Audi R8 GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3; some differences

Aristotelis Vasiliakos wrote in Assetto Corsa Competizione forums some interesting data about two cars that are apparently the same, but not. This is a interesting reading to enjoy these days.

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The Audi R8 GT3 is undoubtedly one of the dominating cars of the Blancpain GT3 series.It’s not just that it constantly scores pole positions, fast laps and overall wins in practically every circuit. It gets these results with almost any team and any driver using it. This is the proof that the Audi R8 is a very capable car, always efficient and fast.

You’d been forgotten to think that the Audi R8 is a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in disguise, or vice versa. After all the cars have the same chassis and the same engine. The wheelbase is also identical. But this is where the similarities end. There are differences in suspension geometry, there are differences in the engine tune and power delivery and there are many differences in the aerodynamic efficiency and performance. It is evident by the base setups of the car, that are quite different from the Huracan counterpart.The Audi usually likes stiffer rear end, it helps it rotate it and it maintains the rear suspension movement under control. Even the rear antiroll bar is pretty stiff as it keeps under control the, lack of, camber gain when the car rolls. A good amount of negative static camber helps.

Obviously when you drive the car, some traits are similar. The power delivery, the electronics, the sound… all things that are truly very similar to the Lamborghini. But then, the differences start to come up to the surface. At turn in the car wants to oversteer like the Huracan but does gives a bit more confidence while doing it. At mid turn and exit the front end is willing to follow the steering inputs better. This means the engineer is not forced to use extreme setup to rotate the car and the driver doesn’t have to abuse the car to follow the line. All in all, where the Huracan is on the edge, the Audi seems more composed and steady. I won’t say it inspires confidence, because it really doesn’t when pushed to the limits, but you have a better idea of where the limit is, or at least that’s the impression.Is this a better car than the Huracan? Well no, it’s different. The neutral handling in mid turn will bite hard at you when you try to ride kerbs. You can compromise, you can set the car more stable and it works, but if you really want to go fast then watch out riding the inner kerbs. The car will rotate fast and at the very best case scenario you will lose lot’s of time trying to control it. Otherwise you’ll spin out of the track with your tyres flatspotted and many places lost. It’s best to approach turns with a V line. Brake late and go for an early apex without turning it too much to keep the rear end stable. Once you’ve passed the early apex and the speed is slower, rotate the car fast, away from the kerb and point to a second late apex and a straight exit, taking advantage of the rear weight bias traction. This kind of turn approach keeps the mid engine architecture traits under control. Great agility and grip, nasty behaviour when unsettled.

The engine seems a bit less powerful than the fastest Huracan team, which is strange because it should be the same engine, but the feeling is that it is more docile at power application out of the corners at the expense of a somewhat slower acceleration. We’re talking really minimal differences though.

Audi’s great experience in the LMP1 category has paid dividends in the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. As a matter of fact the rear wing comes straight from the LMP1 car design and it has very well documented aero map so it needs less adjustments to be efficient and helps the teams by avoiding unnecessary complexity. The results are evident as the Audi is always on the top of max speed traps at high speed circuits, without losing much downforce. This is indeed a great advantage in the middle of a race. Not only the car can keep up in terms of handling and overall grip, but it can also get out of the slipstream and still keep accelerating, obtaining a great position before the braking zone. If you feel uncomfortable with the aero balance of the car, you can always add a bit of rear wing, confident that your top speed will still stay competitive with the other cars.

Another advantage of having so many cars on the grid, by so many different teams, is that there is a lot of knowledge regarding the car, its traits and the setups needed to go fast. Information does go around in the Blancpain paddock and when the “Audi armada” decides to attack, the combined knowledge does give a competitive advantage.

So is the Audi the car the car to chose if you want to win? It is a good candidate, and with the help of somewhat surprisingly favourable BoP, it can win on almost every track, but it’s not alone and if other cars push it to choose different racing lines, it might show its ugly face. Be sure that there are other cars out there that can really push it to its limits.

See you on the track!