There are a wide range of materials from which racing exhausts are made today and the choice depends largely on budget, although some of the very expensive materials available aren’t used because they either aren’t mature enough or engineers haven’t yet figured out how to use them. Whilst there are a lot of exhaust systems still being made in steel, it isn’t as widely favoured as it once was for a number of reasons. The obvious one is that it corrodes very easily....
The modern racing engine, benefiting from many hours of dyno development time and a great deal of simulation, should at least have a well-optimised exhaust system in terms of length. When compared to a Formula One car, sports cars have a lot of room in which to lay the exhaust system out without requiring extremely tight bends. In Formula One however, there are much tighter constraints on the exhaust, particularly in view of the dominant position of aero in the overall design of the car....
In the first eight years of the twenty first century (with the single exception of 2003), the honours in the 24 Hours of Le Mans have undoubtedly belonged to the team from Ingolstadt. Since its introduction in 2006, the last three years have been the sole domain of the diesel-powered Audi R10 Tdi, but its predecessor, the petrol-powered R8, took top honours from 2000 to 2005 (with the exception of Bentley’s Audi-powered win in 2003).It was perhaps inevitable then that the ACO would...