pabs

So Audi won again but this time in a diesel - has this opened the flood gates for all the other cars to convert to diesel as well?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the point of Le Mans was to go watch some fast cars, have a barbecue and consume vast amounts of alcohol while not being able to get any sleep because of the awesome noise of the highly tuned PETROL engines...

Would it put anyone off going if all the cars were diesel and you couldn't really hear the engines? The noise is certainly one of the highlights for me

pabs

Someone actually prefers the sound of the diesel? Are you mad?

Granby

iTrader: (5)

If the diesels weren't fast how did they win the race

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Less fuel stops and less likely to blow up driving around a big track is where they do well. Put one in a rally however and it would be ****ter than a subaru on pirelli's

Granby

iTrader: (5)

They couldn't be that mad

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Think it was last year at Goodwood, they had a Panoz which was giving demonstration start up's. They gave out some warning's not to stand too close, started it up and let it tick over to warm the oil, we all thought what's the fuss about then.

After about 5 mins idling, the oil was up to temp, they gave out another warning, we all still thought, "well bring it on then".

you can only imagine how thing sounded, everything was a bit muffled for a couple of hours

The sound is all part of the experience.

Allan

Shark Man

Diesels are great...ever been to watch the truck racing? Was a great laugh - especially back in the day when the were real trucks Not like the flimsy spaceframed ones now that break at the sniff of an impact

Anyhoo, whilst on about the noise of diesels, I quite like the sound of this:
http://www.dieselinnovations.com/gal...ac69a458efff5f

Plus it'll outdrag most of your scoobies (1/4 @ 11.55 @122.48mph) - although it didn't do it on that run...plus I think it need better brakes

(more diesel trucks playing about in the gallery here: http://www.dieselinnovations.com/di.php - some are dyno'd at over 1000lb/ft )

Shark Man

Didn't VW enter a Golf diesel into a rally the once?

MarkCSC

Actually the audi didn't sound that bad.......for a road car.

The Astons and the Corvettes where painful, but what a noise! The pops and flames on the overrun when braking are fantastic.

The Audi was quick but no fuss, no drama, no noise just very efficient.

They say that Peugeot are going to enter a diesel car next year, might mean I'll get some sleep!

Mark

PS Where were all the Subarus??? I think I counted 7 in total the entire weekend.

Shark Man

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html...icle&sid=31048

Hmm, crap at rally?

dsmith

Audi sound was "odd" indeed. Almost like a great big electric car.

You have to keep in mind that the regs were *heavily* adjusted in diesel (i.e. Audis) favour to keep them in le mans this year.

If peugueot (I can never spell that) show up next year with a factory diesel it will be a little more interesting.

I'm already crossing fingers for an Aston win in GT1 next year. Smug bl**dy americans

Mark - were you there ? Was my 5th year...and my subaru was on a french recovery truck with suspected big-end failure so I was in a C4 hire car.

dsmith

There was at least one (heavily armed) legacy there....

http://www.eatworms.org.uk/album/alb...=page&index=35

hades

They were fast, and as it happens, the fuel economy advantage at wide open throttle is actually fairly minor (1 lap per tank compared to an R8, allegedly). The fuel economy advantage increases when driven more "gently" - i.e. safety car periods or whatever.

However:
(a) Audi's budget is massive compared to e.g. the Pescarola (sp?) team which split the two R10's
(b) It's be a very different story if heavily tuned 5.5L V12 bi-turbo petrols were allowed to enter in the same class, and one of the major manufacturers decided to support them. The rules allow bigger turbo-charged diesels with less restrictions to give both sides a chance. Given a "level playing field" - i.e. same capacity, turbo regulations etc - petrol engines will still produce a lot more power

MarkCSC

Yeap, my 1st but definately not my last. I was staying in Houx Annexe driving a silver Forester S/tb. Really sorry to hear about your Subaru. Hope it's not too expensive.

*AL*

I believe i saw your car Mark.I too was staying on Houx Annex not far from the 'mad' roundabout.We were in a yellow 4.5 Cerbera? Al.

MarkCSC

The roundabout certainly was mad. We were camped next to these guys, bonkers!

RB5_245

I'll look out for a touareg in the top 5 at wales rally GB then

MattOz

I thought that the R10 win was fantastic this year. Anyone else notice that a BMW 120d came 5th at the Nurburgring 24 hour event last weekend?

Whilst they will never sound as good as a petrol engine, diesels are no longer playing 2nd fiddle to petrol units. Maybe the new Di petrols from BMW will level the playing field again by offering improved economy but still having the better soundtrack

Matt

markGT

I was there again this year third time running and I must say hats off to Audi for winning it with a deisel. However if this is the way that motorsport engines are going you can keep it. For me Le Mans is about the sound the popping and crackling of the cars as the come past. Nobody even knew that the Audi had gone past us as they didnt make any noise, my daily drive Saxo is louder!

Shark Man

Did anyone hear the noise the Merc CLK GTR GT-class cars that ran in the GT champisonship back in the late 90's???

No, neither did I - because they didn't make any

They dominated with 1-2-3 victories on several seasons.
Damn thing were sooo boring - they didn't make a noise...they also competed at Le-mans

I'd get bored and fall alseep...that was until a straggling Panoz blasted past and woke me up again (side exit exhausts - ow my ears)

wrx-ian

Was yours the one i spotted at Calais on Monday. A big number 20 sticker on dorrs and a Matts sticker in the window???