Diesel

June 16, 2006 The Le Mans 24 Hour race will be held this weekend and as we’ve been suggesting for some time, there’s a big chance that the brutally fast Audi R10 TDI will create history becoming the first diesel to win the legendary event and marking a changing of the guard in motor-racing. We've previously reported on the development of the world's fastest diesel car and the R10's first big win at Sebring in March, but Just to make Le Mans even more worthwhile following, both 650-hp diesel Audi R10 TDI cars will start from the front row on Saturday at 1700 hrs French time, having qualified a whopping two seconds faster than any of the petrol-engined competitors. The race can be followed live on the internet.  Read More

April 22, 2006 The JCB DIESELMAX has been created to break the world land speed record for a diesel powered automobiles. JCB is aiming to set a new land speed record for diesel vehicles with a super sleek streamliner car to be driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, the fastest man on Earth. The record attempt will take place on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah during August 2006.The stunning, nine metre long JCB DIESELMAX car boasts twin 4-cylinder, 5-litre JCB444-LSR engines with the world’s highest specific power diesel engines used in any automobile application. With each delivering 750hp and 1500Nm torque, the engines are over five times the power of the production version and at 150hp/litre, they exceed even motorsports applications as the world’s highest specific power diesels. At the same time the engines retain excellent fuel efficiency and very low emissions through the use of advanced combustion control and diesel particulate filter technology.  Read More

April 21, 2006 Another wonderous enabling technology has been announced - a microreactor, about half the size of a credit card that produces biodiesel by combining alcohol and vegetable oil directly, greatly speeding and simplifying production compared to traditional methods. By stacking many of these microreactors in parallel, a device the size of a small suitcase could produce hundreds of thousands of gallons per year of biodiesel – enough to power several farms. The device could significantly reduce farmer dependence on mass-produced petroleum. "This is all about producing energy in such a way that it liberates people," said inventor and OSU Professor Goran Jovanovic. "Most people think large-scale, central production of energy is cheaper, because we've been raised with that paradigm. But distributed energy production means you can use local resources - farmers can produce all the energy they need from what they grow on their own farms." Jovanovic is seeking to partner in order to commercialize the technology.  Read More

February 16, 2006 At the 76th Geneva International Motor Show, the new Peugeot 207 will make its world premiere, and to emphasise the importance of 207, a stylish and sporty RCup concept model will be shown that is likely to be the design blueprint for a future Peugeot Sport competition programme. The 207 Rcup is powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre 16v petrol engine producing 280bhp at 8,500rpm, with a 6-speed sequential gearbox and 18 inch alloy wheels. Also to be shown in Geneva is the 307 CC Hybride HDi diesel technology demonstrator, like the 307 HDi hatchback unveiled by PSA Peugeot Citroen in January.  Read More

January 12, 2006 With the launch of the E 320 BLUETEC in the USA later this year, Mercedes-Benz will be offering the first series production car with BLUETEC diesel technology. The automotive manufacturer with the world's longest diesel tradition has modified specific aspects of the economical, powerful and robust 320 CDI engine, adding state-of-the-art emission-control technology to make it the cleanest diesel in the world. Mercedes-Benz has thus transformed the diesel engine into a clean and future-compatible system. The six-cylinder diesel engine combines V8 power with four-cylinder consumption: 155 kW/211 hp maximum output and 540 Nm maximum torque despite average fuel consumption of just 6.7 l/100 km or 35 mpg. BLUETEC technology is capable of producing the cleanest diesel vehicles in the world, and is more than capable of meeting the most stringent emissions regulations.  Read More

January 8, 2006 Concept cars are designed to showcase technological capability and to test market opinion. As such, the Ford Reflex concept car shown to the media for the first time today scores maximum points on both counts. The subcompact-sized Reflex is a technological showcase with its advanced diesel-electric hybrid engine, a liberal sprinkling of solar panels and advanced safety features as inflatable safety belts. More importantly, the advanced diesel-electric hybrid engine and new-generation lithium-ion batteries help deliver up to 65 miles per gallon, offering guilt free performance.  Read More

January 7, 2006 Citroen will reveal its C4 Diesel Electric hybrid on the 31 January 2006, previewing a production car that the French car maker has committed to have on sale by 2010 in response to a call this week by French President Jacques Chirac for car makers to have such cars on sale at affordable prices within ten years. Citroen believes that the Diesel Electric hybrid is a much more effective method to reduce fuel consumption and emissions than petrol engined hybrids, pointing out that existing pure diesel powered cars such as the Citroen C4 HDi, already offer better fuel consumption and lower emissions than many petrol hybrids without the performance and cost penalties. A Diesel Electric hybrid, believes Citroen, is the only way to make a significant advance over the existing benefits of diesel powered vehicles.  Read More

December 14, 2005 The prospect of a diesel-engined racing car competing at the highest level became reality in Paris yesterday when Audi pulled the wraps off the new R10. The R8 it replaces has been dominant in its sphere of global sportscar racing and Audi has set itself a monumental challenge in attempting to maintain its winning form with a totally new 5.5-litre, 12-cylinder twin-turbo TDI engined racecar. Diesel engines are very different to those normally associated with car racing – they are quiet, economical, with broad mid-range torque. The R10’s usable power band apparently lies between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm, an unusually low rev range for a racing engine and one which needs far less gear changes – but hey, it’s a diesel and diesels have never been raced successfully against their petrol-engined cousins … but the Audi R10 produces over 650 hp and a colossal 1,100 Newton metres of torque and promises fascinating high tech gawking as the team prepares for its race debut at the Sebring 12 Hours (USA) in March. If Audi can pull off a win in the race for which its is built, the twice-around-the-clock Le Mans 24 Hour Race in France on June17-18, 2006, it will be a unique triumph ... and one which might mark the beginning of an exciting new ear for the once much maligned diesel.  Read More

October 3, 2005 It has been a sudden realisation - the world is running out of oil and the laws of supply and demand are set to make petrol prohibitively expensive in the very near future. Sonex Research has a new combustion technology that offers significantly better fuel consumption and greatly reduced emissions. The Sonex GDI Combustion System uses pistons modified to carry a chemical charge that initiates combustion from one cycle to the next, thus eliminating the need for spark plugs. High compression, typical of diesel engines, is no longer needed to make the fuel ignite; in fact, the chemistry causing this auto ignition process exists only at lower compression ratios. Thus, a low compression engine, typically used for burning gasoline, can be designed to burn either a lighter alcohol fuel like ethanol, or a heavier fuel like (bio)diesel when equipped with Sonex pistons, common rail direct injection system and associated electronic control system to control injection pressure and timing. The technology could well be first deployed powering UAVs for the military in Iraq. By James Bauernschmidt  Read More