Audi's thought process: *We're winning....but what if we win harder?*

Small technical point I wanted to add: Not only does diesel have more energy density as a fuel (which means efficiency in terms of storing energy), but the thermodynamic process/cycle is more efficient (or at least usually is, which means using the energy that is stored in the fuel more efficiently). Great video btw :)

Loved those R18 onboards, at night. That low rumbling engine, but insane acceleration, was so special. I could watch it for hours.

I bet this car was a blast to drive, being able to torque it's way thru a higher gear with no need to keep it in a tight rpm range

Being from a small Scandinavian country, without proper tarmac racetracks, it's pretty impressive that Tom Kristensen was able to achieve the level of success that he did in Le Mans.

I am currently going through an internship at AUDI. One of my Colleagues was a former Engineer at AUDIs racesport department and the Storys he told me about le mans are great. A highly motivated team trying to push to the limit.

My favorite part was they knew the gearbox they had wasn't likely going to last so they made it quck-change, and how gobsmacked the coverage was when they pushed it in the garage, bits flew, and suddenly they unplugged the whole setup, plugged in a new one and rolled it back out of the garage. And people though fast brake changes were neatness . . . Then they were told they couldn't do it that way, so they came up with another still fast method, and that to was disallowed Now we have, "No Transmission Changes Allowed" except the NASCAR thing.

Can’t go wrong Audi’s TDI! Absolute torque monsters 😈😈

1100Nm of torque is just nuts For reference, a 2021 Volvo FH16 truck is among their top of the line truck offerings, designed to haul 60 tons of weight. It has around 3000Nm of torque. This car reaches a third of that which is insane considering one is a racecar and one is a literal truck

Be sure to regularly check the fluids on your vehicle as well as keep up with standard maintenance. Have a good one.

In short, under the same regulations, be it limited by restrictor/boost or fuel Flow, a Diesel has more power and a wider powerband. Full stop. Yes, if you compensate for the weight a Diesel is more powerful and has a better rev range in absolute terms.

I love the torque-at-any-revs pull I get with mu Q5 TDI. Wish so hard those Audi diesels hadn't fallen out of favor in the US. Such miracle engines. Incredible power and fuel economy. 550 miles on a tank of in-town driving and nearly 700 on a road trip.

Always loved VAG TDIs. My first stick shift car was a 2000 Beetle TDI. I could get 600 miles on a single fill-up. Now I daily a 2013 Passat TDI SE and has been a dream

One interesting aspect of the Audi and Peugeot diesel cars at the Le Mans series (was it called WEC then?) is that they were a lot less noisy than the gasoline cars, and that is because on diesel engines the turbocharger acts like a muffler of sorts.

I saw that car race at Road Atlanta. Truly amazing. It hardly made any noise you could hear the tires more than it's engine.

Really interesting. With the right e fuels produced, diesel is still one of the best ways for cars etc. Love my 80l diesel tank for easy over 1000km in a big transit custom... Even 1200km are not a big problem in summer time on highway with 110kmh

I was lucky enough to see these cars run at Road America in WI many many moons ago. It was amazing to watch them WOOSH by on the back straight. They were SOO quiet.

I love this video! Im an American with a VW Golf TDI and rarely see them. But this beast is quick, and gets between 45-50 mpg on average. I drive 3-4 hours round trip for work. Its awesome. Never knew about this history. Thank you

I remember being at LM 24 the year they were introduced. The wierdest thing was the lack of noise; after the screamers and throaty 'Vettes etc they really sounded like a Flymo!

Love this. I was at the R10 TDI's first race in 2006: 12 Hours of Sebring that year. A lot of people were in disbelief that this eerily quiet, diesel-powered LMP was kicking everyone's butt. To the point of the heavier internals, I'll give a good example. I was rebuilding an old VW 1.9 TDI at the same time as a shop-mate of mine was rebuilding an old small block Chevy. I was pretty gob-smacked when he handed me this much bigger bore than what I was working on piston WITH connecting rod attached, and it felt so wildly light. I get out a piston for the 1.9 TDI, which is nearly a full inch smaller in diameter, and the TDI piston by itself weighed MORE than the significantly larger small block Chevy piston WITH ITS CONNECTING ROD ATTACHED. That's insane. It really boggles the mind to see this assembly that is substantially larger and with more parts feel noticeably lighter weight than just this small TDI piston by itself. Absolutely bonkers. Well-done on the technical details in this video. As a technician myself, there's a lot of poorly informed videos out there that get a lot of details wrong, but overall on this one, you're bang-on.

i remember getting introduced to this beast in Forza motorsport 3! it absolutely shredded everything

I like learning about F1, but I really enjoy seeing videos about Le Mans and rally cars. Excellent work!

