The battle between Audi and Porsche in the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach was one of the most tense and thrilling in recent Series memory. Now there’s a new way to feel closer to the action, right down to the driver’s cockpit. Marshall Pruett and SPEEDtv.com have presented the first American Le Mans Series In-Car Theater that highlights the race-long battle between the Audi R10 TDI and Porsche RS Spyder.
Edited down to approximately 15 minutes, it shows many of the key moments that made the race one for the record books. After a crafty (and torquey) pass for the lead with just minutes to go, the overall and LMP1 class winning Audi R10 TDI of Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr delivers footage of some incredibly intense battles on their way to victory circle.
Audi R10 In-Car at Long Beach – Highlights:
– Watch the vertical strip of white lights Audi uses on their dash to alert the driver that their traction control is active. These white lights are blinking constantly in the slow corners where the massive torque of the V-12 diesel engine wants to spin the rears into oblivion. The Bosch electronics do all they can to prevent the Michelin tires from being shredded out of the turn eleven hairpin, bringing the engine to a near standstill at times. As the tires become more worn, the white lights are lit up more and more. (1:34, 1:54, 3:11…)
– Do not anger Lucas Luhr! Much fist shaking will ensue! (4:28, 9:06, 9:15, 9:18, 9:22)
– Do not delay Lucas Luhr on pit lane! Driving below the pit speed limit will inspire Luhr to push the Intersport-Lola to match his own speed. (9:08)
– The Intersport team isn’t quite sure if the undesired assistance is necessary, as witnessed by the brake lights coming on. (9:09)
– Lucas Luhr has a loud voice. You can hear him yelling at the Intersport car over the sounds of his V-12 engine! (9:19)
– The Audi Sport team does incredibly fast pit stops. (9:29-10:02)
– The Penske Porsche’s employ an innovative car widening technology of some sorts. It gets used at strategic places on the track, preventing the Audi R10 from passing. (3:20-3:25, 7:09-7:15)
– Its over-use also gets a touch dangerous (5:50-5:55)
– After many laps of dealing with Penske’s widening technology, Luhr executes a brilliant fake to the left, the direction he’d gone the last few laps, sees the Porsche respond and ‘widen’ to the left, and Luhr pulls to the right to get by. Nice. (7:25-7:29)
– It’s wonderful to hear the chirp of turbo wastegates again—something that was a staple of turbocharged IMSA GTP cars, but had been lost for some time. Modern ALMS-spec turbo engines don’t make enough boost to warrant heavy use of wastegates to release excess turbo boost. (Yes, I know, I’m a geek). (2:21, 3:36, 7:45)
– The closing rate of an LMP1 car over a GT2 car is alarming. (3:17-3:21,…)
– Marco Werner is stunningly good at choosing when and where to pass cars. If Luhr is the hot-blooded half of the driving team, Werner’s the calm, collected, silent assassin. (10:02-14:37)
– Finally, after winning, Marco lets his guard down and belts out a cheer and engages in some celebratory fist-pumping. Somewhere, the Intersport team thinks he’s also mad at them. (13:51-14:03)
– It’s neat to see ‘Bib’, the Michelin Tire man awaiting Marco as he pulls into the post-race impound area. I have no idea why this amuses me. (14:19-14:25)
Audi R10 In-Car Video at Long Beach
[Source: ALMS]
Recent Comments