1. The world’s fastest diesel powered vehicle is the JCB Dieselmax, which achieved 350.092mph in 2006 on the Bonneville salt flats in Utah, USA.
2. A BMW 320d won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1998 with an 200bhp engine.
3. Wärtsilä-Sulzer make the most powerful diesel engines in the world. Their 14-cylinder cargo ship engine weighs 2,300 tons and produces 108,920hp and 560,832 lb/ft torque at 102rpm!
4. Rudolph Diesel is widely credited with inventing the diesel engine, but the first real diesel powered engine was actually made by Englishman Herbert Akroyd Stuart in 1891.
5. The record-breaking Mercedes C111 III had a Cd of 0.183 (which is sod all) and managed 202mph with a 230bhp diesel engine.
6. The Ford Sierra 2.3 diesel was rubbish. It produced 67bhp and did 0-60mph in 17.8sec!
7. A mad bloke in France replaced the V12 in his Ferrari 400i with a 6.0ltr, 6-cylinder diesel boat engine.
8. The very first diesel production car was the Mercedes 260D, built in 1936.
9. If you ever drink diesel by accident, don’t be sick. Inhaling your own vomit can cause pneumonitis, a severe type of lung damage!
10. The Audi 6.0ltr V12 Q7 claims the title of ʻworldʼs most powerful production diesel carʼ. It has 500bhp and is limited to a mere 737 lb/ft!
Check out 6 Diesel Myths Busted
