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It is believed
that following the 2003 Le Mans the Audi boys took the winning Bentley
LMGTP back to Ingolstadt for a thorough post race inspection.
And while the R10 and Bentley LMGTP do not visually resemble one another,
the R10's cooling architecture is remarkably similar to the 2003 Bentley.
The front suspension is shrouded with air traveling above and below as
it flows to the radiator inlet. Masked beneath the suspension shroud
is the trailing edge of the front diffuser which ends approximately at
the front wheel centerline. In this comparison shot, note how much
lower the pick up point on the upright is (using the suspension shroud
as the visual cue) on the Audi compared to the Bentley. |
 The
torsion bar front suspension. We can also see the vertically mounted
primary dampers (Ohlins). |
 The
front diffuser has a short flat area just aft of the leading edge becoming
a large radius up sweep to the trailing edge. |
 These
small surface mounted vortex generators, affixed on the underside of
the front diffuser, were noted at Petit '08. As a generalization,
VGs such as these are used in situations where either the primary
design is faulty (see Nissan NPT-90 GTP underfloor, page 147, Inside IMSA's GTP Race Cars..., Martin & Fuller, Motorbooks International, 2008.) or, as more likely in this case, the design is being pushed beyond its original performance window. |
 |
Here
we can see the rear end of the entire diffuser/nose box/front bodywork
assembly as well as an end view of the diffuser. The primary diffuser
upsweep has only two strakes located adjacent to the front wheel (in fact
the strakes have a clearance bulge to compensate for the wheel's steering
travel they are located that close to the tire, see image below).
The strakes end at the front wheel centerline.
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|
 Note
the gurney attached at the trailing edge of the diffuser. This image also
gives an idea of the height of the trailing edge of the diffuser upsweep. |
 The
gurney helps improve diffuser performance and front aero grip though is
merely a aero balance tuning device and was only present on one of the
chassis. Though by 2008 the front gurneys had grown quite large,
and in conjunction with ever increasing rear body gurney heights (and
rear "Spa wings"), signify a large increase in overall downforce on the
R10 throughout its 3 years of competition.
 The
front diffuser gurney has gotten taller since '06 and the brake duct
blanking panel has grown as well and is being used as an additional method
to generate front downforce. |
|
 These vertical strakes (left hand here) first appeared at Petit '08. |
 The
entire front bodywork/crash structure/front splitter can bolt
off as one in a matter of seconds to allow for very easy access to
the front torsion bars for quick setup changes, not to mention rapid race repairs. |
