascinates me and that it’s been a long-harbored dream of mine to drive such a car,” said Ekström. In search for a driver to replace Vickers for testing, the Red Bull team remembered the interest shown by Ekström, who has been contesting the DTM in Red Bull livery for nine years. Once Audi Sport approved the excursion, 'Eki' hopped a flight bound for America Sunday night, just following a triumphant weekend in Valencia.

”The racers of the Audi family live motorsport with a great passion. That’s why we are pleased to support wishes like Mattias’ for a NASCAR adventure,” says Head of Audi Sport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "Mattias has proven his versatility and class in many different motorsport disciplines such as in rally sport or at the ‘Race of Champions.’ We’re excited to see how he will do in a car and on a track that are both new to him.”

Although the chance to drive a NASCAR race car is a dream of Ekström's, the trip will not be all fun and games. The Red Bull NASCAR team hopes to gain valuable insight from the experience of a proven road course expert. "With Brian Vickers sidelined for the rest of the season, we needed a road-racing expert to help prepare the no. 83 for Sonoma,” said Red Bull Racing’s general manager Jay Frye. “We appreciate Mattias's willingness to help out, and we look forward to his insight.”



Source: Audi Motorsport and Red Bull Racing
NASCAR Photo: Red Bull Racing

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Video: Inside the Audi Race Experience

As we reported in March, Audi has raised the bar of the "driving experience" to new heights with the launch of Audi race experience. Offering customers the rare chance to not only drive an Audi R8 LMS race car, the Audi race experience also presents the opportunity for customers to participate in an actual race with a professional Audi ‘factory’ team. Still not sold? Check out Audi's jaw-dropping teaser video after the jump.



For more information on the Audi race experience, please visit audi.com/driving

Source: Audi (YouTube)



Get a great car insurance quote with ASDA.

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DTM Video Recap: Highlights from Valencia 2010

To accommodate those of you who are unable to watch DTM live, we've vowed to include video highlights of each race. Following the highlights from Hockenheim, we now have fresh clips of Audi's victory at Valencia. After the jump, you will find three video clips from this past weekend's race at Valencia; race start, Molina battling with Paffett and Mattais Ekström's victory.







A big thanks goes out to DTMEnthusiast on YouTube for the videos. If you've enjoyed the previous videos and love DTM as much as we do, you should subscribe to this channel.

Source: DTMEnthusiast (YouTube)

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Mattias Ekström Claims DTM Victory for Audi at Valencia

It's not very often that a driver can call a race weekend "perfect." For Mattias Ekström however, this weekend's DTM race in Valencia, Spain was described as just that. Starting off by claiming the pole position during Saturday's qualifying, Ekström was then able to boast not only the fastest lap of the race but also a first place victory for Audi. All told, five of the eight top finishers were Audi A4 DTM cars. Making Audi the strongest manufacturer of the race.

"If you haven’t won for such a long time you can really feel how sweet victory is,” said Ekström after clinching his 14th win in the most popular international touring car racing series – and his first since the race at Le Mans in October 2008. "Today, everything worked perfectly. My thanks go to Audi and Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. The tires held up too. I was a little worried when I felt some vibrations – but that was just pick-up on the tires. The ten points for the championship really feel good.”

Overall, Audi Sport's technical setup was spot on. In addition to Ekström's good fortune, Martin Tomczyk was able to advance from position nine on the grid to second with two late pit stops. "The strategy was outstanding,” enthused the German who had suffered a puncture at the Hockenheim season opener while clearly leading the race. "The car was running like a charm. I was able to drive one fast lap after the other. After my second pit stop I was on the track behind ‘Eki’."

Tomczyk’s joy over a second place finish lasted only until about 7 p.m. though. One of the twelve tires used on his Audi A4 DTM was accidentally taken from a wrong lot which led to a disqualification in the evening due to a "formal mistake.”

"This did not give Martin any advantage but the rules prescribe an exclusion in this case,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "Principally, it was a great race for Audi – and we could have been very pleased with the original result. Our cars were very fast and our drivers strong. Overall, it was a strong team performance. ‘Eki,’ Oliver (Jarvis) and Martin (Tomczyk) determined the race. It could have been a 1-2-3 exploit for Audi. But the problem with the lack of fuel pressure with Oliver’s car, which we still need to analyze, and the mishap in Martin’s team prevented our possible one-two-three win.”

Audi's spectacular performance at Valencia was also celebrated by one special spectator. Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, the Chairman of the Management Board of the Volkswagen Group, showed his enthusiasm in the above photo.

Rounding out the other Audi drivers to finish in the points were Alexandre Prémat, Timo Scheider, Mike Rockenfeller and Miguel Molina taking places three, four, six and eight respectively. Mattias Ekström is now runner up in the driver standings with 13 points, only a three point gap to the new leader of the standings Bruno Spengler. The next DTM race will be held in two weeks at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.



