Peugeot

Peugeot to run 12 Hours of Sebring with diesel-powered 908 HDi

When the American Le Mans Series held their winter test session at Sebring a couple of weeks ago, Peugeot dropped by with their diesel-powered 908 coupe. For their first visit they did pretty well, beating the more experienced Audi R10s by eight-tenths of a second. In the hands of Stéphane Sarrazin the Peugeot also beat the previous lap record - set by the Audi during qualifying for last year's race - by more than two seconds. Peugeot announced on Friday that they will return to Sebring March 12-15 for this year's running of the 12 Hour race. The ALMS season opener will kick off the tenth season for the series. The addition of the Peugeot will mean three diesel-powered LMP1 cars at Sebring. With their ultimate goal being victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at this time, it's unknown if Peugeot will run any other races in North America this year. Hopefully they will decide to stick around for a full season of fun, or at least turn up for the Detroit Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend

Geneva 2008: 2009 Ford S-Max and Mondeo get new 2.2L diesel

Ford just announced a brand new diesel engine option for its larger passenger vehicles in the European market. Set to debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, the 2.2L four cylinder was co-developed with Peugeot and has an output of 175hp and 295lb-ft of torque at just 1,750rpm. The diesel is Euro-IV compliant and uses a particulate filter. The third-generation common rail injection system uses Bosch piezoelectric injectors that can provide up to five fuel pulses per ignition stroke. The new engine will available in the Mondeo, the S-Max medium van and the Galaxy large van. On those vehicles, the emissions are rated at 165, 176 and 179 g/km of CO2, respectively. This will be the first Ford engine equipped with intelligent oil monitoring system that will track driver behavior and ambient conditions and inform the driver when an oil change is needed. Depending on conditions, the engine may be able to go as far as 12,000 miles between oil changes.



Peugeot to announce 2008 race plans Feb. 15, possible ALMS run

When the American Le Mans Series held their annual winter open test session at Sebring last week a newcomer showed up for the party. Peugeot brought over one of the 908 HDi diesel race cars that dominated the Le Mans racing series in Europe in 2007. Peugeot is apparently testing the waters to determine if they want to take on the Audi R10s on US tracks. While nothing is official yet, things are looking promising. Peugeot managed to set the fastest overall lap time of the three-day test session at 1m 42.801s, over eight-tenths of a second faster than the Audi. Peugeot will be making an announcement on February 15 about what their 2008 racing plans will be and whether that will include the full ALMS series.


Michelin's energy saver tires still exclusive to Peueot I was hoping that the new Michelin Energy Saver tires that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show might be coming to North America.It looks like i was wrong.I just called Michelin and they said no dice. What's the point in developing a next-gen LRR tire if you're not going to sell it to people who need it? i guess for now it will continue to be exclusive to Peugeot and Europe. Too bad. I was looking forward to a 20% drop in rolling resistance and an additional 3-4 miles per gallon.We knew from the get-go that Peugeot would have exclusive use of the tires until February 2008 and that these tires will be standard on the 90 HDI and the 110 HDI 308 models. Of the tires Michelin sells in the U.S., the eco-branded tire is the. There's a video of the Energy Saver tires after the jump. r