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Victory by Design: Maserati DVD
From the racer that helped establish the Maserati name in the 1920s, the Tipo 26, to the successful 8CM of the early thirties.
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Written by:
Marshall Pruett
05/01/2008 - 02:55 PM
Oakland, CA
Thrilling in-car footage of the back-and-forth battle between Audi and Porsche dominate the R10's on board camera. » More Photos
Hi. My name is Marshall Pruett, and I’m an In-car Camera-aholic.
There. I've finally admitted it.
I’ve spend years seeking out the best in-car footage on DVD, on the internet, on VHS , and now, thanks to the American Le Mans Series, we’ve been able to create a new online in-car series, ALMS: In-Car Camera Theater.
While my motivations for creating this new series are somewhat selfish, I’ve also heard from a number of sportscar racing fans and insiders expressing their interest in seeing more of the racing action from inside the American Le Mans Series cars.
What better way to kick things off than to watch Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr’s race-long battle with the Penske Porsches at Long Beach. With our first showing, I've pared down the 100 minute Tequila Patron Long Beach race to the best 14 minutes of frenetic action. After a crafty (and torquey) pass for the lead with just minutes to go, the overall and LMP1 class winning Audi R10 TDI of Werner and Luhr delivers footage of some incredibly intense battles on their way to victory circle.
It’s intriguing to watch the Audi R10 and Porsche RS Spyder battle on the streets o Long Beach, and even more so to pick out where their different strengths are maximized. For the Spyder, watch as the car runs out of steam half way down the straights, but carries however much speed they have deep into the braking zones, getting back on the throttle immediately after braking has concluded, and squirting off the corners in an instant.
'We get by with a little help from our friends?'...Luhr 'helps' the Intersport-Lola down pit lane, despite what the Lola's brake lights might indicate... » More Photos
The R10’s strengths are the exact opposite; it takes the heavier LMP1 Audi extra time to gets its mass up to speed at the exit of a corner, and gives little for the Spyder to concern itself with for the first half of any straight. But from the second half of a straight away, the brute power of the diesel twin-turbo V-12 inhales anything in front of it.
The yo-yo effect of the R10/Spyder battle is made more exciting with the introduction of traffic—GT2 cars mainly, but based upon how Werner and Luhr time their passes, they gain and lose time to the Penske cars.
Overall, watching the race from the perspective of the race winner and analyzing both what’s happening inside their own car and on the track ahead of them provides a very different perspective of how the event played out.
Enjoy the ride with Luhr and Werner, and we’ll have more In-Car Theater features from Long Beach to enjoy next week.
Viewing notes for the Audi R10 In-Car Theater video:
Watch the vertical strip of white lights Audi uses on their dash to alert the driver that their traction control is active. These white lights are blinking constantly in the slow corners where the massive torque of the V-12 diesel engine wants to spin the rears into oblivion. The Bosch electronics do all they can to prevent the Michelin tires from being shredded out of the turn eleven hairpin, bringing the engine to a near stand still at times. As the tires become more worn, the white lights are lit up more and more. (1:34, 1:54, 3:11…)
Do not anger Lucas Luhr! Much fist shaking will ensue! (4:28, 9:06, 9:15, 9:18, 9:22)
Do not delay Lucas Luhr on pit lane! Driving below the pit speed limit will inspire Luhr to push the Intersport-Lola to match his own speed. (9:08)
'Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care...' Sadly, Lucas Luhr wasn't in a partying mood after being delayed on pit lane. » More Photos
The Intersport team isn’t quite sure if the undesired assistance is necessary, as witnessed by the brake lights coming on. (9:09)
Lucas Luhr has a loud voice. You can hear him yelling at the Intersport car over the sounds of his V-12 engine! (9:19)
The Audi Sport team does incredibly fast pit stops. (9:29-10:02)
The Penske Porsche’s employ an innovative car widening technology of some sorts. It gets used at strategic places on the track, preventing the Audi R10 from passing. (3:20-3:25, 7:09-7:15)
Its over-use also gets a touch dangerous (5:50-5:55)
After many laps of dealing with Penske’s widening technology, Luhr executes a brilliant fake to the left, the direction he’d gone the last few laps, sees the Porsche respond and ‘widen’ to the left, and Luhr pulls to the right to get by. Nice. (7:25-7:29)
It’s wonderful to hear the chirp of turbo wastegates again—something that was a staple of turbocharged IMSA GTP cars, but had been lost for some time. Modern ALMS-spec turbo engines don’t make enough boost to warrant heavy use of wastegates to release excess turbo boost. (Yes, I know, I’m a geek). (2:21, 3:36, 7:45)
The closing rate of an LMP1 car over a GT2 car is alarming. (3:17-3:21,…)
Marco Werner is stunningly good at choosing when and where to pass cars. If Luhr is the hot-blooded half of the driving team, Werner’s the calm, collected, silent assassin. (10:02-14:37)
Finally, after winning, Marco lets his guard down and belts out a cheer and engages in some celebratory fist-pumping. Somewhere, the Intersport team thinks he’s also mad at them. (13:51-14:03)
It’s neat to see ‘Bib’, the Michelin Tire man awaiting Marco as he pulls into the post-race impound area. I have no idea why this amuses me. (14:19-14:25)
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