LE MANS: Audi Adds Periscope Video System To R18 E-Tron Quattros

Marshall Pruett speaks with Audi Sport LMP project leader Christopher Reinke about a new driver aid the Le Mans champions will unveil at Sebring.

Marshall Pruett | Posted March 09, 2013

The new, forward carbon fiber enclosure atop the Audi R18 e-tron quattros house a pair of video cameras: (Photo: Audi Sport)

Audi Sport's move to a closed-top chassis design with 2011’s R18 P1 car gave the German manufacturer the aerodynamic gains needed to win Le Mans and the inaugural FIA WEC title, but inside the cockpit, its drivers faced a serious challenge.

The spherical, 3D-like profile to the R18’s cabin enclosure provided an excellent view to what was directly ahead of the car, but with sizeable a- and b-pillar structures on both sides of the cockpit, a degree of tunnel vision was created.

And with drivers seated to the right of the car, the close proximity of that side’s pillars limited visibility when turning in that direction.

Some improvements were made for 2012, and rear vision was also addressed with the addition of an in-cockpit digital rear-view camera monitor, but the structural issues posed by the a- and b-pillars still left gaps in what could be seen at the front corners of the R18 e-tron quattros.

For 2013, Audi Sport engineers have chosen a non-structural solution to the problem.

“We do have an a-pillar and the fender and the wide tires that is not perfect to see from the driver’s eye line,” said Audi Sport LMP project leader Chris Reinke. “They can’t permanently view the complete front of the track, let's say. In front, yes, but not the complete side. We can’t make and homologate a new monocoque to improve only this issue, so we will have a system which we will introduce at Sebring which will make up for that.”

The new forward-looking video system, which sits atop the air intake in a pod Audi refers to as the “periscope,” finally gives R18 drivers the unobstructed view they’ve wanted.

Front of the 2013-spec R18 e-trio quattro, complete with its off-center windshield wiper blade. (Photo: Audi Sport)

“You will remember we had a digital rearview camera from last year, so what we’ll have from Sebring onwards racing as a prototype at the moment—we hope to use it all year—is two cameras which are mounted on top of the car to permanently transmit into screens, which are positioned in the a-pillar area, that bit of view that is missing through that blockage,” Reinke explained. “It looks like something on a submarine…”

Like the rearward cameras, the new periscope video system was developed as part of Audi Sport’s ongoing tech transfer with Audi’s production car engineers.

“We tried to use different systems but this is something, once again, we like to exchange topics with our road car department,” said Reinke. “Obviously, we have a lot of driver assistance systems in our road cars and if you look into those rear parking devices and so on, it's all camera driven these days. The lane assist in Audi cars where sensors read who's next to you and helps you to not change the line, and with that department the system has been developed, where we said: we have an issue, we don't have ideal front view, what can we do? That's where the system comes from. We adopted a system from there, their camera systems, and eventually even the screens will be in the new racecar in Sebring.”

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