The return of Porsche, the company with the most motorsport victories in the world, to the 24 Hours of Le Mans should be cause for concern for Audi, who are the current champions. However, the guys making our quattro sportscars welcome a bit sibling rivalry.
And what better way to welcome the German prancing horse back into hardcore endurance racing is there than for Audi to take the R18 e-tron quattro, rev up its diesel engine and drive it all the way to Zuffenhausen. On its way, the race car overtakes a red Porsche tractor, which is a nice comical touch.
Nothing in the world motorsport says "we care" quite like the smell of burning rubber and donuts. Just ask Vettel! Audi has thus decided to to paint a big "welcome back" on the streets of Stuttgart, a nice gesture of encouragement… and taunting.
So the big fight to the Death is going to be between Porsche and Audi this year? Toyota stands a small chance at challenging them and Nissan will join the fight in 2015 with a prototype to preview the next GT-R. But until then, we're afraid it's going to be an all-German battle. Here's how they stack up against each other:
The Porsche 919 Hybrid is built around a carbon fiber structure with honeycomb aluminum core. It's got independent multi-ling pushrods at all corners and is powered by a 2-liter direct-injected turbocharged V4 engine. The whole thing weighs only 870 kg (1,920 lb) before driver and fuel are "added".
The R18 e-tron, meanwhile has a similar body construction, but it's powered by a 4-liter revised V6 TDI engine with an electric turbocharger. Very F1-like. It weighs the same due to regulations and not surprisingly their dimensions are also the same: 4,650 millimeters (183 in) in length, 1,900 millimeters (75 in) in width and 1,050 millimeters (41 in) in height. Petrol vs diesel – let the best fuel win!
Oh and before we forge, the awesome soundtrack to the clip is called "Coming Home" and it was composed by Sizzer Amsterdam exclusively for this video.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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