Audi R8/Bentley Speed 8 vs Audi R10/R15 oil sump tank placement.

[chernaudi]

I was thinking about this this morning, thinking about the Audi R15 and its replacement for next year and that fact that the R17/18 is rumored to be using a KERS system. And I was thinking that a V6 or V8 with KERS would probably weight about as much as the V8 in the R8, if not the V10 in the R15.

It then struck me that the Audi R10 and R15's V12 and V10 engines had the main oil sump tank mounted in front of the engine, while I read that the R8 had a oil sump mounted in it's bellhousing, and that the Bentley Speed 8 series probably shared a similar layout.

Did the R8/Speed 8 have an oil sump tank mounted in front of the engine or was it all in the bellhousing assembly, and aside from weight distrubution, why did Audi go with front mounted oil tank on the R10 and R15?

[chernaudi]

Anyone know anything about the location of the oil sump storage tanks on the Audi R8/Bentley Speed 8, and if they differed from eachother and how they differ from the R10 and the R15/R15+(front mounted vs rear mounted, and if the R8 engine used a rear of front mounted tank), is I gues what I should've asked.

Anyone know more than I do(which isn't much)?

[Félix]

I think gearbox and engine oil were at the same location on the R8. It was designed before oil tanks on F1 cars were all moved to the center of the car, inside a recess in the monocoque.

The diesels were designed half a decade later and weight distribution must have been a big concern...

[phoenix]

On the Bentley Speed 8 and Audi R8 LPM the oil tanks are in the same position - behind the engine and above the bellhousing.

All I can tell you about the R10 is that the tank is not in that position.

[chernaudi]

I know that the R10's was mounted on the front of the engine(from a video) and Audi last year released a press photo of the R15's engine that had a front mounted tank.

I was just wondering why the change, considering that the R8 had better weight disribuition than the R10-or was it that the R10's engine was 1.5 times as long and 1.5 times as heavy. Also, it seems that the R15/R15+ has similar weight distribution to the R8.

But in endurance races, with oil burn off, could it effect handling, since Audi said that the oil tank on the R10 held 10 liters of oil and it burns off during a race and has to be topped up on occasion?

[betablocker]

all lmp cars are trying to move as much weight towards the front of the car to get front tyre temps up and use bigger front tyres, see all pics with bulges on arches and acura lmp1 car. from my experiance a diesel engine is extremely heavy even a racing one, whichj puts more weight on the rear tyres.

also putting oil in a bellhousing, is heated by the engine and gearbox, and could be more difficult to cool, needing bigger heat exchangers and coolers than if it was situated at the bulkhead only heated by the engine.

the amount of oil burnt off during a race though is minor, at lemans you may put 4 litres of oil in a car during the race. the full blown racing engines i worked on were using something like a litre every 4/5hrs