During its first three seasons in Formula 1, Ligier had exclusive use of Matra's potent V12. At the end of 1978 the French engine supplier pulled out, forcing Ligier to switch to the proprietary Cosworth DFV V8. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the narrow V8 was a perfect match for the 'ground effect' configuration used on the all new JS11 built for the 1979 season. It was a winner straight out of the box, scoring victories in the first two and fifth race of the year. After that it all fell apart for the French team as newly developed parts hurt both the pace and reliability of the JS11. For 1980 the car was further developed and campaigned under the JS11/15 moniker, despite using the same tubs. In this guise the car won two more races and Ligier finished second in the constructor's standings. This would turn out to be the team's best performance ever, making the JS11 Ligier's most successful Formula 1 car. At the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed an Italian collector brought out chassis JS11/02, which is the very car that won the opening races of 1979. It was driven up the hill by multiple Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro.
Last Saturday, a brand new Audi lined up at the Nurburgring for the penultimate round of the popular VLN championship. This spectacular looking machine is a TT RS specifically developed for the Nordschleife based series by Raeder Motorsport and Audi Motorsport. Few details have been released but we believe the car stands a good chance of being added to the Audi Customer Motorsport line-up alongside the hugely successful R8 LMS. The example raced is still a prototype but it showed good promise by winning its class. It will be raced once again at the October 30th season finale.

Enjoy the links:

2010 Audi TT RS VLN - Images, Specifications and Information

1979 - 1980 Ligier JS11 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information