2007 Audi R10 TDI

Offered by Artcurial | Le Mans, France | July 7, 2012

Oh boy. This is one of my all-time favorite cars. A few months ago we featured this car’s largest rival – the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. The Peugeot is very pretty and very fast. But it did not dominate everything quite like the Audi R10 did. That Peugeot was the first 908 to come up for public sale and this is the first Audi R10 to come up for auction.

The R10 TDI was introduced to replace the other-worldly Audi R8 (a car that only lost 16 races in seven years. It never lost at Le Mans with factory backing). What was shocking, was that the R10 was diesel-powered. Only a handful of diesel-powered cars had ever competed at Le Mans (1949, 1950 and 2004 all saw one diesel entry). But for a powerhouse team to switch its power plant after being so dominant? How would it play out?

Splendidly. The R10 never lost a race at Le Mans before it was replaced by its successor, the R15. The engine is a 5.5-liter diesel V12 making somewhere around 650 horsepower. Torque is monstrous at 811 lb/ft. The R10 was capable of great things in the right hands. It was the first diesel to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring. One particular memory of these cars occurred at the 2008 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, when Allan McNish wrecked the car on the warmup lap on the way to the grid. The team had to replace most of the front end of the car. It basically started the race two laps down. Co-drivers Emanuele Pirro and Dindo Capello put in solid drives throughout the 1000km event. But a determined drive by McNish in the final stint gave the team the win. It was one of the most incredible performances from a driver I’ve ever seen. McNish is a god among men in Audi prototypes. But I have to admit the car probably had something to do with it.

Anyway, the competition history of this car (chassis #201) is as follows:

2007 Grand Prix of Mosport – 4th (with Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro)
2007 Petit Le Mans – 17th (with Lucas Luhr and Werner)
2007 Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca – 3rd (with Mike Rockenfeller and Werner)
2008 12 Hours of Sebring – 3rd, and 1st in class (with Rinaldo Capello, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen)
2008 1000km of Nurburgring – 3rd (with Alexandre Prémat and Rockenfeller)
2008 1000km of Silverstone – 4th (with Prémat and Rockenfeller)
2009 1000km of Catalunya – 27th (with Michael Krumm, Charles Zwolsman Jr. and Andrew Meyrick)
2009 1000km of Spa – 6th (with Narain Karthikeyan, Meyrick and Zwolsman)
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans – 7th (with Karthikeyan, Zwolsman and André Lotterer)
2009 1000km of Algarve – 27th, DNF (with Karthikeyan, Meyrick and Zwolsman)
2009 1000km of Nurburgring – 4th (with Karthikeyan, Meyrick and Zwolsman)
2009 1000km of Silverstone – 6th (with Karthikeyan, Meyrick and Zwolsman)
2009 1000km of Okayama – 5th in race one and 6th in race two (with Christijan Albers, Matteo Cressoni and Hideki Noda)
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans – 32nd, DNF (with Christian Bakkerud, Oliver Jarvis and Albers)

Yeah, that’s quite the history. The list of names that have driven this car is amazing – legends of contemporary motorsport. I really wanted that Peugeot 908 when it went up for auction. But my want for this car exceeds the Peugeot by a factor so big I can’t even describe it. These are amazing machines. And they don’t come cheap. The pre-sale estimate for this car is $1,625,000-$2,000,000 – which is nothing as it cost Audi about $15 million per year to operate this team. For more information, click here. And for more from Artcurial at Le Mans, click here.

Update: Did not sell.

2007 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has had some historic battles between manufacturers since it began back in 1923. The latest of these battles has been between Audi and Peugeot. Beginning in 2007, Peugeot took Audi head on with this car, the 908 HDi FAP. Like its competitor, it is diesel-powered – a 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V12 making in excess of 700 horsepower.

I should probably come clean and admit that I am a massive Audi fan. However, I will also admit that these cars are far more attractive than any of the Audi prototypes they raced against. They are gorgeous – and those wheels! The 908 was a worthy competitor to Audi’s R10 and R15, but it only got the better of them at Le Mans once – in 2009 when they finished 1-2.

The competition history of this car includes:

2007 1000km Monza – 1st, in it’s debut race (with Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené)

2007 1000km Valencia – 36th, DNF (with Minassian and Gené)

2007 24 Hours of Le Mans – 30th, DNF (with Minassian, Gené and Jacques Villeneuve)

2007 1000km Nürburgring – 2nd (with Minassian and Gené)

2007 1000km Spa – 46th, DNF (with Minassian and Gené)

2007 1000km Silverstone – 1st (with Minassian and Gené)

2007 Mil Milhas Brasil – 1st (with Minassian and Gené)

2008 12 Hours of Sebring – 11th (with Minassian, Stéphane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy)

2008 1000km Catalunya – 1st (with Minassian and Gené)

2008 1000km Monza – 5th (with Minassian and Gené)

2008 1000km Spa – 1st (with Minassian, Gené and Villeneuve)

2008 24 Hours of Le Manes – destroyed in practice crash (with Gené)

Peugeot suddenly cancelled it’s LMP program in 2012. If you never had a chance to see these cars come whistling by you at Tertre Rouge or come flying at you at the Indianapolis and Arnage corners, well you’ve missed something beautiful. When a gasoline-powered prototype car races past, they are burbling and popping and spitting fire at an incredible volume. Not so with these cars. They are eerily quiet and you can hear them punch a hole in the air. It’s amazing. If you missed out on it, I’m sorry – but here’s your chance to buy one – and it’s the first time one has been offered for public sale.

It is expected to bring $2,000,000-$2,400,000 and is being sold directly from Peugeot. It comes with a commitment to three years of technical support from Peugeot Sport, as modern race cars are technology-laden. But it isn’t free. For the complete description, click here. And for more on RM in Monaco, click here.

Update: sold $2,175,600.