Le Mans 24, for many people these two words and two numbers do not mean anything. Usually their reaction is le what? Therefore, I gave up talking about Le Mans but never gave up to watch. Awkwardly, it is not that popular like in the beginning of 1900s. Probably you don’t have any idea what I talking right now, what is Le Mans, what is 24.
Le Mans 24 is a 24-hour race happens in Le Mans, France every year for very long time. As I mentioned, in the beginning of last century it was one of the most prestigious motor race. Bentley has its roots from the Le Mans 24 race and they still have the honeycomb front grille, which is used during the Le Mans 24 race.
This race is torture test for everything; the car, the driver, the tyres, the team, the computer, anything related with cars is under extreme pressure for 24-hour! And this torture for diesel engines also, for many people diesel is a smoke maker, noisy and slow but thanks to Audi, they are not like that in Le Mans 24.
I really don’t have any sympathy to Audi but their engineering success should be respected by everyone. They turned the lazy diesel into a racing machine and won many times (10 times but I am not sure, whether they used diesel for 10 times), it sounds impossible but they made it.
During the last race one of the Audi R18 TDi (532 horsepower) lost its control and crashed into wall at the speed of 250 kph (155 mph). When I first saw the footage, I just remembered the accident of Senna and I was not that optimistic for the consequence. However we were all wrong, the Audi driver Allan McNish) got out of the car by walking. This sounds impossible but Audi made a car that is running by diesel and producing 532 horsepower and able to achieve 250 kph and saves its pilot during a catastrophic crash.
This footage may not be used for PR campaign but Audi showed the level of their engineering. Even though, their cars are not that fun to drive :)
Pictures' Copyrights
Audi, Bentley, Reuters