What a compliment to diesel racecar that they kept adjusting the rules in order to get rid of them. Speaks a lot to their potency.

hi Scott! Any chance we can see an analysis of kimi's driving style? he used to be bloody quick in his prime

I loved these cars as a teenager. Grew up learning to drive with TDI engines so these were like hero cars to me. These Audis were as cool to me as the Mazda 787B for their quirkiness and different approach to racing.

I watched those R race cars diesel and regular fuel loaded crush Le Mans all too easily with Tom Kristensen for many years. Audi was at the top of thier endurance game no doubt.

I saw the car a few times and the thing I remember was the sound of tire clag hitting the inside of the fenders at certain times because it was quiet. The way it navigated corner entry and exit was a precursor to formula-e.

Another well done video on an interesting topic. Thanks for breaking it down in a way we can understand. I learned so many things in just this one video! Thank you.

Not the screaming v12 we'd all love to see Audi build, but a cracking one nonetheless! Definitely made me fascinated with the v10 touregs of the time-still have a bit of a list for one of those, or want to expierience the engine at least!

Thanks for the awesome video. Can you imagine finding one of these engines. Love to hear a diesel engine rev up to 6500 rpm

Got to see this car at Laguna seca during car week and it was such a treat to see a 5 time lemans winner in the flesh. I was also told a complete transmission change takes 3 mins lol

I love the technical stuff: mechanics, chemistry, thermodynamics, human factors, etc.

I remember seeing the R10 at Road America in 2006. It was amazing to hear it whoosh by so quietly that could hear the wind on the aero package.

I saw it run before, it was amazing. So much quieter than the other cars, it just zipped along.

Very good explanation to complicated thermodynamic principals. Great video

loved the video, so much interesting material and facts presented

Love your work scotty 😊❤

I've seen these race at Mosport back in the 2000's. They were awesome and beat the entire field. I remember getting close to them when the mechanics fired it up but man did it smell pretty bad lol

I was there when it first appeared at Le Man's. It was literally insane and walked the race. The difference in engine sound was the most striking element. All other cars roared past and these just glided by! Bizarrely brilliant!

40mins Video Compressed to 10mins that is Epic . The Best Motorsports Channel on UKposts

Sorry to go off topic. But would definitely be interested to hear your thoughts on SVJ's brilliant drive as a rookie in NASCAR. Cheers from New Zealand

The modern diesel (and probably so with those LeMans Audis) is quieter mainly because of the Commonrail system and because of the turbocharging which played their sound wave, hence, a nice nearly quiet ride. The old ones, which uses fuel pumps (either mechanical or electric) are a bit noisy but for me, they are fantastic and had a beast character. The aluminium blocked diesel engine is not only in that Audi. In 1940, USSR had built the cast Al-Si diesel engine block installed in the T-34 medium tank, KV-1 and KV-2, IS series tanks dubbed the V-2 which is a V12 delivering 500hp and a monstrous 2160Nm torque. The engine is a bit unique, because the right bank side stroke and the left bank side stroke had a different length. It is so unique, even the Germans try to copy the engine with the same Al-Si block but they failed with complaints of block melting, but somehow the Soviet made it. Well, in between 1941 - 1943, the engine had to use cast iron because the lack of aluminium. Volkswagen's (and also Audi's) V10 is fabulous but a bit disastrous for. There are also other V10 diesel, built by Isuzu, Nissan Diesel, Hino, Mitsubishi Fuso, Mercedes Benz, Deutz, Tatra, and some Soviet prototype engine that basically add a set of V cylinder behind the existing KamAZ-740 V8 diesel engine. I think the biggest V10 for road-going vehicle is Isuzu's with the 10TD1 which is a 30.3 liter V10 Naturally Aspirated Diesel putting out 600hp of power and a whopping 2059Nm of torque AND it is quite famous because Isuzu is a well-known brand that put out staggering fuel efficiency even with big engine like the 10TD1. The other V10 by Nissan Diesel, Hino, and Mitsubishi Fuso (and probably Mercedes Benz's) are a diesel-guzzler compared to the Isuzu.

Love this video very informative and intriguing 😊❤ thanks great channel

Diesel engines have longer strokes because they need high compression. Longer distance for the piston = more force / pressure.

