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| 2012 Audi R18 Ultra (left) and 2012 Audi R18 e-tron quattro (right) |
So Peugeot's pulled out of prototype racing after losing an argument with the organisers over the amount of energy hybrid LMP cars can accumulate, and Toyota of all people
have now stepped up to try to fill their shoes by making a petrol-electric hybrid. Audi has spotted this and countered with a diesel-electric hybrid, like an old train, only much faster and cooler. Its full name is the Audi R18 e-Tron quattro, which is kind of funny, because in French, the word
étron directly translates as
turd. Clearly they were keen to fill the void left when Peugeot decided pull out their 908 HDI
FAP this year (meant to be Filtre à Particule, but abbreviated to a slang term for masturbating). At any rate, the bodywork is basically the same as last year, with all the changes being internal, as well as a new white-on-ice-blue livery for the hybrid.
This year's car is lighter than last year's race-winning car, and Audi will be fielding four R18s this year. Two of them will be the hybrid version, which releases energy through motors on the front axle above 75mph thanks to a system
designed by Williams, and the other two will be black-on-silver R18 Ultra models, which are just non-hybrid versions of the same car.
You can see how it gets on against the Toyota on the second weekend of June.
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| 2012 Audi R18 e-tron quattro |
Thought you ought to know.
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