Source: Audi Motorsport

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Audi TTS shows off facelift in Glutorange

Though the Audi TT's freshly lifted face may be subtle, the color of this TTS coupe surely is not. Check out these new photos of the Audi TTS in one of our favorite colors, Glutorange.







For more information on the facelifted TT and TTS, check out our featured post from April.

Photos: Audi

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Tom Kristensen's 2010 Le Mans Countdown - Week 12 - Audi's Le Mans evolution

In it's twelfth installment, our weekly correspondence from Tom Kristensen continues. In this week's letter, TK covers how both Audi Sport and the 24 hours of Le Mans has evolved over the years. From telemetry, transmissions to even injector nozzles, from an engineering standpoint, the Le Mans of today is nearly a world apart from Tom's first Le Mans race in 1997. Also, how cool is the attached image?



"Just two more weeks and I’ll have to pack my suitcases for Le Mans. The race of the year is coming closer with giant steps.

I clearly remember my first Le Mans race in 1997. At that time, I received a call from Ralf Jüttner just a few days before the event. I neither knew the car nor the track, so I started to explore it jogging around it after my arrival. Nevertheless, I won right away togehter with Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson. That was the beginning of my great love of Le Mans. Since then, I’ve won the race eight times and will be contesting this unique event for as much as the 14th time this year.

The cars have changed dramatically since my first Le Mans race. In the Joest-Porsche I drove in 1997 we still had a ‘H’ stick-shift. Because the car was right-hand drive I had to shift with my left hand – that was unusual and obviously a lot more strenuous than today in our Audi R15 TDI where we shift gears with pneumatic assistance and paddles in the steering wheel.

We didn’t have power steering in those days either. And the car was still a genuine two-seater with a single roll-over bar above both the driver and the passenger side and lots of room in the cockpit. Back then, people didn’t think that much about aerodynamics, which is much more sophisticated and complex today. The engineers are fighting for every millimeter and that’s why the seating position is completely different today too.

Audi has influenced and driven the development at Le Mans forward in the past ten years in a major way. Before Audi started its Le Mans commitment it was practically impossible to drive through the 24 hours without changing the brake discs. That was also an issue with Audi at first but the Audi Sport engineers solved it very quickly. Today, the brake discs in the R15 TDI even last for 30 hours without any problems.

There was a major development step in 2001 when Audi first combined turbo-charging with direct injection. We couldn’t have chosen a better year for that because in 2001 we had the race with heavy rain and without the TFSI engine it would have been ten times more difficult for us. But the TFSI engine did away with the typical turbo lag. The TFSI responds almost as well as a naturally aspirated engine.

Everyone knows what we’ve achieved with TDI technology since 2006. We wrote an important chapter in motorsport history and underscored the importance of Le Mans for technical progress yet again. Ever since the first race in 1923 a lot of new technologies were first used at Le Mans and later in production cars as well, such as halogen lights or radial tires. Even the development of the disc brakes and the windscreen wiper has been influenced by the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The tires have dramatically changed in recent years too. When I clinched my first victory in 1996 we used only one type of tire. Today, we can choose from many different versions. We’re even using different Michelin tires at night than during the day.

Telemetry is another example of technical progress. In 1997 the onboard data logging system was from Bosch too. But at that time it looked more like a heart diagram. We analyzed the available data together with Michel Demont who is still doing that at Joest. Today, though, the R15 TDI has over 100 sensors that constantly send signals to the pits and supply a wealth of information in real time. It takes several engineers to draw the right conclusions from this flood of data.

Bosch is also an important partner in Audi’s Le Mans project in other areas because – as with the R10 TDI – the injector nozzles of the R15 TDI’s turbo diesel engine are from Bosch. They now achieve injection pressures that nobody thought were possible a few years ago. And Audi customers benefit from this too because the findings from Le Mans are fed directly into production car development.

A great car I drove at Le Mans in 2003 had an engine developed by Audi Sport as well: the Bentley Speed 8 has been the only closed car that I’ve ever driven at Le Mans. At that time, we used slimmer tires than the open-top prototypes. And apart from traction and aerodynamics the development of the Speed 8 was specifically focused on interior temperatures and the doors which have to work well on a Le Mans car.

Speaking about Bentley: I had the opportunity once to drive the 1928 Le Mans winning car, a Bentley Blower. And also a Riley, the 1938 Le Mans class winner. Like with the Auto Union Grand Prix race cars I get to drive for Audi Tradition from time to time you can see the progress which automotive technology has made in the past decades – especially at Le Mans and with help from the 24 Hours.

That’s why this race fits Audi and our commitment to ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ so perfectly."

