Peugeot diesel challenges Audi

The Peugeot 908 has the engine to outclass the competition at Le Mans, says the carmaker.

The fastest and most powerful diesel-engined Peugeot will make its debut at next year's Le Mans 24-hour race in France.

The new car will run a V12 common-rail diesel engine to challenge last week's Le Mans winner, the Audi R10 diesel.

The Peugeot 908 follows the Peugeot 905, which won the World Sports Car Championship and the Le Mans race in 1992.

The following year a team of 908s scored a historic one-two-three finish at Le Mans.

While the 905 had a 3.5-litre V10 petrol engine, the 908 boasts a 5.5-litre V12 diesel, the maximum allowed under the race regulations.

Peugeot believes that under competition conditions it is an ideal size for efficient operation at low engine speeds.

The V12 diesel produces 515kW (700bhp) and more than 1200Nm of torque.

Peugeot says that with the 100-degree angle of the cylinder vee, it has been able to engineer a minimum-height engine that allows a low centre of gravity that doers not affect the torsion rigidity of the power plant and cuts vibrations to a minimum.

Two diesel particulate filters are mounted at the end of each of the exhaust systems to control emissions.

A scale model of the 908 will be shown at the Paris international motor show in September and the V12 will be running on a test bed by December.

Eric Helary, who won the 1993 Le Mans for Peugeot, will test-drive the 908 diesel in preparation for next year's race.

Peugeot first went racing in 1895, winning the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris road race and went on to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1913, 1916 and 1919.