final drive - Mundo Motorizado

Rivalries
to watch in
2013
here are the main rivalries aUtosport has identified as
ones to watch out for in Formula 1, gp2, indycar, the World
endurance championship, British touring cars and nascar
Hamilton v Rosberg (F1)
No other driver has ever come close
to what Nico Rosberg achieved over
the past three seasons. He outqualified,
out-scored and out-raced
Michael Schumacher in equal
equipment. Yet despite this, and a
breakthrough first F1 win, there are
probably more questions about his
ultimate ability now than there
were when he signed for Mercedes.
All that will change this year. There
are no doubts about the form of new
team-mate Lewis Hamilton, in contrast
to the ring-rustiness at first attributed
to Schumacher that morphed into a
suspicion that he was now ‘past it’.
Hamilton was absolutely on top of
his game during 2012, and is rightly
regarded as one of the top-three F1
drivers in the world. How Rosberg
fares against him will define how he
is perceived for the rest of his career.
They’ve been team-mates before,
back in their karting days, and they
54 autosport.com January Xxxxuary 31 XX 2013 200X
get on well, although it will be
interesting to see how long the mood
remains jovial if one of them gets a
distinct upper hand. Their junior
career records are similar, but whereas
Hamilton was parachuted into a
championship-winning team, Rosberg
has seldom had the car to run at the
front. This season, regardless of where
he’s running, we’ll know for sure how
well he’s running.
These two get on
well – for now…
Hamilton joins
Rosberg at Merc
Factory feud: it’ll be
German v Japan again
Audi v Toyota (WEC)
Three victories from six races. Toyota’s success on
its return to international sportscar racing in the
World Endurance Championship surprised even
themselves and has surely made them favourites not
only to take Audi’s world title but perhaps even to
supplant the German manufacturer as the king of the
Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013.
Yet it’s not quite a simple as that. Audi’s focus last
season, as usual, was on building a car – or rather
cars – for the unique demands of Le Mans. Toyota,
on the other hand, produced a lithe and nimble racing
machine that shone on more conventional circuits.
The story of the 2013 season could well be about how
the respective focus shifts for the two LMP1 factories.
The big question is whether Audi will put less onus
on Le Mans this year.
The other question mark concerns how much scope
for development there remained in Audi’s and Toyota’s
respective hybrid challengers, the turbodiesel R18
e-tron quattro and the petrol TS030 HYBRID TS030,
at the end of last season.
The answers will start coming thick and fast when
the WEC kicks off at Silverstone on April 14.
TECH FOCUS
For all the visual similarity between the Audi R18
e-tron quattro and the Toyota TS030, under the skins
their powertrains are as different as they could be under
the LMP1 rules. Firstly the choice of engine differed,
with Audi retaining a turbodiesel engine in a wideangle,
V6 layout, whereas Toyota – with its recent F1
experience – opted for a V8 3.4-litre fed with petrol.
For their hybrid systems (illustrated below), Audi chose
to drive the front wheels with a motor/generator mated
to a flywheel storage system. Toyota, on the other hand,
elected to use a motor/generator mounted in the
gearbox to drive the rear wheels and used supercapacitors
for the energy storage.
AUDI
TOYOTA