Audi and diesel are two things that have been taking the motorsport scene by storm. With diesel racecars, Audi has taken back-to-back wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. If you know that already them you will not be surprised that the German automaker is now planning to mass produce ‘the world’s cleanest diesel engine’. The production of the said engines is slated for next year.

According to the press release, well, released by the company, there will be several models of the diesel engine. As can be expected from the makers of 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning diesel engines, the new powerplants will have plenty of power and torque. Not only that, with the call for cleaner cars and engines becoming more audible around the world, Audi has taken the time to design a diesel engine that will be cleaner than the rest.

In fact, tests have shown that the diesel engines will meet and even exceed the stringent European Union emission standards which are yet to be implemented. Audi, after all, has been known for being a step ahead of the emission standards set by the European Union. In the United States, these engines will no doubt meet the standards set by CARB.

According to Rupert Stadler, the chairman of the Audi board: “We intend to consolidate the status of the TDI as a highly efficient form of propulsion on a sustained basis. And in future we will be launching ‘e’ model variants designed for optimized fuel consumption in the high-volume model series - either in TDI guise or as petrol models with state-of-the-art TFSI technology.”

Imagine having the pulling power of a diesel engine and a very clean emission, with the new diesel engines from Audi, you don’t have to imagine anymore. I’ll bet that if you take one of those engines and put it on my friend’s Saturn, (my car's not good enough for an Audi and my friends’ Saturn seems to be lacking power), the power it cranks out would virtually melt the car’s Saturn brake pads for sure.

If you can’t get enough of that R10 racecar fielded by Audi at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, you can check out this site.

And while you’re online, why not support Audi’s cause of protecting the environment. How you say? Check out Blackle - a search engine powered by Google designed to save energy.

Just when almost all of us are thinking that gasoline engines are out and diesel is in, Mercedes-Benz came up with an engine that would make us think twice about the future of gasoline engines. It has been described that the developments made on diesel engines today can be compared to the advancements made to the gas engine in the 80s and 90s.

This is true, of course. After all, a diesel racecar has won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans two years in a row. But it does not necessarily mean that advancement of gasoline engines has stalled.

One concrete, or should I say metallic, reason is the DiesOtto from Mercedes-Benz. Must be named after Rudolf Diesel and Nicolaus Otto with the former being the inventor of the diesel engine and the latter the one who conceptualized the four-stroke engine. Actually, the name is derived from a combination of German words for diesel and gasoline. But why the reference to diesel engines, you ask? It’s because the engine in question has the capability of a diesel engine.

One of the major differences between gasoline and diesel engines is the presence of a spark plug. Gasoline engines use the spark plug to ignite the air and fuel mixture inside the combustion engine. Diesel engines, on the other hand, use the heat of compression to ignite fuel. Because of this capability of a diesel engine, it is deemed to be more powerful than gasoline engines although not as clean.

The DiesOtto has a spark plug. Then it’s a gasoline engine, right? Of course it is. Those spark plugs though are only used on certain operating conditions. The engine ignites the fuel with the spark plugs when starting the vehicle or at high speeds. But when it is cruising at a slow speed, it does not use the spark plugs. That’s what’s amazing with this engine.

According to the makers of this engine, they used what they call the Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition or the HCCI. Basically that means that in the compression stroke at low and medium speeds, the heat produced by the compressed air inside the combustion chamber is enough to ignite the gasoline fuel that will be injected into the combustion chamber.

The DiesOtto is really impressive. The prototype made by Mercedes-Benz is a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine but it produces 238 horsepower. In current conversion, that power would be comparable to the output of a standard 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine or a 3.0-liter V6 diesel. Fuel efficiency is also noteworthy. According to results of the tests conducted on the engine, it will consume a gallon of gasoline for every 40 miles traveled.

When will it be mass produced? Prof. Dr. Herbert Kohler of Mercedes-Benz’ advanced engineering arm says: “In the mid-term we will have something like this in production.” In plain English, wait for five more years. But it will be worth the wait.

We all know that the fastest cars on the planet are found on the tracks of Formula One racing. Surely the engines of these cars are products of precision engineering. So let’s take a look at a Formula One car being used this season. And what car would be more interesting to look at than the ones used by McLaren Mercedes. After all, the team is the leader in the constructors’ championship standings and the team’s drivers are first and second currently in the drivers’ championship standings.

