Audi teases 2014 LMP1 car

"delani917" (delani917) 12/02/2013 at 19:07 • Filed to: Le Mans

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Audi Sport posted a season review to their facebook page, and at the end was a short clip previewing 2014. If you pause the video at just the right time you can see this flashed silhouette of their new prototype. It looks pretty much like the Lotus-Praga T128, conforming to new regulations for improving field of vision. The full unveiling will be on December 18.

DeltawingGothamDeserves > delani917 12/02/2013 at 19:11

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Hey maybe now they can see the Ferraris.

UserNotFound > delani917 12/02/2013 at 19:12

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$20 says it's really fast.

Forgetful > UserNotFound 12/02/2013 at 19:22

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I got $20 says it's reliable.

Pessimippopotamus > delani917 12/02/2013 at 19:23

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Sexy sibling rivalry... Who do I root for, Audi or Porsche?

delani917 > Pessimippopotamus 12/02/2013 at 19:30

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such a hard decision. Either way Volkswagon Group wins

delani917 > UserNotFound 12/02/2013 at 19:42

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$20 says it will hit at least one Ferrari

Victorious Secret > delani917 12/02/2013 at 20:07

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$20 says it will hit two

Victorious Secret > Pessimippopotamus 12/02/2013 at 20:08

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Audi to take the win, Porsche to put up a strong showing like Toyota did and challenge for at least 3rd.

Victorious Secret > delani917 12/02/2013 at 20:09

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It will be fast. It will test the Toyota's patience, it will also be the single most competitive Audi ever raced at Le Mans since Audi has a strong reason to show up Porsche.

By show up I mean utterly destroy them and remind them that their prior prestige means shit at the track these days and if they want to gain glory they need to wipe out Audi and their entire decade and a bit of near silly levels of dominance.

delani917 > Victorious Secret 12/02/2013 at 20:51

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that's a smart prediction. I feel like Porsche is very capable though. They won GT this year and it was only their first year back as a factory team. Unfortunately Toyota doesn't seem to have the budget to be competitive without performance balancing, but I can't wait for this fight between Audi and Porsche

Victorious Secret > delani917 12/02/2013 at 20:55

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We all win if Porsche challenges the hell out of Audi for the overall win and MAYBE this will get Audi to pump some money into the GTE category to take on the flying Lizards.

While I respect LMP1, I've found the GT classes to be exceptionally entertaining these days.

delani917 > Victorious Secret 12/02/2013 at 20:57

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completely agree with you. LMP1 tech is cool but nothing beats a brutally loud GT car!

Grant Leavitt > Pessimippopotamus 12/02/2013 at 23:44

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Um, i'm gonna go with Mazda's LMP1 for 2015... could be 2014 too... but I've not heard anything about Mazda joining the LeMans circus for 2014. God all these cars look the same, giant headlights, no manufacturer identity at all (save for Audi's ubiquitous red/blue/white headlights, depending on the car number). I miss the days where prototypes could be open or closed cockpits in the same class. At least I could tell who was who (yes, i know that's what the paint jobs are for, but still...)

Pessimippopotamus > Grant Leavitt 12/03/2013 at 00:14

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Mazda? Can they even afford a Le Mans team? I think they're going to remain as a engine provider at most.

And I disagree that you can't tell the cars apart. LMP1 cars look very distinct. Audi has the bluff duck bill while Peugeots and Toyotas had rapier sharp nose cones. Now LMP2 cars, they really do look the same, largely because they share the same chassis constructors.

Grant Leavitt > Pessimippopotamus 12/03/2013 at 00:26

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Well, the chassis is a Lola (dead? maybe) but they're gonna field a 2-car LMP2 team (my mistake on LMP1) in 2014 and contest the entire Tudor Sports Car Championship (or whatever the USCR championship will be calling itself) next season, and returns in 2015 with the 2015 24-Hours of LeMans as an additional race.

Source (many others via Google): http://www.autoweek.com/article/201311…

Pessimippopotamus > Grant Leavitt 12/03/2013 at 02:15

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They really need a catchier name than Tudor Championship or United Series or whatever the hell it's called. Both ALMS and Rolex just sounded much cooler. Also, Mazda's fielding its new diesel race engine announced this year in a full series run eh?

So no more development on Mazda/AER engine then?

Stef Schrader > Pessimippopotamus 12/03/2013 at 02:27

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I like Audi. A lot. But I'm going to have to give the nod to Porsche here.

Either way, I think I'm happy.

Pessimippopotamus > Victorious Secret 12/03/2013 at 02:34

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Oh Audi Sport-Team Joest. So scarily efficient. I remember reading about the R8's incredibly complex yet maddeningly modular components in early 2000s and being absolutely convinced that no one could possibly beat that kind of engineering prowess on an endurance race. And it turned out to be absolutely true. Audi totally earned their place their spot on the podium, and Porsche will have to try very hard to beat it.

Pessimippopotamus > Victorious Secret 12/03/2013 at 02:38

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$20 says that those Ferraris will be driven by "gentlemen" racers.

