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Audi calls R18 E-Tron Quattro its 'most complex race car'

Technically speaking, Audi's R18 E-Tron Quattro is quite technical. The German automaker says the diesel-hybrid is the "most complex race car" it's ever created. And we'll take their word for it. The Audi, which pairs a V6 turbodiesel powering the rear wheels with two electric motors, is all about connectivity, giving the car's crew the opportunity to constantly monitor the vehicle while it's racing. The car sends in a host of data each lap to the crew's computers, and the vehicle's telemetry system constantly keeps tabs on things like hybrid energy levels, cockpit temperature and boost-pressure levels. In all, the amount of data parameters is more than 100 times greater than in 1989, when Audi first tested a race car equipped with automatic data transmission capabilities. Audi first released specs on the updated version of the R18 E-Tron Quattro late last year, trumpeting the vehicle's advantages in competing in the LMP1 class of the 2014 World Endurance Championship (WEC). Audi made the car a little narrower and a little taller and it complies with a new WEC regulation requiring the front end set off by a new wing. Take a look at Audi's most recent press release below. AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO WITH COMPLEX ELECTRONIC ARCHITECTURE • Telemetry connection between race car and pit lane • Permanent acquisition of far more than 1,000 parameters • Various electronic control units interlinked by a multitude of CAN Bus systems Ingolstadt, May 5, 2014 – The Audi R18 e-tron quattro is the most complex race car created in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm to date. This not only applies to the mechanics. The electronics of the most recent LMP1 race car with the four rings is more sophisticated than ever before. The age of electronic data transmission from the race car on track began for Audi in 1989. At that time, an Audi 90 quattro in the IMSA GTO series radioed eight parameters to the garage where engine speeds and a few pressures and temperatures were plotted on printouts – a tiny step from today's perspective, but one that provided important insights at the time. Today, an Audi R18 e-tron quattro on more than a thousand channels, in cycles that in some cases only amount to milliseconds, generates data of crucial importance to a staff of engineers at Audi Sport. At Le Mans, the engineers constantly monitor their race cars for 24 hours.

Audi's latest design is a table clock

Audi and Porsche have more things in common than we can count. They're both German, of course, and have both enjoyed considerable winning streaks at Le Mans. Both have a tendency to put their (often turbocharged) engines at one extreme of the car or another, driving either the closest wheels or all four. Both tend to follow a brand-wide evolutionary design approach, focusing their energies instead on the engineering that goes under the bodywork. Both now find themselves under the same corporate umbrella, and now that they are, Audi has followed Porsche's lead in setting up its own design consultancy.
Like Porsche Design, Audi Design is now taking on projects for all manner of clients, from pianos to foosball tables. In this latest collaboration, Audi has designed a table clock for Munich-based watchmaker Erwin Sattler. The table-top clock houses a high-frequency mechanical movement in a foot-tall glass case that lets you see the intricate clockwork, held in place by two ruthenium clasps.
Unveiled in Switzerland at the Baselworld watch and jewelry show, the clock is now available to order. But while prices haven't been announced, don't expect it to come cheap: other Erwin Sattler table clocks typically sell for upwards of $10,000, and we wouldn't expect the new design to come at a discount. Scroll down below for the official press release.

Cars we're thankful we drove in 2019

We drove a lot of cars in 2019, and there's still a month to go. We drove them in our home office in Michigan, at our remote offices in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the globe on myriad press launches. We could count them, but hey, that seems boastful.  Instead, we want to be thankful. Not only for the opportunity to do this wonderful task some might describe as a "job," but for the new, shiny cars that brighten our days (and most hopefully yours). We asked our fellow editors which car they were most thankful to drive in 2019 ... here are our answers. 2019 Hyundai Veloster N Performance Senior Editor Alex Kierstein Every once in a while a car comes along that changes the narrative on a company or its segment, and everyone scrambles to experience it for themselves. This year, for me, that car’s the Veloster N Performance, perhaps the most transformative car the companyÂ’s ever built. Everyone whoÂ’s driven it, here and elsewhere, says it captures all those intangibles that make great driving hatchbacks great. And IÂ’m thankful that I got a go in it before all of them left the fleet, because it does. It upends the segment long dominated by the GTI, a car that nails its brief. The N is rowdy and loud, sure, but it also has some of the most deftly tuned suspension IÂ’ve come across in a front driver. My advice: if youÂ’re in the market for something fun and unique, go test drive a Veloster N. I think youÂ’ll be thankful you did. 2019 Hyundai Veloster N View 47 Photos 2019 Audi E-Tron Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder IÂ’m pleased that I got to drive the Audi E-Tron. ThatÂ’s high praise for a year in which I also drove the stellar Jaguar I-Pace. The E-Tron, while not as sporty as the Jaguar, is excellently executed, and feels like a more refined, polished offering. ItÂ’s quick, whisper-quiet, comfortable, stylish inside and out, and incredibly sturdy. Some may lament that it doesnÂ’t do much to stand out from ICE vehicles, but I donÂ’t think it needs to. What it does need to do is win over the electro-skeptical, and I think Audi put its best foot forward with a crossover that can do just that, and more. So, yeah, not only am I thankful that I got to drive it, IÂ’m glad that itÂ’s compelling enough that itÂ’ll hopefully make potential customers feel the same. 2020 Audi E-Tron View 13 Photos 2013 Peugeot 508 West Coast Editor James Riswick My choice totally sucks.