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From speedarena.com Team & Driver Features Audi’s R8 prototype has been a defining car for an era in endurance racing, winning five American Le Mans Series titles, four Le Mans trophies, the European Le Mans Series title and the Le Mans Endurance Series. It is the most successful prototype since the Porsche 956, which scored a 1-2-3 finish on its debut at Le Mans in 1982 and, as a 956 and a 962, continued to win at Le Mans until 1994.
The open route was the chosen way forward for 2000, with the radiators relocated into the sidepods, the suspension and damper systems redesigned, and the upper wishbones lowered, all contributing to a reduction in frontal area. Work was also done on the gearbox to improve both weight and reliability to good effect. Audi had recognized that the transmissions were critical to a successful Le Mans campaign and, while others attempted to build gearboxes strong enough to last 24-hours, Ricardo worked with Audi to design a quick-fix system. A feature of the R8R, and the R8, was the ability to unbolt the rear of the car and change the gearbox, wing and rear diffuser in around six minutes. Just two gearbox changes were required for the three cars; only the winning R8, of Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, completed the 24-hours without a change. The winning Audi ran almost trouble-free with only two cut tyres to slow its progress.
Following Mercedes’ aerobatics of 1999, the ACO had introduced new aerodynamic regulations, including louvers over the front wheels to prevent the build up of air pressure over the wheels, and reducing the size of the rear wings. Perversely, this had the effect of increasing frontal downforce, and the cars were forced to run at a rake which frightened some established drivers, who complained that the measures made the cars less safe. The prototypes also had their air restrictors reduced, a measure which Audi responded by improving the intake system and the fuel injection. The power band was shifted towards lower revs with an improvement in torque levels over last year.
The main rivals from 1999 had withdrawn from Le Mans, Gerhard Berger claiming that BMW had gained more coverage from finishing third in the Australian Grand Prix in 2000 than winning at Le Mans eight months earlier. That was largely thanks to Mercedes’ flying antics which grabbed the headlines, and stained the Silver Arrows’ reputation forever. Toyota and Nissan left to lick their wounds, even massive budgets, preparation and some of the finest endurance racing drivers in the world were not enough to beat the Germans in France. However, a new challenger was found in Cadillac, General Motors choosing to begin a prototype programme at a time when everyone else had disappeared. They would have done well but for the Audi, which had a year of development and some intelligent thinking behind the re-design of the car. Dodge was also back, using the Mopar engine in the back of a hopeless Reynard chassis, nick-named the “chewing gum car” owing to its flexibility at speed. Panoz was not prepared for the race, and ran a new, untried and untested aerodynamic package at the trials. It didn’t work, and nor did the LMP-1 have the gearbox to cope with the torque and power of the six litre, V8 engine over 24-hours. Five LMP-1s were entered and, though all made it to the flag, all required hefty repair work and were no challenge to the Audi. Only David Brabham, in the first hour, led the race in his Panoz behind the safety car, the Australian staying ahead for three green flag laps before McNish carved his way past, but it was the first time since 1963 that a front-engine car had led at Le Mans! None of which should undermine what Audi achieved with the R8. To run three cars to the top three positions is a magnificent achievement, and only Porsche’s 956 in 1982 and Peugeot’s 905 in 1993 have done the same. The finishing order was decided through driver error and punctures rather than any mechanical fault with the R8. The Biela, Kristensen and Pirro car had two cut tyres, neither of which caused secondary damage, on their way to a lap victory over Allan McNish, Laurent Aiello and Stephane Ortelli, the 1998 winners for Porsche who were re-united under the banner of the four rings.
The second placed car had a rear-end change on Saturday night, after Ortelli had plunged the car into a wall at Indianapolis. The strength of the car meant that the Frenchman was able to drive back to the pits for repairs, though the rear-end change lost seven minutes and two laps. The problem set up McNish for a mesmerising stint. The Scot took the wheel shortly before dawn, at 5:58 am and, during a quadruple stint lasting three hours and two minutes, set some stunning lap times. He lowered the lap record to 3’37.359, little more than a second slower than his outright pole time that year and three seconds slower than the Toyota lap record in 1999 despite the aerodynamic and power restrictions. His pace was enough to reduce the lead by a lap over Biela, but though the Scottish driver was at his very best, even his brilliance during that spellbinding three hours could not redeem the lead, and when he climbed from the cockpit, the result was decided, barring mechanical failure. A further two laps down were the long-time leaders, Michele Alboreto, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Abt, which had a tyre failure shortly after midnight, necessitating a precautionary replacement of the rear end. And so were the top three finishers decided, the winning car completing three more laps than the winning BMW from 1999, though the accidents of Peter Dumbreck’s Mercedes and Thierry Boutsen’s Toyota could account for that deficit. The race was one of the hottest on record, the result one of the most decisive in favour of one single manufacturer, and an indication of what was to happen at Le Mans, in the ALMS and in European endurance racing over the next five years.
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2002 Speed Arena |
