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The JCB Hydromax set two speed records in less than a week. First, the 32-foot hydrogen-powered vehicle set an SCTA record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, reaching a speed of 592.79 kph. And five days later, at the same location, it set a new Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) world land speed record for hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine vehicles – 653.909 kph. The FIA is the world’s governing body for motorsports, which has been monitoring and documenting land speed records for over a century.
To set land speed records, the FIA requires vehicles to complete two runs over a one-mile distance – one in each direction – within an hour, and uses the average speed of the two runs as the result. The JCB Hydromax achieved an average speed of 644.74 kph in the first run and 663.26 kph in the second, resulting in a record-breaking average of 653.908 kph. Do you know what the previous FIA record was? A relatively modest 298.53 kph, set way back in 2004 by the BMW H2R.
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But the JCB Hydromax not only set a new record for hydrogen-powered cars, it also surpassed the world speed record for diesel cars – 563.41 kph. That record was set in 2006 by the JCB Dieselmax. Even more impressive is that this time, no carbon dioxide emissions were recorded.
It wasn’t just the car that set records. Former Royal Air Force fighter pilot Andy Green, who drove the JCB Hydromax, has numerous other speed-related achievements, including the title of the fastest man on Earth and the distinction of being the only person to break the sound barrier on land. In 1997, he reached a speed of 1,227.986 kph while driving the Thrust SSC in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, simultaneously setting the absolute world land speed record. The jet-powered Thrust SSC model probably resembles a rocket more than any car.
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However, JCB’s ambitions aren’t limited to setting records for the sake of prestige, as these record-breaking runs serve as marketing for the company’s earthmoving equipment. “This record was set by production-based engines, the same engines powering JCB diggers right now,” said JCB chairman Anthony Bamford. “That is the point of JCB Hydromax: it shows hydrogen works, and it works today at the highest level with zero emissions.”
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