Most people think Christmas is the 25th of December, but for Cars Technica, Christmas comes in June, this very weekend. Yes, It's time for the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans, the greatest race in the world. In this year's event—the most exciting in almost two decades—four different car companies are doing battle to see whose hybrid is the fastest around the 8.46 mile (13.629 km) circuit. Audi, Nissan, Porsche, and Toyota all have very different answers to that question, with some fascinating technology being put to the test.
ACO
The annual group picture of the cars. The factory LMP1s make up the front row.
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The rules for the top class, called LMP1, provide remarkable freedom when it comes to designing a car. A formula determines how much fuel a hybrid LMP1 can use based on how much energy it plans to recover over a lap. Audi and Nissan are in the 2 MJ class (which allows them the most fuel, still about two-thirds less than the winning car used two years ago). Toyota is in the 6 MJ class, and Porsche is the first company since the new rules came into effect to opt for 8 MJ.
Audi
The Audi team after scruitineering (this is when the organizers check each car conforms to the rules, and it takes place in the Le Mans town center).
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Audi, which has dominated the race since 2000, has three R18 e-tron quattros. These feature a mid-engined 4 L V6 turbodiesel (550 hp/410 kW) driving the rear wheels and a motor-generator unit that captures kinetic energy (MGU-K) from the front axle (270 hp/200 kW). The MGU-K stores (and uses) energy in an electric flywheel. The R18 isn't the fastest over a single lap, but it may well be over a race stint.
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