Audi R15

Cars may not be your thing, and the idea of road racing may only conjure images of Jean Girard from the movie Talladega Nights, but if you're reading Diesel Power, we know you're into high-performance diesels. Seeing as how that's the case, it would be irresponsible for us not to bring you up to speed on what may be the highest performance diesel vehicles in the world: the Audi R15 and the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

Both of these cars were built to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race that runs every June near Le Mans, France. Audi debuted its diesel R10 race car back in 2005, six months before the Peugeot 908, and has now moved on to its second-generation diesel racer-the R15 you see here. Both cars battled it out on American soil at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, and Diesel Power was on hand to soak in the technology. After 12 hours of racing, the new Audi R15 defeated the Peugeot 908 by 22.279 seconds, but the real test of these cars will come on June 13, 2009 when they meet again at Le Mans.