When Audi Ruined Le Mans
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ย. 2023
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It’s the late 90s and endurance racing is changing course. The GT1 cars that had been the go-to in the wake of Group C’s spectacular early 90s failure were falling out of favour, and prototypes were once again forging a path at the front of the field. In just a few years a relative newcomer to the sport would find themselves with one of the most dominant racing machines ever made. This is the story of the Audi R8 LMP.
Edited by: JD Minny ( @jdminny )
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you have to continue this one, it's such a cliffhanger.
Dude I just marathoned all your content and I gotta say you do such an incredible job consistently putting out television-worthy content. Perfect choice in background music and you set the levels just right so that the music doesnt drown out your monologue. Additionally your transitions are so fluid and genuinely professional. Great work, I cant believe you're below 100K subscribers - Not for long if you keep it up! 🎉🏎🏆
@automobilistic can create a content about audi R10 TDI on how how they dominate le mans for 3 consecutive years
I swear the R8 LMP winning 5 Le Mans in 6 years really gets forgotten when discussing the greatest cars in motorsport history
Part of that is related to the quality of the competition though; it's not like they were consistently battling against well-funded factory teams in that period. Of course, you can only beat the competition that turns up, but a win against a bunch of privateers and low budget factory teams shouldn't be regarded as highly as one against a better field.
@@amp888 yeah, it was definitely a strange time at Le Mans.
I love ur profile pic
@@legobro_playz5859 Mine? If so, thanks :) It's a picture of a bunch of different coloured lights reflecting off the bottom of a CD taken in a pitch black room.
@@amp888 cool!
Kristensen winning with the R8 on all 5 attempts AND winning with the Bentley the one time that the R8 was defeated - such a power move honestly
He is Mr. Le Mans for a reason. 😊
Kristensen is Alonso if Alonso knew how to do driver moves.
Ironically the Bentley was also a R8...lol
He was still on te same team when on Bentley (team joest)
5:29
“Oh nO, My dOwNfOrCe Is gOnE”
Back in 1997 after I’d bought an Audi A4, I was asked to participate in a market research panel. We talked about advertising, etc.
I mentioned to the group that if Audi wants to get the attention of the performance market… race some cars. I specifically said IMSA and LeMans😂
So yes, I take credit!😂😂
You absolute legend!
@@wendigockel 😂
Puppet Master tactics
Audi should give you those Le Mans trophies
@@ananastudio Don’t be silly.
Just one would suffice.
I work with someone who helped design the R8C at RTN. Audi came to them because they thought, wrongly, that the rules allowed them to use the R8R chassis fitted with a roof in the GTP class, and needed RTN to design a car from the ground up for them. They went from a blank canvas to racing in well under a year and had a fraction of the budget of the Joest car. The R8R was always going to be the chosen direction...
the R-10 is a mind blowing piece of kit.
11:26 That was the verbal equivalent of a flashbang, good God that caught me offguard
Swear words used sparingly can be so effective and hilarious. The way he casually carries on professionally afterward is the icing on the cake.
this was THE face of endurance racing when i was a kid, and then the diesel battle that came after was part of legend too. endurance racing is exceptionnal
I have had the absolute honour of getting to work for Brad Kettler, one of Audi's former engineers and pretty much the only guy keeping these cars running, and have been fortunate enough to get to rebuild a few transmissions and really get to know these cars from a technical standpoint. Absolutely incredible machines, I'll never forget the first time I got to see one started up in the shop, that sound gave me goosebumps
You're a lucky man. I'm aware of Brad's reputation and he's really top quality. Tell him he's not forgotten.
That R8C is a thing of beauty!
1999 was peak of Motorsport beauty
The Speed Channel was a glorious channel here in the States. Pity it was replaced. I remember watching the R8 in the ALMS when they showed races including the telecast of the 24hrs of Le Mans.
SurfShark Plug: "Stop missing out on the content you like...mine."
Plus, the R8 was a fixture on ALMS races on CBS, ESPN/ABC and NBC/CNBC. I do remember the American Le Mans Series which introduced me to Emanuele Pirro, a first ballot hall of fame Audi driver who normally piloted the R8, racing against other GOATs like Andy Lally, Ron Fellows, Brian Simo, Scott " that guy with those shades" Pruett and "The Professor" Boris Said, among others. I really miss the ALMS and SPEED. Childhood memories.