I had the pleasure of driving this car... in the 2009 video game GRiD. Sadly, it seems it won't run on a modern PC, truly the end of an era. 😢

Would love to see content looking at the cars racing in wec and imsa this year!

Diesel is so fun. Although it's not the best for racing,for daily drive it's just too good . Loads of amount of torque in low revs is all needed in the most practical scenarios. Racing engineers just don't care diesel

Is there any chance you could do an analysis on Alain Prost's driving style?

The combat between this R8 and the Peugeot 908 hdi.... I loved it.

Saw the Audi diesel at the Petit Le Mans at Atlanta Speedway. So quiet compared to the other cars as wells as wickedly fast!

You know you are doing things right, when the organizers have to change the rules, to make the "competitors" competitive.

I really wish we had more (reliable) diesel cars in the states, im a little jealous of what yall have across the world. I drive 100 miles (or 160km) a day for work and knowing I dont have really any good little commuter diesels option sucks.

Wishing that there would be more diesel engines present in the sports and race car lines

Audi was paddocked next to us at Laguna and one of their guys spilled their diesel fuel drum, spilling a bunch all over our area. We went to get some absorbent materials and when we got back it had almost all evaporated. Some special diesel they were running. 🤔

Note that the torque of this V12 is VERY LOW! And this was actually by design! You can only transmit so much torque to the ground and Le Mans has often been a rainy race. You can calculate HP from Torque. So this engine is a very high rev. Diesel. When you compare this to a non tech Cummins 5.9l Similar engine size: These 6BT produce 1100NM with an easy 300-350HP. When you push a 5.9 higher, like 650 HP with a big turbo or a compound one, the torque that these produce is in a range of 1500 - 1800 NM easily. The German articles about that engine said the Audi had a hard time to control the torque. A gearbox to hold 1100NM for 24h FF is a real pain. The choice to make it a high volume V12 was just MKT! An idiot idea. A R6 3l or 3,5 would have been way better. But: Audi tried to convince idiots to pay high prices for a Q7 with V12 Diesel, VW to do so with a 5l V10 ... As we all know today: 3l is big enough to get you 400HP from a endconsumer diesel.

Simply can’t explain my love for dieselpower 😅

Racing diesels at the beginning were not running lean. In 2012 Audi started playing with Lamda > 1, but it was not anything near to what we have on the road. Peugeot's engine was breathing more like a gasoline one. And it had very cool fully-machined block.

That's one thing I hate about motorsport - engineers come up with brilliant ideas and execute them perfectly, but then the FIA says - nah mate, can't do that. And change the rules to peg them back OR ban the innovation altogether. Long story short - FIA are pricks.

i think someone has to tell the audi engineers that they cant use diesel in f1

Great summary. I had no idea about that. Well explained!

thank you for excellent explanation, as some will sorely dont know this

Rest in Peace Dilano van 't Hoff. He died at only 18 years old today in a rainy race at Spa.

ulrich baretzky really is a genius on making engines, imagine from 1999 to 2016, all Le Mans car of Audi specially Engine is designed and led by him, from the Audi R8 to R10, R15 and ofc R18. from V12 to V10, to V8 and latest was V6 hybrid.. imagine how complex it is and advance you are that you can adapt to those eras

one of my all time favorite motorsports clips is Allan McNish narrating a lap of le mans in a R10

I have a VW TDI and it is a blast to drive.. no wonder Audi TDI power is monstrous. There's no match for Diesel drivability, all the dirty fuel drama is for dummies. And the fuel economy is off the charts, I'd fill the tank and wouldn't bother for a month or more. Diesel all the way!!

Diesel won only because regulations allowed bigger capacity of engine for diesel then for gasoline. Then it was 4000 cc allowed for turbo diesel and only 3000 cc for turbo petrol

Great video as always...

Engineers make this world go around. Amazing solutions to fascinating problems.

It must be pointed out Audi may have created it but Peugeot perfected it. The Peugeot 908 was undoubtedly faster. The 908 was so stupidly fast it was built to compete with the R10 TDI, entering in 2007. But it was still faster than the new R15 that Audi fielded to replace the R10 in 2009! When they went head to head over a season's racing in 2008 the Peugeot mopped the floor with the R10 throughout the Le Mans series championship. Winning every race ahead of the Audis EXCEPT the last one, because both Peugeots suffered accidents. It let Audi take all the titles. A twist of fate and history shows Audi won, but anyone that knows saw the Peugeots battered it. Echoes of Group B rally. The Audi Quattro was a revelation, but the Peugeot 205 T16 was really the star and ultimately proved much faster.

