00:00so great to have you here i mean you were one of the two drivers who ever drove that car back in
00:141999 so how was it for you today you know to be able to drive the car after 25 years
00:20it was fantastic to be honest because as soon as you drive out onto the circuit
00:25it takes you back 25 years just driving the car feeling how it reacts
00:30and uh the other thing is as well having the people here who built it the first time
00:37building it the second time for this special occasion
00:39and it's not every time in your career you know you get the opportunity to have a 25 year
00:47anniversary with something as beautiful as this yes i mean on a personal note i was looking up to
00:53you guys back then i could remember the car was standing here in 99 i was just a junior 18 years
00:57old i was standing in the corner watching everyone preparing their famous rollout and i said to myself
01:02i want to be in that car you know in the future i mean now it took 25 years you know to be close to
01:07that car
01:08199 ambor 98 audi expectation bob drove on the first and it was wet and damp
01:31it was a typical november day in germany you want to say it's a very scottish day
01:50shall we say but it was it wasn't your ideal conditions
01:53and then the next day was dry cold and dry
01:56and my first feeling was it reacted it was alive
02:00out of it sued my style of driving and that was also something i felt today
02:1325 years later that characteristic is still there
02:17through the two kinks out the back you can make it turn in you can get onto it
02:21it gives you confidence and that's what i loved about the first run of a new car
02:30because it gave me an impression to run today
02:32so the potential was straight awayable for you
02:40yeah for me clearly for clear it was a big step in terms of the feel feedback but also the pure performance
02:45it was quicker around here than we had ever done with the gt1
02:49so we knew we had time in the pocket
02:52other thing we didn't know what the competition were going to do but we knew that immediately it had something underneath it
02:58you mean you won a year before you won overall in 1998 with the gt18 completely different rules completely different car
03:06can you talk us through what was the differences you know driving this prototype and the gt1
03:11the gt1 was a base of what was a supercar in those days
03:16and now they were superks no question but it was a road car base and this was a purpose-built racing car
03:24effectively in the era it was like a formula one car but with body wheels
03:29the other thing is the gt1
03:32we had a gear lever and this we had paddle shift which was new at the time
03:37which was very new at the time in this category
03:40and because the gearbox was the weak link in l and you know you had quite often teams that were having gearbox issues
03:47so therefore there was a lot of protection i would say for the reliability of the gearbox
03:52but this went for performance the other thing is the gt1 was a closed car and so you're out in the open
03:59more like a single seater and that was something that personally i like because you've got a view
04:05you've got a feel you've got a sense of everything around you and uh it was pretty cool for me
04:10it was like going back to your roots as a young driver uh when you're in a single seater and exposed
04:17so that was definitely another factor
04:20to drive it there were some keys that with the prototype bigger wider tires and so therefore the tire gave you more feedback and feel
04:31and the final part was the fact that this had a different aerodynamic concept the gt1 was for i would say efficiency
04:37this was for downforce it was for quartering speed and definitely that you could feel immediately as you drive out of the pits
04:46what is your impression was this reunion feelable for you what was the emotion today
04:51it was super cool for many reasons because driving the car was special
04:57there is no question about it
05:01but driving the car and seeing the people that we were so involved with the development of this to be back
05:08just made it something unique in reality
05:10and i'd have birdie as you mentioned you know tightening the belts again or wise plugging in and all of this
05:25just i would say made me feel like a young racing driver and that was something that i was so proud to be asked
05:30for one thing as you mentioned you know bob was the first person to drive this car and then i uh followed on at the end of the shakedown
05:36and so even though the he's the one person miss but i've got to say even though he wasn't here spirit was definitely here is no question
05:41and you can feel that through the dna of the car as well
05:44yes but have to say you knew like 85 or 90 percent of the track still and you haven't been driving it for 25 years
05:57i mean turn afterwards anymore right yeah the only problem was i was ready to turn right at one point when the road left
06:03thankfully i worked that out but it came back very very quickly
06:07i hadn't driven a racing car for 10 years yes and i was if i'm being completely honest with you
06:14i was a little bit nervous really what was it like yeah my eyes are 10 years older my reactions are 10 years older
06:20it's like riding a bike i mean you i mean i know one of the famous you know most famous sports car drivers in history
06:27you know all these achievements and you know in history the world is history
06:31now we're in the present and so there was also the point that this is a special car
06:36and uh you want to give it some love and trust and respect and to make sure that i did everything correctly
06:43and so there was a little bit of i would say there was definitely excitement
06:48other was a little bit of nervous anticipation but all of that went as soon as i switched the speed lane
06:57limited off and then rolled down the hill and then after that it was back to normal life
07:01i've seen your test report with all the points what to improve
07:09impressionable nine maybe unis outstanding well i was and always have been i would say very much putting
07:25things down on paper so that i don't forget but also so other people don't forget and i can we need
07:30to keep pushing this so i was very focused on that generally in my career