*Its 2008 again*
Youre playing Race Driver Grid on Xbox360
Youre in battle with R18s and other Prototypes with 2 min left in a 24 min race
The 24hr of LeMans theme from that game is playing as the darkness fades as you just start to see the sun coming up
Anxiety intensifies as you see those headlights in the darkness get closer to you
... *Game On*
Not an R18 in 2008
I got to meet Dr. Ullrich the last time Audi ran WEC at COTA, years back. You'd never know the guy was an engineering and racing genius, how nice and polite he was, shaking hands and taking pictures with everyone who recognized him, which were more than a few. Was a pretty awesome 5-7 seconds I'll never forget especially seeing these old Audi LM racing videos!
I second your comments. My son and I also got to talk to Dr. Ullrich in the Press Building at COTA. what a gracious guy and deferred Audi’s success to the team he had assembled. He asked my son what car he drove and of course it was an Audi S4 and he smiled. He then asked me and I stated a Ford F-150 and he grinned. Good memories.
Funny how the first prototype of the Audi R8 LMP car’s headlights almost look like the ones that the Audi TT (at the time) has!
Other than that it’s nice to hear about the backstory of this fine race car. 👍
All Audis of that era looked the same, so not that surprising.
Congratulations you’ve discovered design language 🗿💀
Great video... Unless I missed it... You forgot to mention ex F1 Driver Michele Alboreto - died testing these in 2001. 😢
The R8 LMP is still my fave LMP ever. It just looks fast. Even stood still.
I remember going to Mosport in 07 or 08, saw the R10 in person, such a surreal car, standing at turn 8 other cars would scream by, then the R10 would come by and you could hear the air flowing over the car, the suspension move and the transmission howl but no exhaust note, was surreal
My dad worked on that car, many many years ago. So i have a really special connection with it.
The R8 was s really really amazing car.
You can hear the sheer passion put into these videos. Can't wait for another!
I do think the 2000 and 2003 Le Mans part should have talked about the 4 and 5 minute rear end and gearbox changes that took place and in 2004 a new rule was made that the gearbox couldn't be replaced during the race.
Interesting and well put together episode as all ways.
There are a lot of abbreviations and different groups in racing, could be a good episode to explain all these, group a,b,c etc...
Thanks for the vids dude 🤘
I saw the R8 LMP racing in a privateer race at COTA back in November it was awesome to see.
Thank you for this video. I love the R8 and hope there are more videos about Audis LMP1s to come😄
I saw these car race in period at Road America, they were so quiet and fast, the Mugen Panoz LMP was ear splitting and the Audi was a whisper
The Porsche LMP2000 got literally cancelled by executive order of Ferdinand Piëch who was CEO of the Volkswagen Group at the time and in his earlier career he was at Porsche and contributed the 917 and later came to Audi and paved their way to make them a premium brand especially with technical innovations the famous "Vorsprung durch Technik" (which came from the NSU Ro 80 with Wankel engine).
And of course he still had familiar connections (and was also a large shareholder) to Porsche, so he could avoid that competition at least until 2014 (or 2005/2006 but the RS Spyder was LMP2 and mostly in ALMS/ELMS).
It seems the open LMPs were prefered by the rules in the 2000s so Audi continued the R8R line, they then returned to a coupé with the R18 in 2011 (mostly they could change drivers faster without a roof but the pit stops got a minimum time so it wasn't a disadvantage for a coupé anymore).
I've heard some details about this internal conflict/competition between Audi and Porsche during this era years ago, it's really interesting and I wish there was more in this video and elsewhere that would go into details about it. Thanks for adding this info to the conversation.
Love these videos, just makes me wanna get out the ps2 and play some GT4
Finally you review Audi R8 lmp, thanks bro
I remember watching videos from 2000 and the R8 looked like a spaceship in relation to the cars at the time. Even the BMW V12 LMR that had won LM24 just the year before looked old hat next the Audi.
Criminally underexposed channel. Don’t ever stop making these videos, they are fantastic. The hard work is appreciated 👍
All I can say is Gran Turismo 5. Been playing this game for a while now and and on the used cars lists, this popped up for 4.1 million. Luckily I have enough to buy it and rebuild it and all I can say is well worth it.
The most nuts thing about this car was the 5 minute gearbox/rear end change they did to both cars in 2000.
Seriously, it’s fucking genius… so genius the ACO banned it straight afterwards.
While the R10 made its debut in March 2006 at Sebring (which it won), it was still in the development process for the first half of the year. For the second, third & fourth rounds of American Le Mans, a single R8 LMP was run by Allan McNish & Dindo Capello. It won overall in Houston, but only managed the LMP1 win at Mid-Ohio, with Porsche's RS Spyder of LMP2 taking overall. But in the R8's final start at Lime Rock Park, McNish & Capello edged out Porsche for the overall win. Being my home track, I was there that day, absolutely magic! (That race also had Aston Martin beat Corvette in a photo finish for GT1)
The R8 even raced in 2006 in the ALMS until Lime Rock in July before it finally got replaced by the R10. Managed to win its final race with all 23 racetracks written on it where it scored victories.
