After JCB’s Hydromax streamliner set a Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) hydrogen speed record yesterday, the car went even faster and set a new world land speed record of 406.320 mph.
The car recorded an average speed 400.623 mph in its first run this morning across the Bonneville Salt Flats, and 412.135 mph on its second run, averaging 406.320 mph – the fastest a hydrogen internal combustion car has ever travelled.
Driven by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the twin engined, 32-foot car completed the two runs required under FIA rules – one in each direction within an hour – comfortably beating the previous FIA-officiated hydrogen internal combustion benchmark of 185.5 mph set by the BMW H2R in 2004. The record is subject to official ratification by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the global governing body for motorsport.
In doing so, JCB Hydromax surpassed the 350.092 mph world diesel land speed record set by JCB Dieselmax — also driven by Andy Green, on the same salt, in August 2006. Twenty years on, JCB has beaten its own benchmark with an engine that produces no CO₂ at the tailpipe.
Chairman Anthony Bamford has led JCB’s hydrogen engine project and came up with the idea of a hydrogen world land speed record bid early last year. Lord Bamford said: “Twenty years ago we came to Bonneville with JCB Dieselmax and showed what British engineering could do with diesel power. Today we have done it again — this time with engines powered by hydrogen. This record was set by production-based engines, the same engines powering JCB diggers right now. That is the point of JCB Hydromax: it shows hydrogen works, and it works today at the highest level with zero emissions.”
Andy Green said: “Bonneville is the spiritual home of the world land speed record, and JCB Hydromax has just written itself into that history. The car was terrific — stable, strong and fast. Setting a world land speed record with hydrogen power, twenty years after Dieselmax, is a huge privilege. This record is a huge achievement by a world class team and superb technology.”
