I had the opportunity to attend the 12 Hours of Sebring race this past weekend. I went to the event with Audi, which has been showing the world, in no uncertain manner, that cars running on diesel power can really kick bottom. Its R10 TDI cars have shown convincingly—as in winning the race in 2006 and 2007 and winning in their class (LMP 1) this past weekend; as in winning at the 24 Hours at LeMans in 2006 and 2007.
Credit must be given to the Audi engineers who have created the diesel-powered R10 if for no other reason than to prove to the skeptical U.S. driving public that diesels aren’t just for pickups and semis, that they’re just not powerful but potentially fast. Very fast. (To learn more about the R10, go to: Details on the Development of the Audi R10 TDI and Racing Toward Relevance )
Peugeot also ran a diesel-powered car at Sebring this year and will be running at LeMans (Gallic pride undoubtedly has a little something to do with that—Sebring is considered by many of the teams as a shake-out event for running the 24 hours; although it is half the time, the Sebring course is said to be so physically grueling that if you can finish there, you’re chances at LeMans are exceedingly good). Although it finished 12th overall (Audi’s two cars finished 4th and 7th overall, but 1 and 2 in the LMP 1 class; Peugeot finished 4th in the LMP 1 class), it should be noted that the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP car ran a qualifying lap of 1 m 43.117 s, which was the fastest on the circuit.
Yes, diesels are powerful and fast.
What’s more, the diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than gasoline-powered cars. Audi will be bringing diesel-powered Q7 SUVs to the U.S. for sale next January, and having just had the opportunity to put a few hundred miles on one, I can report that the vehicle is both thrifty fuel-wise and remarkably quiet. Forget everything you think you know about diesels (unless you own a contemporary diesel-powered car from, say, Volkswagen (and realize Audi is part of the VW group) or Mercedes.
As gas prices are running up, so too is the price of diesel fuel. The diesel fuel seems to be climbing at a faster rate for some inexplicable reason (I don’t buy the notion that because we now have “cleaner” diesel fuel that it is more expensive: the fuel has been refined in a cleanlier state for European markets for some years now, and the explosion in diesel-powered automobiles is predicated in large part on the fact that diesel fuel is less expensive than gasoline, and not all of the difference is predicated on tax policy). Be that as it may, those people who own diesels won’t spend as much time at gas stations, which, assuming that time is money, is a good investment in and of itself.
I learned a historic fact at Sebring that has contemporary resonance. The first race was run at Sebring, which was originally a training base for B-17 bombers during World War II, in 1952 (yes, it had been decommissioned by then). This was, then, the 56th Sebring. Except there was no race in 1974—because of a fuel shortage. No, not just one in south-central Florida. But a national one. One that rocked the entire auto industry. Think sales have headed south with gas nearing $4.00? Imagine what they’ll be like post-$4.00.
Clearly, we need to think more about diesel and other non-mainstream fuels today lest not only are races not run, but we have a return to limited availability in the days to come.