The team currently fields the MP4-22. The MP4 stands for McLaren �" Project 4. The said car was unveiled in testing at the Circuit de Valencia in Spain on the 15th of January. According to the team’s site here are the engine specs for the MP4-22:

Type: Mercedes-Benz FO 108T
No. of cylinders: 8
Fuel: Mobil 1 Unleaded
Lubricants: Mobil 1 products
Engine: 95kg

Bet you were expecting for some more information about turbocharging and such but of course, these data are what McLaren feels is safe to share with the rest of the world. And if you really are looking for turbocharged engines in Formula One, you won’t find one because the FIA has banned the use of that technology. The engines being used by Formula One teams today are four-stroke V8, naturally-aspirated reciprocating engines.

I bet someone out there is thinking that Formula One engines have at least a bigger engine than that, something with twelve cylinders or so. But in spite of that, these engines are designed to produce so much power that propels them to astounding speeds.

As for the tranny of the MP4-22, here’s what the team’s site has to share:

Gearbox Speeds: Seven forward and one reverse
Semi-auto: Yes
Driveshafts: McLaren
Clutch: Hand-operated

The MP4-22 is a result of long-term planning. How long-term is this long-term? Here’s what the team has to say about that: “Its development period commenced before its predecessor the MP4-21 had even turned a wheel. Initial sketches of aerodynamic concepts and discussions over the design of the clutch and gearbox took place back in December 2005. During the design process, each of the car's 11,000 components were reviewed in meticulous detail in the quest for improved performance, reliability and efficiency.”

The time spent in the development of the MP4-22 allowed their two drivers to lead all drivers after ten races this season. The next race will be this Sunday and if you want to see the MP4-22 in action, I suggest you watch it on live TV.

In the fall of 2008, Nissan will be launching its new clean diesel engine for their Nissan X-TRAIL sport utility vehicle in Japan. This vehicle is said to be adopting high performance catalysts and advanced engine management technologies and is based on the M9R model.

In the event that the government is ruling out excessive gas emissions, Toyota has been eager to cope with the demand. So, they came up with the concept of building this said clean diesel engine and put it on a reliable vehicle. This is part of Nissan’s Green Program 2010.

This 2.0 Liter M1D diesel engine has been developed by their Alliance partner, Renault. It is made available in two levels: a 150 hp (with 320 Nm Torque output) and a 173 hp (with 360 Torque output), both fitted with diesel particulate filters. Both engine versions are featured with a six speed manual transmission, standard except for the 110kW model that comes available with a six speed automatic.

From nissan-global.com, this Press Release has been posted:

Nissan seems to be joining the series of developments in diesel engine happening with the Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, and the Honda Accord in 2008 and maybe this such after knowing that diesel engine offers more fuel efficiency, just like in a Mazda 6 diesel model (together with superior Mazda 6 parts to further boost the vehicle’s performance). And, it’s good to know that these companies are eager to provide practical engines for several car models for the customer’s choice.

The call for fuel efficient vehicles have increased in the past years and so does the number of so-called hybrid vehicles in the market. The law of demand and supply in action, huh? Anyway, there are actually two types of hybrid vehicles in the market although some point out that there is only one. Let’s take a look at the type of hybrid vehicle which is not considered by some as a hybrid.

These are called mild hybrids. Familiar with the term right? The Saturn Aura Green Line with or without a green cargo liner uses a mild hybrid powertrain. So does the discontinued Honda Accord Hybrid. The BMW 1-Series can also be considered as a mild hybrid, and so does the 2005 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid.

Basically, these vehicles are just like the normal cars that we drive. The only difference is that they are equipped with an oversized starter motor. This is similar to the electric motors used by full-hybrid vehicles. When a mild hybrid car slows down, the vehicle’s engine shuts down. But with the help of the oversized starter motor, it can easily start up again to once again provide power to the wheels. The result of this is, of course, an increased fuel efficiency.

An idling engine consumes fuel while the car does not move at all. This translates to fuel wastage. But with the ability of the engine to be shut down and restarted at a moment’s notice, fuel can be saved. This is suitable for city driving conditions where frequent idling at stop lights is common.

A mild hybrid powertrain saves fuel but not to the extent that a full hybrid powertrain can attain. Take for example the Aura Green Line and the Yukon Hybrid. The Aura is a much smaller vehicle than the full sized SUV Yukon. The latter is equipped with a full hybrid powertrain which means that it can run on battery power alone. The fuel consumption of an Aura Green Line is 20 percent less than the conventional Aura. But the full hybrid powertrain of the SUV allows it to consume 25 percent less fuel than its gasoline powered counterpart. The same could also be said about the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid.

But why are mild hybrid not considered by many as a hybrid vehicle? The reason is that they do not actually have an electric motor that can drive the vehicle. Sure, there’s that oversized starter but it only serves as a device to start the engine (of course it does, that’s why its called a starter in the first place). But these starters are not actually what powers the vehicle. So that’s their argument.