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 Audi R10 was photographed
during the 2006 Wheels Down
Winter Test running in this configuration. Notice the blanking
panel redirecting the lower air flow up and over the front
wishbone shroud. Audi's Technical Director Ralf Jüttner
indicates
that this panel was briefly tried to test the effects on cooling, but
that
it, "Has not been taken any further thereafter." |
 The
torsion bar front suspension. We can also see the vertically
mounted
primary dampers (Ohlins). |
 The
lower profile of the
front diffuser has a short flat area just aft of the leading edge
becoming
a large radius up sweep to the trailing edge. Overall the
R10's front diffuser cross section is a non-symmetric
wing profile that skirts Art 3.6.1 by having a vertical step on the top
cross section, just behind the leading edge of the splitter.
That step alone is the work around and the ACO's Daniel
Perdrix
has confirmed this. Though one wonders how small that step
could
be before the ACO themselves no longer agree with that ruling. |
 These
small surface mounted vortex generators, affixed on the underside of
the front diffuser, were spotted 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.
|
|
 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. Finally, we can also see that the diffuser comes to
a
pointy trailing edge. |
 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. |