07:43but other two probably the two things that stood out and when i read the report it came back to me
07:50and there was one thing that didn't sit in my mind until i drove the car so the two things that stood
07:56out was the car was very reactive on the nose as soon as i drove it it turned and it did everything
08:02i wanted the gt1 before was a little bit lazy it was a bit heavy whereas this thing was alive
08:08the other thing is that we had a turbo flat six turbo with the gt1 v10 normally aspirated the
08:15instant throttle response it barked at you and so you touch the throttle and there's a response and a
08:20reaction and with the steadying and the throttle response then the car was on its toes
08:25he's like a racehorse had the feeling that it just wanted to go and both of those came straight
08:30back to me the one thing which i had forgotten and made me smile was the first time i came down the
08:36street wide open throttle changed fourth gear fifth gear then sixth noise just expands it explodes
08:45it's like noise just sitting there and it's beautiful absolutely beautiful the sound of that v10 was
08:53stunning absolutely stunning
08:55that was top secret right and the impetus actually came after the success in lemur 98
09:16that when you come back to lemur you have to ask yourself whether the gt1 would be the right vehicle
09:22or a prototype or an lmp and we did a whole series of comparative calculations and came to the
09:30conclusion that a prototype has better chances in lmp than a gt1
09:34namely it had a slightly lower fuel consumption and what it did have it had better tire wear so it
09:44was assumed that you could drive triple stints gt1 only allows double stints and because of the
09:49consumption you could maybe refuel a lap later
09:51so then it was decided that we wanted to make an lmp
09:58so if we go back to lemon we shouldn't do it in 1999 but in 2000 and so the vehicle was already
10:08called the lmp element prototype 2000 unlike in previous years we also had to redevelop the engine
10:14and transmission we had to develop concepts that were then developed in detail to be durable and made
10:22durable that's why it took a bit longer and that also explains why we skipped it in 1999
10:31well it was clear that we would make an open one because it inherently has more downforce because the
10:35the cockpit the dome generates a lot of lift and it was clear that it had to be open
10:46and in the beginning we had built a let's say conventional model which we then put aside after a
10:51week in this new structure with side outlets for the air some of which then goes through the radiator
10:55or otherwise escapes freely
11:02of course this gives the aerodynamics much more downforce on the front axle and also overall
11:07and in total i think it was 30 percent more downforce
11:11however in the beginning it naturally also had significantly higher drag
11:15we had to work hard on that because drag is also an issue
11:18Porsche was in formula one in 91 i think and then withdrew from this competition and motorsport was
11:28very small at that time
11:33we were allowed to make five engines
11:35of course we never intended to go into formula one but back then as it is today i think in the engine
11:41sector in the related arts sector the state of the art was the highest level of development and you are
11:46allowed to try it out then we built it on the engine and it got to the point where we had these
11:52prototypes on the test bench very closed very secret very quiet but very loud in test bench 514
12:00we can remember that there was an engine that i think turned 15 000 revolutions for the first and
12:05perhaps even the last time on this engine test bench we could have turned it a bit higher but the test
12:12bench is no longer available and then this engine was flattened out in a small shed here with all
12:17its parts put away put to the side
12:21we know that a compact engine unit looks like this and that the power output is like this and that
12:26we know the number of cylinders we know the firing order we know what the correct crankshaft looks like
12:31we did everything back then like the camshaft we had everything prepared and cleaned
12:37let's take this package and the mounting angle remains the same
12:39the block is getting a little bigger and so this 3.5 l engine which was previously a 5.5 i think 5.5 l
12:49engine a lemon engine has become a lemon engine of course instead of one piston ring there are
12:55three piston rings and all these finer details that you need in long distance racing yes
13:01and then at some point in august i think the project was stopped and of course we were completely
13:06shocked because if you work intensively on the project and have lem in your sights and then
13:11someone comes along and says it's over i think the disappointment was extremely great yes it wasn't so
13:18great for me for me wood hiking who was the head of research at the time always said i don't think
13:25you're going to lem again just walk past right i knew that you couldn't go there anyway
13:32he said sir let's make this car we need it at some point at some point we need this kind of
13:38technology we need a naturally aspirated engine we can't keep messing around with turbo engines in
13:43racing and said yeah get it done but you're not leaving right away but we were granted a grace
13:49period to build a car because at the time the bach was stopped we didn't have any fear yet
13:54that came a few weeks later and then the first car was built and so we rolled here for the first time
14:02almost exactly 25 years ago and that was it
14:09at that time i was head of motorsport but i was also head of engine development until this project
14:14then i had my colleague burn dramler who continued it but the whole formula one project and its history
14:24it was one of my babies that had been developing over many years
14:28and from that perspective i'm really happy that it's happening now
14:34but there's a second reason why i'm really happy that it's happening today
14:38namely if the car really does drive today then it will be the first time that i've seen it drive
14:45i was on a business trip again i was somewhere i got a call the car is driving and the car is
14:50driving well but i never noticed it
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