Cough, Cough… Older Italian Diesel Hatchbacks Engage In Drag War


The popularity of diesel cars is taking a hit even Europe, but it will be a long time until the good old oil burners are gone from the market.

Believe it or not, throwing together a few old hatchbacks, powered by diesel engines, is a good way of killing time, and the Italian Drag Racing Championship is one of the places to do so.

The latest edition brought together a bunch of modified Fiat Puntos and Alfa Romeo 147s, which engaged in a very fogy racing war.

Various stages of the competition allowed participants to go head-to-head, solving old disputes the proper way, and they also had to race against the clock, often completing the 1/4-mile run in less than 15 seconds.

It appears that the best time was scored by one of the Alfas shown in the video that follows, powered by a 1.9-liter JDT mill that was likely tuned. The old Italian hatchback ran the quarter-mile in 13.185 seconds, reaching a top speed of 174.33km/h (108.32mph), at the expense of killing fresh air.

You can almost smell those fossil fuels being burned, can’t you?

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