JCB’s hydrogen-powered Hydromax has set a provisional FIA world land speed record of 406.320mph (653.909kph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, more than doubling the previous hydrogen combustion benchmark.
Wing Commander Andy Green OBE drove the 9.75-metre, twin-engine streamliner on two runs in opposite directions. The first averaged 400.623mph (644.740kph), while the second reached 412.135mph (663.267kph), producing the official two-run average.
The FIA has confirmed the result as a provisional World Land Speed Record, subject to ratification by its Land Speed Records Commission. FIA and Automobile Competition Committee for the United States officials oversaw vehicle checks, safety inspections, timing verification and independent recording.
The previous FIA-recognised record for a hydrogen internal combustion vehicle was 185.5mph (298.5kph), set by the BMW H2R in 2004.
Hydromax uses two production-based JCB hydrogen combustion engines producing a combined 1,600bhp. They are manufactured at JCB’s engine plant in Foston, Derbyshire. JCB said the same engine technology is already being used in its construction equipment.
The new mark also beats JCB’s own diesel record. Green drove Dieselmax to 350.092mph (563.418kph) at Bonneville in August 2006, a record that remains unbeaten in its class.
JCB also said Hydromax exceeded the 303mph (487.631kph) hydrogen fuel-cell mark, making it the fastest hydrogen-powered vehicle of any kind. The FIA described Green as the fastest person yet propelled by hydrogen.
Unlike a fuel-cell vehicle, Hydromax burns hydrogen in internal combustion engines. JCB said the engines produce no CO2 from the hydrogen fuel at the tailpipe. Hydrogen combustion can still produce nitrogen oxides depending on combustion conditions.
The FIA attempt followed a 368.347mph (592.797kph) run during Bonneville Speed Week, where Hydromax set an SCTA Blown Gas Streamliner class record.
Green remains the holder of the outright land speed record. He drove ThrustSSC to 763.035mph (1,227.986kph) in 1997 and became the first person to break the sound barrier on land.
Twenty years after Dieselmax, JCB has returned to Bonneville with a very different engine, but the same driver and another speed record.
