Re: Audi Le Mans Rumors

[Dave Eaton <dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz>]

wouldn't bet on it.  audi is clearly going to get into either gt1 or sportscar
racing, which is the reason for the pull out of class 2 (super touring).

which is clearly up for grabs is the class and the configuration.  what seems
to be accepted at this point in time is that gt1 is more likely. engine choise
is a difficult one as le mans and the fia have differing rules and there
appears *no* likelyhood of compromise (at least for this year).  the
equivalency between atmo and turbo changed frequently last year up to 3 months
before the event (from memory) and forced lotus (for one) to change from turbo
to atmo (the chev lt1 engine was used eventually (it was a lotus mod after
all).

so the liekly outcome is that audi will go head to head against mercedes and
bmw (and cousin porsche) ingt1 racing and focu on le-mans rather than the fia
series were mercedes kicked ass last year.

still no-one knows... (not even ullrich i bet, although he'd be a busy boy no
doubt).

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q

..>------------------------------
..>
..>Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 10:44:15 -0800
..>From: Greg Johnson <gregsj@iea.com>
..>
..>Fellow Audians; According to C&D "Audi is building a
..>GT1 car for the '99 Le Mans. It will be powered by a
..>twin-turbo V-8 instead of the W-12, which Audi
..>enginners are convinced can never be made to breathe
..>correctly for racing applications." C&D @ pg 30
..>(February 1998).
..>
..>------------------------------