Audi’s legendary Le Mans program to end in 2016

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Originally Posted By: A_Harman
I guess it was inevitable that dieselgate would kill the Audi program at LeMans, which has been running diesels for about 10 years.

The worst thing is that they did not gained anything in diesel technology to put them ahead of others. Their most detrimental mistake was in 1997 when they decided to go with PD and not CR system like others. Then they figured that PD will not meet Euro norms, so move to CR in 2005, but it was too late. VW/Audi owned small diesel engine market in Europe (their V6 were either catastrophe like 2.5 V6 TDI or at best average like 3.0 V6 TDI). When they started to use CR technology like others, they lost years of development and fell behind others.
When I look back, their decisions in 1990's are actually biting them back now. I think their biggest mistake was dropping 2.5 R5 TDI engine in 90's which IMO was one of the best diesel engines. They bet on V6 which in VW/Audi were always mediocre in quality.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
So can anyone shed some light on the 2017 VW Diesels? Are they any good, or are they still at the stage of licking their wounds?


VW has decided that they are not selling diesels in the US, and are switching their focus to electric vehicles worldwide.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: billt460
So can anyone shed some light on the 2017 VW Diesels? Are they any good, or are they still at the stage of licking their wounds?


VW has decided that they are not selling diesels in the US, and are switching their focus to electric vehicles worldwide.


That will go over in the U.S. like a turd in a punch bowl. Pure electric vehicles are not going to sell here until they can get the range up, and the charge time way down. Until the battery, and high output charging technology allows that, they are nothing but novelties to draw your neighbors over to your driveway.... Once.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
So can anyone shed some light on the 2017 VW Diesels? Are they any good, or are they still at the stage of licking their wounds?

Nope, they are done with diesels.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: billt460
So can anyone shed some light on the 2017 VW Diesels? Are they any good, or are they still at the stage of licking their wounds?


VW has decided that they are not selling diesels in the US, and are switching their focus to electric vehicles worldwide.


That will go over in the U.S. like a turd in a punch bowl. Pure electric vehicles are not going to sell here until they can get the range up, and the charge time way down. Until the battery, and high output charging technology allows that, they are nothing but novelties to draw your neighbors over to your driveway.... Once.

They have much bigger issues on the U.S. market then electric vehicles. They are completely lost in what they want to offer buyers. New Golf Altrack is move in right direction.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Put significantly more effort into Formula E? Well, that will be money wasted. Watching Formula E is about as exciting as watching grass growing.

It's a bit disingenuous, I'm sure, on their part. After all, it doesn't have to be an either/or scenario, nor does Formula E necessarily represent the only way forward on electric R&D through racing.

In any event, now is a good time for them to get more involved in Formula E, since, if I recall correctly, Sir Frank isn't going to be the only one supplying batteries starting next season. Teams will be able to do some of that research on their own and find their own partners.

I'm optimistic, somewhat, about Formula E. The real issue, as Bill mentioned, is range, plus I would find it extremely aggravating to have performance degrade, rather than improve. When a normal car runs low on fuel, weight goes down and performance increases, and this is particularly noticeable during racing. Performance degrading as the energy supply dwindles might be more intuitive overall, but contrary to the normal racing experience. I'm not particularly concerned with how a racing vehicle is fuelled, as long as it's done as seamlessly as possible. Of course, that's not the case right now.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Put significantly more effort into Formula E? Well, that will be money wasted. Watching Formula E is about as exciting as watching grass growing.


In a drought, I might add. Don't these guys have to change cars when the batteries go dead, or some such silliness?
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Put significantly more effort into Formula E? Well, that will be money wasted. Watching Formula E is about as exciting as watching grass growing.


In a drought, I might add. Don't these guys have to change cars when the batteries go dead, or some such silliness?


Ya they do. I like the racing actually. I wish they would use existing circuits instead of made up short ones.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
In a drought, I might add. Don't these guys have to change cars when the batteries go dead, or some such silliness?

Yes, that's what I was hinting at when I used "seamless" in my last post. That's not exactly seamless, but there is certainly a precedent in motorcycle racing.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: billt460
In a drought, I might add. Don't these guys have to change cars when the batteries go dead, or some such silliness?

Yes, that's what I was hinting at when I used "seamless" in my last post. That's not exactly seamless, but there is certainly a precedent in motorcycle racing.


What happens if they trip running to the car with good batteries?
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Ya they do. I like the racing actually. I wish they would use existing circuits instead of made up short ones.


They would have to tow a trailer with extra batteries.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
What happens if they trip running to the car with good batteries?

Maybe that would liven things up.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: billt460
What happens if they trip running to the car with good batteries?

Maybe that would liven things up.
wink.gif



They should include an obstacle course for the drivers to run before they can get in their second car. Sort of combines American Gladiators with Soapbox Derby.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Put significantly more effort into Formula E? Well, that will be money wasted. Watching Formula E is about as exciting as watching grass growing.


In a drought, I might add. Don't these guys have to change cars when the batteries go dead, or some such silliness?


Ya they do. I like the racing actually. I wish they would use existing circuits instead of made up short ones.


They don't use race courses on which real race cars run.
They don't want the public to see how slow the Formula E cars actually are.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
They don't use race courses on which real race cars run.
They don't want the public to see how slow the Formula E cars actually are.


Could you just imagine how boring it would be watching those things crawl around Monza?
 
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