JCB is planning another attempt to break a world speed record, this time with a hydrogen-powered car. The 32-foot-long JCB Hydromax is being prepared to travel over 350 mph, equipped with the British construction-equipment manufacturer’s new hydrogen internal combustion engines.
The manufacturer, which employs more than 20,000 people worldwide, has spent five years developing hydrogen internal combustion engines as part of a £100 million investment. JCB has a history of breaking land-speed records:
- In 2007, its Dieselmax car hit 350.092 mph to become the world’s fastest diesel. It was equipped with twin JCB444 engines for a combined 750 horsepower.
- In 2014, the JCB GT set the world record for the fastest backhoe loader at 72.58 mph. It ran on a 1,000-horsepower, supercharged Chevrolet 454 Big Block V8.
- In 2019, the company broke the world record for the fastest tractor. The Fastrac Two — a modified JCB Fastrac 8000 Series tractor with a 1,106-horsepower JCB DieselMax engine — hit 153.77 mph.
For the new attempt, JCB will return to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where it broke the diesel speed record. Retired British Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Green, the only person to break the sound barrier on wheels, will drive the Hydromax. He set the land-speed record at 763 mph with a jet-propelled car in 1997. Green also drove the Dieselmax for its 2007 speed record.
JCB has equipped its Hydromax speedster with two production-based hydrogen engines. The two engines, at 800-horsepower each, “drive all four wheels through a twin-transmission and clutch system,” according to JCB. “… Every part of the car has been stress- and simulation-tested, with suspension components, traction control settings, aerodynamics and camera placement all being critical to get exactly right before the attempt.”
“Putting an advanced engine into a land-speed car showed the world what it could do in a way a digger never could,” he says. “It’s the same thinking with hydrogen today. 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.”
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