Hopefully not Lotus 2.0 (Audi eyeing Indycar)

[mr nobody]

Audi looks to ramp up US involvement in the near future - Le Mans news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106774)

Thoughts?

[Starter]

Audi looks to ramp up US involvement in the near future - Le Mans news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106774)

Thoughts?
They have resources that Lotus could only dream about. Don't hold your breath for their arrival though.

[FIAT1]

They have resources that Lotus could only dream about. Don't hold your breath for their arrival though.

Agree with this. I don't see any reason that makes Indycar appealing to anyone at present structure. I think nascar brass are gonna make sure they go to sports car.

[FormerFF]

Audi (VW) will either do it right or not at all.

[anthonyvop]

Agree with this. I don't see any reason that makes Indycar appealing to anyone at present structure. I think nascar brass are gonna make sure they go to sports car.

They already do Sportscars. Their R8 is run in the G/A GT Class and the CTSCC.

[FIAT1]

They already do Sportscars. Their R8 is run in the G/A GT Class and the CTSCC.

Ullrich left the door open to a possible Prototype USRC entry by Audi, but Durheimer went further and stated that he was in favour of a move into the top class of the merged US sportscar series.

"I am personally in favour of Daytona Prototypes, because I think it is important to make overall wins," he explained. "Class wins [with the R8 GRAND-AM] are nice, but at the end of the day you have to win the race."

[FormerFF]

I was at the Road Atlanta Grand Am race today. No Audis were in attendance.

[mr nobody]

I don't think it will be Lotus 2.0, but I think they will be behind the 8 ball for atleast a year. Lotus (more appropriate to call it a Judd) never really got off the ground in R&D and sputtered out until the very end. Good idea just bad fudning, timing, fuel mapping, technical support and attitude towards the team that stuck with them.

[call_me_andrew]

Lotus doesn't make their own engines for street cars. Why they tried branding race car engines was beyond me.

[Jag_Warrior]

My apologies to the remaining faithful here, but I hope they do a branded Grand Am DP (engine and chassis). He said two of the three (Grand Am, ICS and DTM America) would be max. So if they also did an Indy Car engine, that would be cool too. But I'd rather see a Grand Am entry if they only do one. The mock-up in that article looks pretty sweet! And if they want to take on BMW and Mercedes, BMW already races in Grand Am.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I can't see them going for an Indycar engine deal. Why both Audi and Volkswagen were part of the discussions that led to the current engine formula is beyond me, but except for the short lived Formula Palmer-Audi, they never had any presence in openwheelers. They have a tradition in Rallying, Touring Cars and practically owned Le Mans for a time, but Indy would be a complete new territory for them.
Their string of utterly superior LeMans cars should be all the proof you need that they certainly know how to build an engine, not to mention that being a subsidiary of Volkswagen and owner of Lamborghini they have complete access to all knowledge and resources of Bentley, Bugatti, VW, Porsche and Lambo. They certainly can come up with an engine that is miles better than anything that John Judd nailed together.
From a marketing point of view it wouldn't make sense though. In contrast to NASCAR Openwheel racing in Americaland is a minor event, so if they want to reach potential customers they'd be better off rebadging the VW factory at Westmoreland, Pennsylvania and fielding an R8 in NASCAR or field the cars as a VW Passat or Phaeton.
The only reason I could think of would be that rebadging an engine is easily done, so they could be running their Indy engines as Audi's or rebadge them to VW, Porsche, Lambo, Skoda, Seat, Bentley - whichever brand needs the biggest marketing push.

[essie]

would be exciting to see another major factory involved :)

[Rex Monaco]

From the tone, an Audi Daytona Prototype is a certain and the Indycar entry is the long shot.

"Another opportunity would be IndyCar, which I think is still very popular and the Indy 500 is an outstanding race."

"The DTM set-up would be perfect, because we know the technology and the suppliers of the parts."

Indycar is an opportunity, DTM is the perfect set-up. Indycar is still very popular, we know the DTM tech and suppliers.

The sad part is that the decision is between a historic 100 year old race and an brand new start-up series.

Had Indycar used the Daytona Prototypes engine formula as some of us suggested, we might have had Audi's (and others) in both series.

[FormerFF]

I can't see them going for an Indycar engine deal. Why both Audi and Volkswagen were part of the discussions that led to the current engine formula is beyond me, but except for the short lived Formula Palmer-Audi, they never had any presence in openwheelers. They have a tradition in Rallying, Touring Cars and practically owned Le Mans for a time, but Indy would be a complete new territory for them.
Their string of utterly superior LeMans cars should be all the proof you need that they certainly know how to build an engine, not to mention that being a subsidiary of Volkswagen and owner of Lamborghini they have complete access to all knowledge and resources of Bentley, Bugatti, VW, Porsche and Lambo. They certainly can come up with an engine that is miles better than anything that John Judd nailed together.
From a marketing point of view it wouldn't make sense though. In contrast to NASCAR Openwheel racing in Americaland is a minor event, so if they want to reach potential customers they'd be better off rebadging the VW factory at Westmoreland, Pennsylvania and fielding an R8 in NASCAR or field the cars as a VW Passat or Phaeton.
The only reason I could think of would be that rebadging an engine is easily done, so they could be running their Indy engines as Audi's or rebadge them to VW, Porsche, Lambo, Skoda, Seat, Bentley - whichever brand needs the biggest marketing push.

You're forgetting Fomula Super Vee. VW supported that for years.

[Starter]

You're forgetting Fomula Super Vee. VW supported that for years.
Very true, but that was also a long time ago.

[FormerFF]

<SNIP>
From a marketing point of view it wouldn't make sense though. In contrast to NASCAR Openwheel racing in Americaland is a minor event, so if they want to reach potential customers they'd be better off rebadging the VW factory at Westmoreland, Pennsylvania and fielding an R8 in NASCAR or field the cars as a VW Passat or Phaeton.

VW hasn't made cars in Pennsylvania since the late 80's. I had an '87 GTI that was built there. They are now building the US model Passat in Tennessee, after receiving incentives that are approximately half of the plant's cost.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Another rumour that sticks around in German Media like a bad habit is that Porsche could enter Indy instead of Audi. It's also VW controlled, so they would have the same resources at their disposal. They also where part of the big meeting the powers that be had, which later led to Chevy entering.

[SoCalPVguy]

Lotus was a half assed fifth rate effort funded by a Malaysian crook, Danny Bahar. Audi is a multinational corporation including VW and Porsche. If Audi gets involved with Indycar you can be certain it will be a 100% first class effort. I doubt they would get involved with Indycar just to rebadge an engine made by a specialty shop like Judd, Cosworth, etc. and I doubt they would purpose-build an engine for Indy only. Now, if there was an international common engine configuration platform of Indy, F1, FIA endurance, etc... Then I could see a lot of big players like Audi, Mercedes... get involved with Indy.