The V12 had one last hurrah in sports car racing as the noughties drew to a close. Yet the powerplants that won the Le Mans 24 Hours four years on the trot from 2006 to 2009 weren’t ear-tingling screamers. Fans awaiting the arrival of a new breed of prototype were greeted by the rap, tap, tap of the front splitter on the track surface rather than a sonorous engine note. This was the era of the whispering turbodiesel.
Audi and Peugeot took up the challenge presented by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest when it opened up Le Mans and its associate series to diesels for 2004. Both opted for the V12 route for their turbodiesel LMP1 challengers in 2006 and ’07 respectively. The reason? Conservatism.