The fact that the R8 V12 TDI roadcar never happened due to american customers is a shame.

I loved the looks of this car. And the fact it was diesel made it kind of cool :D

Color me interested!, I truly cannot wait to see what Audi brings to F1

rev a Diesel engine to 6.5k rpm is already insane standard road car usually don't go beyond 4.5k rpm

1.9 tdi f1 car in 2026?

Great video content ❤

I still miss the TDI sound in WEC, both by AUDI and Peugeot.

Diesel is still the best of the engine designs. Better for efficiency, torque spread and longevity when all are combined. Its being phased out under the scam of being bad for pollution but with the latest after treatments thats also untrue. It takes less energy to refine the fuel and less of it is required compared to petrol. They may not be as exciting to thrash as a petrol but diesels certainly make more sense as daily use engines.

Diesel has always been a good idea. Now if there's a group willing to refine the Bio-Diesel Fuel production process, the petrol engines will start wheezing.

The BMW R1100 motorrad has a bore of 10 cm and stroke of 7 cm and also a massive torque, allowing you to skip gears and simply pull along.

my 4.2l a8 with almost 500hp, has the same torque stats, its a lot of fun

Hi Scott! Huge fan here.

Haha, I can relate. My car is a BMW X5 M50d, a 3L 6 cylinder Diesel with 3 turbos, 740Nm and 381hp. There are so many people being confused how fast a Diesel car can be.

There was another prototype on it's GT2 series debut at 12 hours of sebring, the Panoz Esperante GT2. Like the Audi R10, the Esperante GT2 was doubted, and like the Audi, it also won on it's debut. The same thing would happen at 24 hours of le mans, where the Audi once again doubted everybody wrong by winning the endurance race on debut, the then TeamLNT Panoz Esperante also won on it's debut too, making this a win for both of them

Amazing lesson in engine technology. Thanks for your expertise. This made a lot of sense.

I've just done France, the Alps thru to Italy across to the Pyrenees and up to the Basque coast and home in my £1250 '07 TDI Skoda. Total fuel bill (including my bank charges to Euros) £394.20 over 3230m / 5255kms - and the grin factor coming out of the bends on the cols - ear to ear..

Caterpillar supported entering a VW V10-derived diesel the year before Audi brought their diesel engine to Le Mans. It was developed in Peterborough at the Perkins engines facility and raced in the 2004 race. The engines were bought from the local VW dealer and modified to race. It didn't finish as the gearbox ate itself from the torque.

a friend partakes tractor pull racing, his engine is diesel, 10 cylidner, Ironically from Leopard 1 tank. it has been overhauled, with both partnership with CAT and Mercedes Benz. it produced 2200 horsepower and 5,200lb torque, engine block itself is from 1965. edit: once in a while hed been asked to stand by and wait for evenings. because his turbos and ducting's glow red. steady blue flames out of exits, both sides... such a spectacle! but you should have seen how much black smoke it produced. it nearly rivaled old timey steam train.

This Audi terrified the gasoline powered racing industry. What I absolutely loved about this car is that the drivers could never use fulkl throttle until they got near top speed. The engine made so much torque , it would spin it's wheels, in a straight line, at any speed.What a spectacular machine.

Racing these in gran turismo was amazing

What a gorgeous race car.

Scott, you should try and drive the Pikes Peak.

Great video! 👍

This was a cool video. Can you do one on Mazda's LeMans winning 787B?

The Ferrari 499P has the same hybrid system whine as those old Audi R18 diesels. It gives some flashbacks to the LMP1 days.

This was one of the fastest cars in Forza Motorsport 2, and one hell of a looker as well!

Saw this at goodwood this weekend

Amazing engines and i loved the line "win on Sunday sell on monday" ❤❤

*THE BEST ENGINE* I have ever had was a tuned Opal 2.2 Diesel with a Garrets variable vane turbo on it - it was in an Opal Astra Cabrio I took in part exchange and it was ASTONISHING. It had so much torque it would shear the centre out of clutch plates. Cos the variable geometry turbo, it had the power all the way from 1000rpm to 5,000rpm it just pulled and pulled and pulled. I wanted to buy a Caterham and put this magnificent engine in it but life got in the way. I let a "friend in need" have the car and the proviso they gave it back to me, and we fell out...

BMW did it first in Nurburgring 1998 I think, it was E36 320d, (M47 version 2 liter diesel). It was also endurance race

That clip of Clarkson was brilliant!