Racing history was made recently when a biodiesel fuel race car won a major road race. Audi has used cars fueled by diesel for the last few years, winning both the 2006 and 2007 Pontiac Le Mans races. The big surprise though is that in June of this year, Audi used a mixture of fuel that contained both biodiesel and traditional diesel for competition, and placed extremely well in the Le Mans racing series. This may well open up the way for other racing teams to consider biodiesel as an efficient alternative to gasoline or regular diesel. The three cars that were used by Audi ran a mixture of traditional diesel and biodiesel, and the fuel was specifically made for Audi by Shell. The racing team will not disclose exactly what percentage of biodiesel fuel was included in the mixture because the team wants the formula to stay quiet.

As the Audi team showed this summer, biodiesel fuel can play a huge part in the world of racing. The Audi team won many races, and did it in a more environmentally friendly way. There was some talk that Puegot might do the same, but this did not materialize. Puegot has developed a diesel engine, however, and it is based on the R10 by Audi. By running on biofuel mixed with traditional diesel, the Audi car did several things. The emissions of carbon, sulfur, other air pollutants and greenhouse gases were greatly minimized. The addition of biodiesel to the fuel ensured a cleaner burning fuel, which was made partly from biomass instead of using only oil and other fossil fuels. This is the first time ever that biodiesel has been used in racing, although ethanol has been used before.

Biodiesel can play an important role in cutting the amount of pollution we cause, and racing has now entered this effort. Race car drivers and racing teams are starting to think about their effect on the environment and the earth, and hopefully many will follow in the footsteps of the Audi racing team. The Le Mans series was the first road race to include biodiesel, but the odds are high that this is not the last time we will see this biofuel in the racing world.

Audi has shown that biodiesel can be just as powerful, efficient, and competitive as traditional diesel fuel. Shell and the Audi racing team may be tight lipped about the specific percentage of biodiesel that was used in their cars for the races, but it may not be long before we see racers use straight biodiesel with no fossil fuels involved. The Audi name is well-known in car racing, and so are their R10 diesel race cars. It was just a matter of time before this innovative company made the leap to biodiesel. Perhaps other racing teams and companies will realize the benefits that biofuels offer and make the switch as well and maybe someday soon we will see the first road race in the world where all of the cars and teams use biodiesel instead of more traditional fuels. The fact that Audi used biodiesel and won races may also encourage more consumers to buy diesel vehicles and choose to use biofuels instead of petroleum-based fuels. If even one out of every four consumers used biodiesel in their vehicles, think of the pollution that could be eliminated. Why not be one of those four and make the world a better place for generations in the future?