For the FIA World Endurance Championship, Audi have shown off the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro endurance racer. Fuel efficiency is now a huge part of motorsport in general and manufacturers are always pushing for their racers to be more economical. This particular racer benefits from revised aerodynamics as well as improved fuel efficiency, alongside a more powerful hybrid power system.
The new look for the car is a result from Audi designers finding a new way of channeling air around the vehicle in a bid to improve aerodynamics. These differences include newly designed wheel arches, front wing, headlight design, and large air inlets in the front wheel arches. Audi are planning on using two body designs depending on the tracks throughout the FIA WEC season.
An energy recovery system recovers braking energy and then given back to the front axle to improve acceleration. This new system offers around 269bhp which is significantly more over last season’s racer. There is also a 17 per cent increase in the flywheel energy storage system, now up to 700 kilojoules of energy. The main grunt for this 2015 R18 comes from a 4.0-litre V6 TDI engine which produces 550bhp but has been altered to comply with the 2.5 per cent less diesel consumption than the 2014 season regulations.
