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THE WINNING FORMULA FOR AUDI AT LE MANS
For two consecutive years, Audi Sport has dominated the prestigious Le Mans 24-hour race. The achievement of Audi's superior endurance performance vehicles is testimony to the innovative synergies of the Audi Sport design team situated at the group's headquarters in Ingolstadt (Germany), and to their adoption of state-of-the-art technologies, including the ProtoFunctional® materials of DSM Somos® and the high-tech prototypes of the service and prototyping company Alphaform AG. Progress through technology Audi started with a blank sheet of paper in January 1998, and took its place on the Podium in Le Mans just 18 months later. The development of subsequent models for the victory races in 2000 and 2001 each took just 51 weeks. Taking into account that the cars are 100% Audi design, Audi technology and Audi production, this is an outstanding achievement. This success is the result of strong goal orientation and a close relationship with technology specialists in the Audi Research and Development departments as well as with high-tech suppliers such as Alphaform AG. Contributing to Audi Sport's winning formula in Le Mans was the fact that the rear-end structure could be removed and replaced as a complete part. Should the need arise, this concept allows Audi Sport to reduce its pit-stop time to an absolute minimum. There is an unwritten law in Le Mans that the race can be won or lost in the pit. In fact , Audi was able to complete a stop for re-fuelling, tyre change and replacement of the rear-end structure in just 5 minutes and 22 seconds. Until Audi turned up in Le Mans, a pit-stop time of 30 minutes was considered 'excellent'. Concealed in the revolutionary rear-end structure of the Audi R8 was a concept in which the oil-tank played a major role, serving as a support between the motor and the gear-box as well as performing other critical load-bearing functions. Since the oil-tank was so critical and the development schedule so compressed, Audi Sport asked the German technology specialist Alphaform AG to produce a prototype from the Somos® 7120 ProtoFunctional® resin. Audi Sport's main concern was the dynamic behaviour of the oil under the extreme 'G' forces associated with speeds of over 300 kmph. The Somos® prototype made by Alphaform AG allowed Audi Sport to complete the dynamic fluid-flow analysis and elaborate necessary modifications to the design before going into final production of the magnesium metal-cast part . Audi Sport was impressed by the accuracy, robustness and heat tolerance of the particularly complex and intricate Somos® 7120 prototype. For the development team, it is a revolutionary breakthrough to be able to submit prototypes to such exacting tests. Ralf Deuke, Business Manager, Stereolithography Technologies at Alphaform AG comments: 'Since Alphaform provides an integrated prototyping service we are constantly working with a wide range of high technology materials. The physical properties of the Somos® range of stereolithography resins are, in our opinion, second to none and allow Alphaform to meet it's strategic goal of providing accurate, functional prototypes in the shortest possible lead-time. The oil-tank we produced for AudiSport was a challenge we enjoyed. Alphaform is proud of the fact that it could make an important contribution to Audi Sport's amazing achievement.'
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