Yours
Tom Kristensen


Source: Audi Motorsport

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Gulf Livery Audi R8 GT spotted at Ingolstadt headquarters (Updated)

It looks like Audi board member, Michael Dick may have a new ride. Known for his love of the Gulf race livery, Mr. Dick typically parks his blue and orange TT in front of the famed A50 building of Audi's Ingolstadt headquarters. Today, AudiBlog.nl has posted a photo of an R8 GT sporting the same color scheme parked at Audi HQ, which has us guessing the board member has a new toy.



Unfortunately, the image is pretty small. If anyone has a larger hi-def photo - or if you can take a few photos of the car, please let us know.

UPDATE 5/25/10: We came across 4 new pics of this car posted to GermanCarBlog.com. Still, the photos are small, but at least offer a few more angles of a clearly "love or hate" color scheme.




Source: AudiBlog.nl
Updated source linked above

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Report: Audi S1 confirmed with 182hp and 7-speed DSG

Speaking at the German launch of the new VW Polo GTI, Volkswagen's Polo technical director, Dr. Ernst Linder, confirmed a few key details of the Audi S1 while crushing any hopes for a VW Polo R. According to a report by drive.com.au, Linder confirmed the S1 will be powered by the same turbocharged and supercharged, 1.4-liter 4-cylinder found in the Polo GTI. Boasting 182 horsepower and a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, the S1 will be the first Audi S car to lack quattro all-wheel drive.

According to drive.com.au, the S1 talk began as Linder commented on whether or not Volkswagen would build a Polo R, "I would say there have been some ideas about [Polo R], but more in the press than the company itself because we have our GTI and within our company Audi has an S1," Linder said. "The S1 topped our GTI and to put a car above both, we think we'll not have the volume to make it interesting. It would be too small amount of cars we can sell like this."

Linder also confirmed the S1's power rating while explaining why the Polo R would not be feasible and why the S1 is FWD. "From the technical point-of-view, of course we can do something, but from the financial point-of-view it makes not so much sense," he said. "It would be too expensive and we have the S1. The S1 will have 136kW (~182hp) and it's a very sporty car. If we put much more horsepower in the [Polo], we need something like four-wheel-drive. This is a technical feature that is very expensive."

Finally, for anyone looking to squeeze a few more ponies from the turbo/supercharged 1.4-liter, Linder explains that the S1's power is nearly at max. "I think with the 136kW in the Audi S1 I think the engine is reaching the borderline," he said. "I think you could get some more out of it but I don't think anymore than 10 or 20kW (10kW = 13.41hp)."

According to drive.com.au's report, the Audi S1 is "due for 2011." As we noted in April, look for the Audi S1 to make an official world debut at the Paris Motor Show this fall.

Source: drive.com.au via Motor Trend
Photo used with permission from: TheophilusChin.com

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Video: Audi DTM driver Miguel Molina shows his simulator skills

As I came across this video on YouTube, I immediately thought "I need one of these." Audi DTM driver Miguel Molina shows off SimtechPro's latest Simpro337 driving simulator by virtually racing his Audi Bank A4 DTM through the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia Spain (where Molina will race this weekend). According to Simtech's blog, "Miguel tells us the secrets of this track" throughout the video, however his commentary is entirely in Spanish. So for those of you who habla español, you're in luck, let us know what he has to say by commenting below.



Source: SimtechPro (English) and DTMSpain (YouTube)

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Video: Birth of an A1 - Inside Audi's Brussels Plant

We really enjoy watching videos like this. There's just something about viewing the Audi build process that makes us completely "geek out." This new video from Audi not only offers an inside look at the new A1 production facility in Brussels, Belgium but also a chance to see an Audi A1 being built, from first welds to final inspection and testing.



Source: Audi (YouTube)

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Spied: First look at the Audi S7

Until now, the Audi S7 has been a unicorn in the world automotive spy photography. Certainly there has been no shortage of A7 spy shots, however a glimpse of the more potent S has been non-existent. Caught outside the Nürburgring, the prying eyes of MotorAuthority's spy photogs offer the first definitive proof that the Audi S7 does exist, even if under the guise of test mule camouflage. Larger front air intakes, quad exhaust and noticeably larger sport wheels are all cues that this is not your everyday A7 test mule.

The question of what will power the Audi S7 is met with rampant speculation at this point. We'd imagine a 4.2-liter V8 variant producing somewhere in neighborhood of 400 horsepower would be sufficient. Whether or not a turbocharger will be included in that equation is anyone's guess. Not to mention, this would leave room for an RS7 application if the folks at quattro GmbH feel so inclined.

Update: As far as the engine goes, most sources are pointing to a 4.0T V8 to be found in the S7. But as we said, as far as specific output is concerned, it's really anyone's guess at this point. Fourtitude posted a really nice writeup concerning the S7 speculation, pointing out what each site is saying and what their thoughts on the subject are, definitely worth a read.

