ALFAGTV6.COM

[ar4me]

Was reading about the Audi R10 last night - was surprised to read it will be diesel powered - 600+HP - They figure they will get 2-3 more laps per tank at Lemans - humming at 3000-5000 RPM. At introduction, Dane Tom Kristensen (7 time Lemans winner), drove it through Paris. Apparently, the car is pretty quiet and you mostly hear the wind noise driving it, making it difficult/different for the driver to early detect the rear end braking loose (which is usually audible when the RPM starts to climb rapidly). Only sign of diesel clatter was at shut-down. Anyway, thought it was interesting. A diesel winning Lemans? Well, back in the days, Enzo predicted that race cars would have electric engines in the future due to their monumental torque...
Jes

[Fernando]

I admire diesel engines for the huge torque figures they deliver,but for racing give me a nice screamer of an engine to get the juices flowing.I just cannot imagine some small kid falling in love with motor racing watching a barely audible wind tunnel special.

What made me fall in love with Alfa's ? Standing at Kyalamy watching the Group 1 GTV6 and lusting after one something terrible.Now if it was a diesel I seriously doubt that would have happened.

[Mats]

If you can't detect the slide until the RPMs rise you're in big trouble even if the engine is REALLY loud.

[ar4me]

Well, they listed it as an issue compared to the R8 (petrol powered). Though, I don't think they mean like when it hits 15000 (from 9000), or whatever RPM they run them at, but the minut (or the sec, or split sec) the rear tires loose traction the engine will spin a tiny bit faster. The smaller the difference they can detect/hear the earlier they can detect limit of traction - basically use it as yet another input to detect the limit of traction.
Jes