Petrol Bedford RL trucks where famous for it. They didn’t just backfire, they would burst their silencers at the same time. It became a chargable offence to split your silencer 
I remember our old deputy headmaster who taught handicrafts and technical drawing.
He used to make us repeat the mantra
Induction Compression Ignition Exhaust
He would then pick on someone who wasnt listening and make him repeat it.
If he failed he would ask: What is Heat?
The Answer was: A form of energy Sir!
What is?
Heat Sir
Then a whack across the ear would prove he was right. 
I bet you could sue him now 
Child Abuse and ABH
Simon:
Mr Fibble:
I didn’t realise that diesels didn’t restrict the air flow on the induction - does the fuel/air ratio not matter on a diesel then?Roymondo:
In a diesel, the “throttle” remains open (diesels are controlled by adjusting the amount of fuel injected, not the air), so the initial induction stroke is relatively easy.Pay attention the back
It doesn’t actually answer the question.
AIUI, petrol cars maintain the same fuel/air mixture by either (a) drawing in the air and fuel at the same time, in the case of a carburettor, or (b) injecting a variable amount of fuel in the case of a fuel-injected engine.
Your edited version of Roymondo’s post implies that petrol cars just regulate the amount of air, which I don’t think is correct, as a car would then run very rich at low throttle levels and very lean at high throttle levels.
So, I ask again…
Does the fuel/air ratio not matter on a diesel then?
How about a non-patronising answer this time?
Mr Fibble:
How about a non-patronising answer this time?
OK then , NO.
Would you like a bit more detail 
Well here is some anyway.
In a normally aspirated and carb’ed petrol engine.
Opening the throttle on a petrol engine only opens the butterfly valve in your air intake. That creates (eventually) an increase in the air flow through the venturi (the main part of a carb). That creates a greater vacuum in the area of the pitot tube (jet) which feeds the petrol into the air flow. The increased vacuum ■■■■■ more petrol through (increased air flow, increased petrol). Therefore the fuel/air mix stays fairly constant. (Not adding the complications of accelerator pumps etc, which can be built into carbs). It is the increase in total volume of mixed fuel and air which makes your car go faster.
Diesels are controlled by the amount of fuel injected. The air intake has a venturi to create a vacuum. The vacuum modifies the throttle setting at the injector pump by a pipe linked to your injector pump. If you floor the throttle, that opens up the injector pump, but the vacuum link from your air intake only allows a relatively small increase in the opening up of the injector pump.( Diesels, unlike petrol engines will run on fuel/air mixtures of 1:15 to 1:60.) Due to the extra fuel creating more power, the engine goes quicker, drawing in more air, creating a greater vacuum, opening the injector pump more etc.
Add in a turbo and all that happens is the energy from burning the extra fuel creates more exhaust gases, that spins the turbo faster which pushes more air in, quicker. A normally aspirated diesel is sluggish to say the least (especially when tuned for torque rather than power, as truck engines are), put a turbo, properly matched to the engine characteristics, on and it becomes positively spritely in comparison. An added bonus is greater engine braking.
Its still not that simple, how much detail do you want? I am dredging this up from my memory of when I did first year mechanics at university, which was over 20 years ago. I can dig out my notes and give you detailed cut-away drawings of exactly what happens when, where and why, for petrol and diesel engines, in 2 and 4 stroke and rotary configurations and the same for injectors, injector pumps (in-line and rotary) and carbs, if you like. It would be easier to dig out links and get it all off the net though .
Simon:
Its still not that simple, how much detail do you want?
That’s fine, thanks 
I also did engineering at uni (electronic in my case), and I do know a reasonable bit about how engines work (I’ve changed one in my time), but I didn’t realise that they used a constant amount of air in each cycle (turbos aside), since petrol engines are so picky about the mixture ratio.
Simon:
It would be easier to dig out links and get it all off the net though .
I tried that, and all I came up with was lots of books and courses on diesel engine theory, but no actual info 
I made a more thorough attempt this time, and managed to find something useful.