Also, we thought this garage shot was especially cool. It's not everyday that you can see inside an Audi test car facility.

Head over to MotorAuthority for the full photo gallery.

Source: MotorAuthority

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Video: Audi A1 "The Next Big Thing" - Episode 3

Audi has released the third episode of "The Next Big Thing" starring Justin Timberlake, Dania Ramirez and the Audi A1 today. The episode, titled "What was that for?" picks up with John (Timberlake) and Toni (Ramirez) being hassled at the entrance to what seems to be an old warehouse. Inside, they find an underground fight club and the "bunny" they've been looking for.



Note: Video contains some 'mature' language (NSFW).

Source: Audi (YouTube) - Audi.com/A1

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Audi R8 LMS Wins GT3 Class - Takes 3rd Overall at Nürburgring 24 Hours

The #97 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS proved to be the top Audi of the seven cars to enter this weekend's 24 hour race at the Nürburgring. Though far from favorites at the start; Marc Bronzel, Luca Ludwig, Dennis Rostek and Markus Winkelhock brought home a best in class victory and ranked third overall for Audi. For many of the other Audi teams though, the Nürburgring-Nordschleife proved it's nickname to be "Green Hell."

One driver to find himself taking part in a celebratory champagne shower was Audi DTM driver Markus Winkelhock. Winkelhock, who defended the #97's lead throughout the final stages of the race was actually a last minute choice to drive for the Phoenix team. "The Audi R8 LMS and this race were great fun,” beamed Winkelhock following his successful Nordschleife debut. "It was a fantastic experience. My thanks go to Phoenix Racing which did a fantastic job. I'm speechless that I managed to finish on the podium here!”

In addition to the #97 Phoenix team, Team Black Falcon also had reason to celebrate as their #102 Audi R8 LMS driven by Sean-Paul Breslin, Christer Jöns, Kenneth Heyer and Johannes Stuck placed third in class and fifth overall.

Two of the fastest Audi teams met an early demise however. Both the #98 Phoenix R8 LMS (Marc Basseng/Mike Rockenfeller/Frank Stippler/Hans-Joachim Stuck) and the pole setting #100 ABT R8 LMS (Mattias Estkröm/Oliver Jarvis/Timo Scheider/Marco Werner) retired as early as Saturday evening due to accidents.

Marcel Fässler (Phoenix Racing R8 LMS #99) also experienced Saturday night contact, which fortunately ended with only a damaged wheel. By 10:22 p.m. the silver-red R8 LMS took the lead for the first time and temporarily extended to more than a two-minute lead during the night. The #99 team's luck would run out by the 17 hour mark as an engine mounting defect brought the race to an end for the second Phoenix Audi R8 LMS. "That really was a shame as we were really running strongly up to that point,” said Marcel Fässler.

Christian Abt, driving the #2 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS was also involved in a collision, resulting in a tire failure and deranged wheel alignment. Nevertheless, on Sunday morning, after a fantastic fight back, the #2 car was once again in second place on the same lap as the then leading hybrid-Porsche. That is, until Lucas Luhr stopped on the track around the "Pflanzgarten” with a transmission problem.

Black Falcon Racing also experienced hardship, losing their #111 Audi R8 LMS during the night because of an accident. The second R8 LMS fielded by the private team from the Eifel ran just as reliably throughout the entire 24 hours as the third Phoenix team car – apart from gearbox issues just at the end of the race.

"We are happy that the R8 LMS remains unbeaten in its class in this race,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who was at the race himself. "We developed this car logically for customer sport, and the cars which finished third and fifth overall embody our customer sport idea perfectly. Congratulations to the Phoenix Racing and Black Falcon teams. The other cars put in great performances, but like many other top cars the extremely fast pace claimed its victims. ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing both lost a car when in promising positions due to accidents, which are typical on the Nordschleife. The two technical defects are also typical for this race track.”

Results

1 Müller/Farfus/Alzen/Lamy (BMW) 154 laps in 24h 00m 18.168s
2 Farnbacher/Simonsen/Lehman/Seefried (Ferrari) + 3m 54.191s
3 Bronzel/Ludwig/Rostek/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS) - 1 lap (1st GT3)
4 Hartung/Söderlund/Sandström/Öhlin (BMW) - 2 laps (2nd GT3)
5 Breslin/Jöns/Heyer/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) - 2 laps (3rd GT3)
6 Alzen/Schwager/Jäger/Bert (Porsche) - 3 laps
7 Werner/Müller/Priaulx/Adorf (BMW) - 4 laps
8 Zehe/Schelp/Roloff/Bullitt (Porsche) - 4 laps
9 Aust/Adams/Übler/Grossmann (BMW) - 5 laps
10 Weiland/Forbes/Riemer/Horn (Porsche) - 6 laps

Source/Photos: Audi Motorsport

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