Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 114

A
hurricane is raging in Hall 25. While the Audi
employees are enjoying their lunch break in the
sun outside the fl at-roofed building on the
Ingolstadt site, a storm with Force 10 winds is
raging inside. Six men in ski suits brace themselves against it.
90 kilometers per hour. The men lean forward, toward the
tunnel opening from which the nozzle is blowing the wind.
100 kilometers per hour. Björn Kircheisen squeezes his eyes
shut; one foot slips backward and he pulls it forward again.
110 kilometers per hour. The six men lean ever farther
forward. They are at an angle of nearly 45 degrees. Without
the wind in their faces they would fall over. Their faces are
distorted. One of them wants to say something, but only
manages to utter an unintelligible sound.
115 kilometers per hour. The athletes slide backward. The
wind has won this round. The six step to the side.
The men are medalists, World Cup winners, national
champions: the German national Nordic Combined ski team.
They train at the Audi Wind Tunnel Center, one of the most
modern anywhere in the world. Opened in 1999, it was
expanded three years ago. There are now three diff erent
wind tunnels in Hall 25, in which Audi has invested around
40 million euros.
The facility is used to measure wind resistance and wind
noise, simulate weather and test aerodynamics. Every new
Audi model makes around 250 trips to the wind tunnel
before being launched. Air rushes through tunnel openings
in front of and behind the cars at speeds of up to 300
kilometers per hour. The wind tunnel is reconfi gured for
athlete training, with cable winches mounted on the ceiling
of the hall, for example.
What is it like to stand still at 100 kilometers per hour?
“You just have to lean forward,” says Kircheisen with a grin
just like the one he fl ashed in Vancouver last year when he
won Olympic bronze. The odd-looking exercise trains his feel
for fl ight. “Thanks to the wind tunnel, I am not easily sur-
prised by a gust of wind on the hill,” says the 27-year-old.
Training resumes. Kircheisen and his fi ve team colleagues
go back to the center of the hall to where the wind is
blowing. He and his teammates once again slide slowly
backward, take a step forward and slide back again.
“Straighten up!” calls the coach.
Robby Pyttel sits at a control panel in the control room,
separated from the wind tunnel by a pane of glass. After
112
Best times
Into the wind
Nordic Combined skier Björn
Kircheisen uses the wind
tunnel to practice the perfect
fl ight off the ski jump.
PHOTOS | BENJAMIN MAERZKE; JAN RIEPHOFF/TANK MANAGEMENT (2) GRAPHIC | AUDI AG
Acoustics test: Noises inside the car are measured using
mannequins to which microphones have been attached.