New land speed record targeted with hydrogen engines
JCB is preparing to return to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats with a hydrogen-powered land speed car as it aims to set a new record and showcase its in-house combustion engine technology.
The British manufacturer has invested £100 million over five years in hydrogen internal combustion engines, with production machines now beginning to roll off the line.
The attempt comes 20 years after JCB rewrote the record books with Dieselmax, and will see the company return to Bonneville with the new JCB Hydromax.
In 2006, Dieselmax set a world diesel land speed record of 350.092 mph with Wing Commander Andy Green at the wheel, a mark that still stands. Green will drive Hydromax in August, with support from Prodrive and Ricardo.
JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford said the programme is intended to demonstrate both British engineering capability and the durability of the company’s hydrogen engines. “If you’re serious about emissions, you have to be serious about hydrogen – and a land-speed project is the perfect way to prove it.”
Green said Hydromax is lighter, more powerful and faster than its predecessor, adding that the team intends to “smash the hydrogen-powered vehicle record” when it returns to Bonneville this summer.
Testing will begin in the UK before the team heads to Bonneville SpeedWeek, where Hydromax will run with two production-based hydrogen engines producing a combined 1,600 bhp. The event is governed by the Southern California Timing Association, before JCB stays on to pursue FIA-recognised records.
The speed attempt comes ahead of the opening of JCB’s new $500 million San Antonio factory, which will build machines for the US market and employ 1,500 people.
JCB has a track record in high-speed engineering: in 2019, its Fastrac tractor reached 135.191 mph to become the world’s fastest tractor, while the JCB GT set a backhoe loader speed record of 72.58 mph in 2014.
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