One of the most beautiful cars ever made. Hero car through and through, absolute jaw dropper when it debuted in Gran Turismo 4, while it was still securing wins during development!
Never knew about the R8C so definitely learnt something new
favourite youtuber made a video about my favourite car
really appreciate it
I remember when I was a kid , I had total calendar, and this car was in there I was staring at it for hours if not days admiring it
Always get's my thumbs up this channel, another great show thanks to our master automobolistic ;)
To add, I believe there is one last race in 2006 with the R8. if I remember correctly, they raced it one last time at Lime Rock where it unsurprisingly won again! The most dominant chassis in sports car racing!
1:09 unfortunately Michele Alboreto lost his life in 2001 at the wheel of an Audi R8 he was testing
Thank you for this video. Wonderful footage! 🙂
Congratulations on the cool channel. I'd love to see something on the Ford Escort Cosworth and on the Lancia Delta Integrale
Sure wish they'd race in WEC now. That Bentley is a beautiful car!
Love these R8s.
Impressive, very nice
Let’s see what “competition” audi had to face and how slow their opponents were compared to them
More competition than Toyota did in their LM wins!!
@@perfectman3077 But a lot less than the Porsche 956/962.
I'm more impressed with Panoz and Pescarolo.
YESSSS I LOVE THIS CAR !!!!!! we need more open top lmp video 🙂
Automobilistic nails it again! Love it!
Seeing your face in relation to your voice always psyches me out, but you 110% need to be doing historic documentary commentary, my good man.
I’d argue the greatest is the 956/962, those were unstoppable machines and you can’t forget the famous “Nobody’s Perfect” poster. 9 out of the top 10 finishers in 1983 were all driving the Porsche. Followed by 8 out of the top 10 in ‘84 and ‘85, and 7 of the top 10 in ‘86.
The R15 is my favourite of the Audi LMP cars, but I've always loved all of the cars that Audi made for Le Mans, so this was an exciting watch for me lol. ^-^
Whenever the R8 comes up as a video topic I will always stop to watch. That car is so special to me as a kid who grew up around the R8's dominant period, especially because I had a grandstand seat for the Race of a Thousand Years in Adelaide, which Audi's famous crocodile-liveried car won by an unfathomable margin in a race shortened due to time constraints.
i love your videos!!!! where did you get those posters?
Every time i see that car, i see Alboreto's death...
Hey auto just a throught but could you do a video on the ferrari 288 gto evoluzione i think it would be quite an interesting groub b era story
Didn't Michele Alboreto die testing one of these? Or was the R10? I remember reading a feature in an F1 mag when I was little but I had no idea about endurance racing or Michele. Must have been around 2001
2001 at the Lausitzring in testing.
I was lucky enough to see them twice at the Petit LeMan in '01 and' 02. They were on rails. And so very reliable. German engineering excellence. But the real crowd favorites were the home team Panoz. Man you could feel your fillings coming loose when those LMP Roadsters thundered by with their Nascar powerplants.. Great video. Thanks so much sharing!
Roush power plants to be exact
@@6lemans10 i heard Robert Yates from the announcer on an old ALMS race so maybe he was mistaken.
@@JohnCompton1 Both! - they merged and formed Roush-Yates racing engines back in 2003. The original Panoz GT1 'Esperante' engines were Roush; then the LMP900 was Roush/Roush-Yates.
@@OsellaSquadraCorse holy smokes.. now that's getting in the weeds. Lol.. thanks for the update friend!
What is the channel to watch WEC in Austria?
7:39 can we talk about the picture of Jackie Stewart in an unknown Porsche prototype?
What caste a pall was the tragic loss of Michele Alboreto .
Seeing that thumbnail reminded me of gran turismo 4, and how the ai somehow lost in that car to my toyota 7
Made it in the first 20 minutes of this being posted 💪
I know people rag on toyota le mans wins. Audi had no competition for a good chunk of their race wins though until Peugeot came along? It’s was Audi vs Audi…Panoz & Co never truly got to their levels.
Oh, what a story.
I mean look I've only ever driven it in Project Cars 2, but like yeah. It's just the business. 😁
the only car that can compete with the 956/962 for success in le mans
Audi didn’t have the R8 in the second round they used the Audi R8R instead.
this thing destroyed me in older gran turismo games lol
Le Mans disesls next video please
0:40 that’s a McLaren
With a BMW engine, so that was effectively BMW's entry.
Wait a second, is that a GT One model from tamiya ?
