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Author: Olly

Audi quits Formula E to focus on Dakar Rally, Le Mans return via LMDh

Audi on Monday made several major motorsport announcements.

The brand with the four rings confirmed it will exit the Formula E Championship at the end of the 2020/2021 season, leaving Porsche to represent the Volkswagen Group in the electric open-wheel series.

Instead, Audi will enter the Dakar Rally for the first time, using an electric SUV. It will be a bespoke SUV with a high-voltage battery and an internal-combustion engine serving as a range extender, the automaker said.

2020/2021 Audi E-Tron FE07 Formula E race car

Audi is making a multi-year commitment to the Dakar Rally, starting with the 2022 rally. The automaker said its aim is to use motorsport to improve the performance of its electric drive systems and batteries and transfer this knowledge into future road cars.

We’ve already seen this in Formula E where Audi’s latest entry features an electric drive system that develops 335 horsepower yet weighs less than 77 pounds. The drive system also has an efficiency rating of 95%, and the efficiency of its motor-generator alone is 97%.

And while Audi has never competed in the Dakar Rally before, fellow VW Group brands Porsche and Volkswagen have experience to call on—especially VW which scored a hat track of wins between 2009 and 2011.

Markus Duesmann

“We want to continue demonstrating the brand’s slogan ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ in international top-level motorsport in the future and develop innovative technologies for our road cars,” said Markus Duesmann, CEO of Audi. “The toughest rally in the world is the perfect stage for this.”

Audi also confirmed Monday it is preparing to enter the new LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid) category for prototype racers announced back in January. LMDh was announced jointly by IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) and ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest), which sanctions the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the highlight of the World Endurance Championship. The rules are still being hammered out but LMDh could be introduced in the WEC and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by the 2022 season, essentially allowing a team to compete in races from both series with the same car.

Audi said it will also continue to investigate other motorsport arenas, though don’t look for a new DTM entry. Audi in April said it will quit DTM after 2020.

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November 30, 2020
CAR PHOTOSHOOT: BEHIND THE SCENES

Ever wanted to know what goes into a car photoshoot for a magazine feature? We’ve created a short video of a behind the scenes car photoshoot on this Mk7 Ford Fiesta ST.

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There’s an awful lot of work that goes into shooting a car for a feature in our magazine. First up, it starts with selecting a feature car. The next thing is to review what said feature car is all about, that will help determine what sort of background you want. Whether that’s an underground car park, a derelict factory or even a race circuit, certain cars suit certain backgrounds. The hardest part of a shoot is often finding a location. On occasion you can find one within 20 minutes, but if you don’t know the area, you could be searching for well over an hour.

Next up is positioning and actually photographing the car. This now varies from photographer to photographer. Some prefer to spend a good amount of time on one angle, perhaps for a cover shot, and others will take a basic image and create a cover shot in Photoshop or Lightroom or something similar. As a result, car photoshoots can vary from around 2 hours right up to full days, even across multiple days, depending on the size of the feature.

Want to know what angles to shoot? Typically, the first few you want to cover are: front 3/4, side profile, rear 3/4, rear shot and front end shot. Next up you want details, perhaps carbon ceramic breaks, or air ride, then you’ll need interior and engine shots. It’s good practice to also snap a rolling shot, whether that’s car-to-car or the photographer stood statically while the car drives by.

Once it’s shot, all of the images are processed through editing software and sent over to both the editor and designer. The designer will then select images based on how well it sits on paper before the editor approves, or suggests changes.

There’s more to a car photoshoot than you think…

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November 30, 2020
NARAN AUTOMOTIVE NARAN REVEALED WITH 1048BHP

Before you say it, no, that headline isn’t a typo. The Naran Automotive Naran is the actual name of this BMW M8-based supercar and just 49 of them will be built.

You’ve probably never heard of Naran Automotive. If we’re honest, we didn’t really know much about the outfit either. The Naran is the first car its made and hopes to mix it up in the high-end automotive sector with its 1048bhp, 5.0-litre V8, twin-turbo. With 764lb ft of torque on offer, Naran Automotive claims a top speed of over 230mph, a 0-60mph sprint time of just 2.3 seconds and a 0-100mph time of 4.5 seconds. This is alongside claims of downforce of 1377kg near its top speed, which is more than a GT3 race car. Power is then sent through an automatic transmission (details of which are unknown but assume relate to the BMW M8) and onto the ground through all-wheel drive, with the option of switching to just rear-wheel drive.

The engine itself was built by Racing Dynamics and is front-mid mounted, which is unusual for a supercar. Despite its grand-tourer vibes (big engine up front, 2+2 cabin and all-wheel drive), Naran Automotive is adamant that the car has a close connection to competition.

While it may be based on a BMW M8, that’s where the similarities end, with a whole new design lead by Wyn Design, the team responsible for the Apollo IE and De Tomaso P72. You can see from the body that this car is intended to be a thrilling drive, with double wishbone suspension, Ohlins dampers and 22-inch wheels hiding carbon ceramics.

Want one of the 49 cars? You’ll need to put up around £900,000 to get hold of one, and that’s before options…

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November 30, 2020