In addition to the changes applied to the aerodynamics, the German company has also made improvements to the interior of the car. New screens, switches and layouts for the three crews
The radical changes applied to the bodywork, decidedly slimmer than the previous version (compared to an increase in the minimum weight of the car which, starting from 2023, cannot be less than 2,100 kg, editor’s note), have led to a considerable increase in the space available on board the Rs Q e-tron E2. A further resource which, in view of the Dakar 2023, Audi has decided to use to further improve the technological equipment on board the prototype. And if, on the one hand, the house with the Four Rings has decided to confirm the display used in 2022, to which two additional screens have been added at the base of the windshield with details on the direction of travel and compass, on the other hand the hand of the engineers has led to a simplification in the management of controls. “The totality of all 24 available functions quickly becomes confusing,” emphasizes Florian Semlinger, development engineer for software, applications and test bench of the German multinational. “That’s why, for the first time, we’ve given the pilot and navigator the choice of four areas of the system using a rotary selector.”
4 layouts and 24 features
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The Audi RS Q e-tron E2 has, on the screen located in the center of the dashboard, a real “thermometer” capable of reporting further details on the state of the vehicle in real time. Just below, as already mentioned, there is a panel equipped with a series of switches that allows crews to manage up to 24 different functions. A top-level technological equipment that was developed in recent months with the aim of improving the already surprising result obtained in 2022, when the team led by Rolf Michl (in collaboration with Sven Quandt, owner of Q Motorsport) managed to get well four stage wins. It is no coincidence that, during the preparation carried out in view of the 2023 edition of the most famous rally-raid in the world, the drivers (Mattias Ekström, Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz) and their respective navigators (Emil Bergkvist, Edouard Boulanger and Lucas Cruz) of the German company have been properly trained with the aim of fully exploiting all these innovations. Starting with the section Stage, which is used in the 14 timed sections (for a total of 4,706 km against the clock) and which contains all the essential functions for sporty driving. In addition to the purely competitive environment, the speed limiter for the sections characterized by controls and limits and the air jack are also part of this mode. The option is also particularly important for the three standard-bearers of the Audi team Road, which is mainly used during transfers. Just think of the direction indicators, which allow the car to “juggle” in traffic, or the on-board reversing camera. Also noteworthy is the functionality of the key Error which is used to detect, classify and catalog all the errors that are recognized during the journey. Audi’s attention and attention to detail finally led to the creation of the layout Settings which includes everything that is useful to the engineering team during preparatory tests for a competition or following the arrival of the car at the bivouac. In this way, under the tents of the German team, it is possible to quickly detect the detailed temperatures of the individual systems.