Audi Sport Cars are amazing! Ultra light weight design has been playing a central role with Audi’s Le Mans prototypes. Materials, such as CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic), harbor major potential for optimizing weight.
Even in its first LMP sports car – the 1999 R8R – Audi used a carbon fiber monocoque. Audi has significantly been reducing weight to this day:
As the central chassis component, the monocoque supports the front axle, the front and lateral body parts and, since 2012, the hybrid system. The engine is directly connected to the rear. The monocoque thus transmits the torsional and bending forces which are introduced through the wheel suspensions, and absorbs the impact energies that are generated in accidents – in frontal or side crashes as well as in roll-overs.
The Audi R8R (1999), the R8 (2000-2005), the R10 TDI (2006-2008) and the R15 TDI (2009-2010) all had open monocoques. For the R18 TDI (2011), Audi used a closed cell for the first time. Its one-piece design is a trend-setter for safety and weight. Up to then, the closed monocoques of competitors, for manufacturing reasons, had been made up of several elements.
Although a closed cockpit requires the use of more material Audi has managed to cut the weight of the monocoque in half between 1999 and today, while surpassing all the safety and crash requirements of the FIA. Furthermore, Audi managed to again increase the torsional strength of the monocoque during this period of time despite the 50-percent reduction in weight. The comparison with a production car reveals interesting facts: with comparable torsional values, the weight of the carbon cell of the R18 only amounts to about a fourth of the weight of a body-in-white made of steel sheet.
Numerous smaller solutions have been accompanying the major steps. The carbon fiber gas pedal in the Audi R10 TDI already saved a few hundred grams of weight compared with an aluminum version. The lithium-ion battery that was used for the first time in the 2009 R15 TDI even proved to be seven kilograms lighter than a lead storage battery.
Four more weeks until the Le Mans 24 Hours celebrates its 90th anniversary. Audi has set standards with its ultra-lightweight design in the area of the sports prototypes. In 15 years of development, the motorsport engineers have achieved best marks.
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