Mikeado > delani917 12/03/2013 at 12:42

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Hmm, proportions looks a bit off compared to the R18. Might be the angle.

delani917 > Mikeado 12/04/2013 at 13:26

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Yeah the proportions are going to be much different for all the new LMP cars. The FIA wants the drivers to be able to see over the wheel arches more clearly. That requires the cockpit to be raised a bit. If you look at the Lotus Praga T128 you will see an approximation of what the new Audi will look like.

delani917 > Grant Leavitt 12/04/2013 at 13:34

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yup, the Lola chassis will be re-branded as a Mazda. What's most hilarious about this is that Patrick Dempsey will essentially be a factory driver

Grant Leavitt > delani917 12/04/2013 at 16:51

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What about the Dyson Racing team? I haven't heard anything about whether they were going to go forward into the USCC or quit or something.

And is Highcroft Racing coming back at all? Been laying low since Honda pulled out of the ALMS/LeMans and were barely mentioned as the team running the original black DeltaWing.

Both Dyson and Highcroft are local teams to me, as I live within about 30-60 minutes of each.

delani917 > Grant Leavitt 12/04/2013 at 17:39

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http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/dyso… I read something from mid October saying Dyson had to make arrangements "in the next few weeks" if they are going to be in USCC, so by now their fate has been decided. Since we haven't heard anything yet, I'm going to guess they'll miss the start of USCC.

As for Highcroft, their website is still reporting news on the 2012 Petit Le Mans so it doesn't look good for them either.

Grant Leavitt > delani917 12/04/2013 at 23:19

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In Highcroft's case, ever since Honda decided to shut down its factory backing of prototypes, it never really looked good for them. Sure, they got the DeltaWing project out of all the other teams, but then again, they were the only team that prior to 2012 was unsure of their future until Don Panoz and Ben Bowlby came along and asked them to run the car at LeMans and Petit LeMans.

As for Dyson Racing, a lot of teams stated they wanted to wait until the rules and regulations for the classes were completely finalized before making the necessary adjustments to avoid nasty surprises.

I did read that some teams are fielding new cars or moving to different classes in the USCC: Turner Motorsports will now be fielding the BMW Z4 GT (converting it from Euro GT3-spec to GTD spec), and Whelen Engineering will switch from GTD-class Corvettes to DP Corvettes.

I do want to see Dyson come back. Dyson is based in Poughkeepsie, NY (16 miles from me). Highcroft is/was based in Danbury, CT, 17 miles in the other direction from me.

delani917 > Grant Leavitt 12/05/2013 at 00:04

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I feel your pain. I'm from NJ so those are some of the closest teams to me. I think its going to be an interesting first season for USCC. I can't help wondering if they made a mistake by getting rid of LMP1. Anyone who watches the European LMS can see that P2 cars don't quite cut it as being the top class. DP cars have the potential to be cool but they feel too contrived. What's the point of calling that DP Corvette a prototype if it's deliberately meant to look like a car thats already in production? Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I think USCC has a lot more potential.

Grant Leavitt > delani917 12/05/2013 at 00:19

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TO be honest, the Corvette DPs look more like a regular production car than the other DPs, even to the point where there's no chassis/engine labeling like BMW-Riley or Ford-Riley. On the TV coverage, it was just "Corvette DP".

Yeah, i feel ya on whether they made a mistake eliminating P1 from USCC. But that's part of the process. If midway through the season they realize they needed the P1, maybe it will come back in 2015 using the WEC's 2015 regulations.

I felt that the series took "merge" too literally and instead of scrapping everything and making new classes and regulations, they spent months figuring out how best to classify the groups of cars based on HP, weight, lap times, etc. At Daytona testing last month, the DPs were slower in the corners, but because of the HP bump, were faster in the straights, than the P2 cars. So right from the get-go, this could potentially be like F1 where Super Seb starts on Pole and wins every single race... in other words, BORING.

Of course, on the other hand, this could also mean intense battles for position between the DPs and P1s, hopefully more intense than the battles for LeMans between Audi and Toyota... Audi obviously has more LeMans prototype building experience than Toyota does, even peugeot could barely topple Audi (it did win LeMans at least once, but that was it), and the 2nd place finishing Toyota at this year's LeMans was at least a lap down anyway, which is like Seb being 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place in F1, no competition.

Grant Leavitt > UserNotFound 12/05/2013 at 00:23

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$100 says it loses the 2014 LeMans.

Grant Leavitt > delani917 12/05/2013 at 00:36

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I was just looking at some of the pics of the previous season's P1 cars and wonder, why DO the cars HAVE to have such steep leading edge of the front fenders? Why not embed a pair of headlights into the leading edge of the air channels in addition to a smaller version of the current headlight in the current front-fender location? This would theoretically reduce the front fender rake even slightly, and that in addition with the increased cockpit height could help even more with visibility.

I do realize that leading-edge air channel-located headlights would be slightly hindered by the nose reducing the effective range, so perhaps fit the headlights there instead? Like Dodge did with some of its early 2000s-era ALMS Vipers. In this way, the cars would have slightly better visibility in the center of the effective range.

Plus, why not move the cockpit forward a bit more. It's not like the air channels are moving air out of the cockpit's way quick enough, anyway.

delani917 > delani917 12/08/2013 at 18:54

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and here it is