Audi quits Le Mans in favor of Formula E

"It's official: Audi quits Le Mans in favor of Formula E"
("After years of dominating the World Endurance Championship, it's time for Audi Sport to embrace full electrification.")
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/...10aae9d&bhid=26128072609889117984845100290829

After 18 years of solid outings and several Le Mans podiums, Audi is leaving the World Endurance Championship. It will instead focus its efforts on Formula E, the all-electric racing series.

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?? Maybe we should all be thankful for the VW diesel pollution saga.....

.....the shift from endurance racing to the electric open-wheel series is part of the Volkswagen Group’s reaction to the Dieselgate scandal.

In statement, Rupert Stadler, Audi’s chairman, stated: “We’re going to contest the race for the future on electric power. As our production cars are becoming increasingly electric, our motorsport cars, as Audi’s technological spearheads, have to even more so.”

Fines, recalls, compensation and other costs related to the saga have reportedly forced the automaker to slash development budgets and product plans, as well as aggressively push into the electric vehicle segment.
.....The Audi e-tron SUV, due in 2018, will be the brand’s first full scale production electric vehicle....

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http://www.caradvice.com.au/493777/audi-quits-le-mans-and-wec-shifts-to-formula-e-instead/

Hillhater said:

.....The Audi e-tron SUV, due in 2018, will be the brand’s first full scale production electric vehicle....

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[Urrrp]



So. Battery weight alone about 445 pounds... Plenty of (empty) seats... TONS of (empty) storage space... (And STILL looks hard to pedal?) Wonder if their hybrid version engine exhaust pipe will exit into the passenger compartment?

Time will tell, I guess. At least the usual property damages, injuries and deaths will be done in an "Eco-Friendly" way. Can't wait!

I've never watched a WEC race. I find Formula E quite interesting, and it's getting better every seasons as the rules allow more technical development by the teams.

It would be great to see fully electric rallycross (TopGear news) car competing against the current turbo monsters. The short races would be a good format for battery vehicles.

WEC is quite facinating technically and the performance of the hybrid systems is incredible.
This (together with F1s Hybrid profile) has moved vehicle electrification ahead in leaps and bounds.
All the latest battery developments are driven by the competition of these top teams and motor/ drive train and control tech is way ahead of anything available for domestic consumption.
FE, on the other hand is hamstrung by a set of regulations designed to keep the cars near identical from a drive train, battery, and control point of view to provide level competition with limited power to facilitate a reasonable run time between pack recharges (~15 mins) .
There is a reason FE runs on short , mostly inner city tracks, and its not just for spectator convenience......they need the short straights and frequent slow corners to provide maximum regen oportunities and low top speeds to restrict energy requirements.......
......Its a neutered race formula !

Formula electric is intentionally and heavily rule crippled, as the FIM is a puppet of big oil that has sponsored and funded it since it's inception is struggling to keep dinosaur burners performance relevant for another few years...

Inevitably EVs will obsolete the performance of ICE, as well as demand for oil as a fuel, the FIM and Formula Electric's roll is to slow/delay/postpone this inevitably as long as possible.

Whilst still being highly restricted, F E has made a few steps to at least encourage development.
This year the teams can hesign and develop their own motor and gearbox units together with some suspension parts.
The result is that not only will there be different types of motor, but some teams will actually run multiple motors, (though still only driving the rear wheels). Gearboxes also range from the original 5 speed McLaren supplied units , to two speed and even single speed drives ..
Battery packs still remain a "controlled" unit supplied by Williams Engineering, although slightly increased in capacity to 28kWh.
Its certainly not the most exciting race series to watch, but it is getting more tecnically interesting.

It will be interesting and revealing to see how many teams choose to retain a ~5-speed transmission over a single-speed.

Punx0r said:

It will be interesting and revealing to see how many teams choose to retain a ~5-speed transmission over a single-speed.

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Well, everybody knows which is the best choice… :wink:

gogo said:

Punx0r said:

It will be interesting and revealing to see how many teams choose to retain a ~5-speed transmission over a single-speed.

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Well, everybody knows which is the best choice… :wink:

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So, why don't you---SHARE that best choice with us, so that others may share their---AGREEMENT!

I think there are a few people on this forum who would insist on designing their Formula-e car with a 2000V laptop-cell battery, no BMS, a "high-torque" motor with 200-turn hair-thin windings and a 10-speed gearbox (and maybe a hydraulic coupling to allow use of a sensorless controller with no current limiting)