Relive Audi’s Le Mans Glory Days
This year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrated the 20th anniversary of Tom Krisetensen’s first Le Mans win, but it ended up being a eulogy for Audi’s LMP1 program. Seven of Kristensen’s record-setting nine Le Mans wins came with Audi, so Goodwood organizers brought together a number of his winning cars and two of his teammates, Emanuele Pirro and Allan McNish, to reminisce. The resulting video will make you nostalgic for Audi’s sports car glory days.
In this clip, Kristensen, Pirro, and McNish stand around a handful of R8s, an R10 TDI, and an R18 E-tron telling stories about each with humor and a deep love for these cars. The three all remember the R8 for its heavy clutch, and rough idle—which made it almost impossible to do donuts—but also for the fact that it was so well-suited for winning at Le Mans.
They also speak with great reverence for the torquey, V12-powered R10 TDI, though noting that it suffered from serious mid-corner understeer. Kristensen also hops behind the wheel of his last winning car, the techno-future spaceship known as the R18.
If you watch this video and miss Audi at Le Mans, you’re not the only one. This was a great era for the sport, and hopefully we’ll see Audi in prototype racing sometime again.
