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American LeMans
LE MANS: Audi Unveils The R15 Plus
With new aero regulations closing the rear of LMP cars, Audi has been forced to abandon its 'through-body' air flow scheme, inspiring the R15 plus update.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted March 15, 2010  
Audi's R15 plus is in response to more than 20 updates from its original R15 from 2009, including an odd, heavily revised nose treatment. (Audi)
The first official image of Audi's heavily revised R15 plus Le Mans challenger was revealed today, providing detail of just how extreme the changes to the twin-turbo diesel V10 prototype were needed to comply with the ACO's LMP rule set.
The R15 featured the 'chimney' in the nose section, while the R15 plus appears to have deleted that feature. The Chimney was known to disturb airflow to the rear of the car in ways its designers never intended. (Audi)

2009's R15, the replacement for the 3-time Le Mans-winning R10, fell short of expectations at the 24-hour race as its rivals at Peugeot enjoyed a clear performance advantage.

The French team's twin-turbo diesel V12 908 HDi FAP chassis not only made more power, but its aerodynamics proved to be far more efficient than the R15.

Designed to use the 'through-body' air flow philosophy implemented on their R14 DTM challenger, the R15 LMP1 machine fed air into the front of the chassis and into channels between the rear wheels and the drivetrain, creating what the Ingolstadt-based team believed would be a marked advantage.

With the ACO looking to slow the LMP1 machines down again through engines restrictions and aerodynamics changes, closing the aft sections of the engine cover and wheel arches has necessitated Audi to go after a more conventional aerodynamic scheme on the R15 plus.
The R15 plus sports lower, smaller 'elephant ears.' (Audi)

While the rear air flow proved to be a noteworthy innovation, airflow at the front of the R15 proved troublesome, if not mysterious at times. Using a channel in the R15's high nose, the car's designers took a page from Ferrari's 2008 F1 car by allowing air beneath the nose to accelerate up and out through the top in a bid to create more downforce.

Nicknamed 'the chimney' by Audi, the concept failed to deliver its desired results, and appears to be abandoned on the R15 plus. It has been replaced by what Audi describes as "a new, distinctive face featuring a split nose."

With a legacy of flowing, appealing boy lines with the R8 and R10, the front of the R15 plus is a challenging departure -- even from 2009's R15.

Detail work has been done between the split nose and front fenders, with the expansive 'elephant ears' that spanned the section last year now replaced by smaller, lower panels.
Using the rear of the R15 to narrow and channel its rearward airflow has been abandoned per the ACO's 2010 rules. (Audi)

The controversial wing-like element that ran the width of the nose directly beneath the chimney has been retained, although its adjustability has been removed, and is now secured at a fixed angle of attack.

One major benefit from the through-body design was the immense focus on packaging at the rear of the car. Despite the loss of the through-body flow, the systems designed to sit in a narrow footprint in and around the engine have been mostly retained. The only benefit to the R15 plus' power output has been the ability to slightly alter the exhaust packaging, moving the particulate filters and exhaust routing away from the engine, thus lowering the immense temperatures seen by the 5.5-liter powerplant.

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