Jump jet just edges out Audi on runway

Pilot Pete Keenlyside was a tenth of a second in front of race driver Allan McNish.

Audi's history-making diesel-powered R10 TDI sports-prototype, which won the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, has come close to beating a Harrier GR7 jump jet combat aircraft in a race at RAF base Wittering in England.

The Le Mans race-winning Audi, with Scotsman Allan McNish at the wheel, sped down a taxi-way racing a Harrier aircraft on an adjacent runway from a standing start in a 1km race.

The contest, staged at the base near Peterborough in front of a crowd of 5000, ended in a victory for the Harrier - by a tenth of a second.

The Audi, the first diesel-engined sportscar to win the Le Mans race, was quicker off the line, despite the R10 TDI being designed to start races from a "rolling" as opposed a "standing" start, and faster to 250km/h than the aircraft.

But the Harrier, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Pete Keenlyside, a Harrier display pilot, ultimately beat the Audi to the 1km by a nose before the jet took off in a spectacular vertical climb.

"I had a practice run against the Harrier moments before the race proper and I came very close to beating it - it was a very close-run contest," said McNish.

"It was essentially a fun race, but when a racing driver and a pilot get together it quickly becomes serious.

"For our diesel-powered Audi, which we didn't modify or prepare specifically for this event in any way, to come so close to beating a Harrier jet-fighter I believe was a tremendous achievement once again for TDI power."

Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner scored Audi's sixth Le Mans 24 Hour race win last month with the turbo diesel-powered R10 TDI making its debut in the annual French race.

Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen finished third in their Audi R10 TDI.

McNish demonstrated the Audi R10 TDI and a 1936 Auto Union C-Type at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend.

British Harriers are in use in Afghanistan, assisting British troops on the ground.

The R10 is powered by a V12 turbodiesel engine producing 480kW (640bhp) and 1100Nm of torque. It has a fuel tank capacity of 90 litres.

The Harrier is powered by a Rolls-Royce engine. Its tank holds 3446 litres of aviation fuel.