Friday September 12, 2003
Audi have unveiled the stunning Le Mans Quattro sports car concept study at the 60th International Motor Show in Frankfurt. Described as having inherited the genes of the Audi R8 - three-times winner of the Le Mans 24-Hours race - the high-performance mid-engined two-seater is powered by a longitudinally installed V10 'biturbo' engine, developing 449 kW (610 bhp) at 6,800 rpm and making 0 to 100 kmh in 3.7 seconds.
The Audi Le Mans quattro's Jet Blue paint finish, wide stance and bullish appearance on the road is backed by the five-litre V10 'biturbo' with FSI direct fuel injection which achieves its maximum torque of 750 Nm at an engine speed as low as 1,750 rpm and remains constant over a broad engine speed range up to 5,800 rpm.
A sequential-shift six-speed sports gearbox enables the driver to use this powerful torque in the appropriate doses and quattro permanent four-wheel drive distributes the power variably - based on a 40:60 ratio - to the front and rear axles and thus gives this mid-engined sports car its optimum road dynamics.
The Audi Le Mans quattro accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds and to 200 km/h in 10.8 seconds.
The proportions of a pure sports car - 1.90 metres wide, 4.37 metres long and 1.25 metres high with a wheelbase of 2.65 metres - accommodates a surprisingly spacious cockpit and a large outward-curving intake that supplies the V10 engine, the brakes, the oil cooler and the charge-air intercooler is positioned to the rear of the doors, between the sill and the roof.
The driving position is integrated into the space between the instrument panel with its changeover display graphics and the centre console and there is planty if space for both occupants according to Audi.
The trapezoidal shape of the Audi single-frame grille is a distinctive feature of the front end, flanked on the right and left by additional large air inlets. Their upper ends are flush with the flat-strip LED headlights, which have clear-glass covers.
An aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF) forms the central structure and the outer skin and add-on parts use a weight-saving mixed aluminium and carbon-fibre concept - thus satisfying the demand for utmost rigidity at a simultaneously low weight of 1530 kg, and providing a foundation for top road dynamics.