Its from AUTOart
I miss all the GT music.
It's Kristensen not Christiansen
give diesel deets
Audi r8 Le mans prototype 1
Groundwork for diesel dominance
@@automobilisticwas thinking about the successors of the R8 also very successful
Meh, Porsche 917 was way more dominant
In fact, it was such stupidly fast, it haven't been gapped for another 2 decades
Well, than there was the 956/962 hitting the scene, and that is considered the most successful racecar of all times
917 won Le Mans twice. It was an amazing race car, but its not even in the top 5 most Le Mans wins for a single model. 956 won 4 times and the 962 twice as well. You could argue the 956/962 are similar enough to be considered a single generation - but that's why the title has a question mark.
R8's 5 wins without any significant design or mechanical changes (in fact, it got slower over time thanks to penalties) represents the most wins by a single model of car in Le Mans history. That doesn't mean its beyond question, there's lots of ways it could be argued other cars were more successful, but that would be quite a long title for a TH-cam video.
Audi Dominant the races fare and squad is all on top of all issues and rivils wasn't dominant because there behined audi planning.
12:55 - Bently British?
One correction, it's Champion racing, or ADT Champion racing, not ADT Champion-ship racing. Great video otherwise!
They defo ruined Le Mans for me, being a Panoz fan....
Audi never ruin Le Mans, they made Le Mans better!!
yay
Why so much regulation
I’ve liked the video I’ll watch it later on my big tv
Diesel audi please
Paying to watch WEC is why nobody watches WEC.... Be more like F1.. without all the red flags...
0:40 it's a Mclaren, not a BMW, yes, its 'Powered by BMW' but it's NOT a BMW
good job I didn't say it was a BMW, just that BMW was taking part in the GT1 class. The car was being campaigned by the factory BMW Motorsport team as well as having a BMW engine.
@@automobilistic think it was more like factory McLean, think only bit was BMW was the engine, don't think they ran it as it was McLean built and possibly ran, there probably was one that was from BMW but don't think the others where from BMW, the one won in 1995 wasn't BMW Motorsport
@@AdamHinckley McLaren themselves never ran the car. The 1995 winning car was a privateer, but the car pictured in this video was BMW Motorsport - because the point was to illustrate Audi's contemporary's involvement in GT1
@@automobilistic but still, you kinda got it wrong originally tho
@@AdamHinckley No, the cars were run in the official BMW Motorsport colours, with FINA sponsorship (same as the GT and touring cars) and run by Bigazzi and Schnitzer.
The drivers were Winkelhock, Soper, Ravaglia, Kox and later Lehto - all BMW's works drivers. It was a full BMW Motorsport effort, not McLaren - BMW even owned their GT1 cars outright.
McLaren themselves were more closely partnered with Dave Price's McLarens - their factory test driver Chris Goodwin raced for DPR.
The McLaren-BMW GT1 project only ended when BMW went to F1 with Williams in 1998 (testing at first with Jorg Muller), which meant the McLaren partnership needed to end (McLaren also built BMW's BTCC cars in 95 & 96).
The BMW Le Mans cars were then built by the Williams F1 team, winning in 1999 (when DPR also ran a privateer entry).
You said scrapped many times in this video. That is not the correct word. VW diesels are and were scrapped. Are you proposing that these engines were turned into beer cans? I'm sure they(if still running) were put into something. And dude you stole my 1991 hs graduation haircut!!! Lol
I would subscribe if you had less FaceTime.
No. They won by default just turning up with three factory cars. What great competition did it beat? What serious factory backed rivals? Who was there to push Audi? They took their millions of dollars, built a car from scratch and inevitably beat up a bunch of privateers usually buying in their engines, chassis and parts. The moment Audi got a serious rival in 2007 from Peugeot it looked slower. The 908 was the quicker car right off the bat and stayed that way for years throughout the endurance series it raced in, forcing Audi to iterate several times to catch up. The best Le Mans cars were the ones that took on serious rivals and created legendary memorable races. Ford v Ferrari is a movie for a reason, rather than Audi versus Zytek and Dome....
@3:58 Nice shoehorning of a sponsor there....
WOULDN'T'VE BEEEN EASIER TO JUST SAY WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK!? OR SOMETHING TO THE LIKE?!?!!?!?
It was boring and had little real competition.
Hopefully they enter f1 and immediately dominate
Yep, 1/1! impressive
This time between 2000 and 2020
Were the most boring decades of LeMans
Because there was NO competition.
Audi won left, Bentley came won and left, Audi came back won and left, Porsche came won and left for Toyota…
And now we have competition, more then 1 manufacturer who is racing just against themselves.
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