A car just set a speed record that probably felt slow to its driver.
Andy Green, who drove the ThrustSSC through the sound barrier and on to a 763.035 mph record on Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1997, claimed the record for hydrogen-powered cars this morning on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.
The 64-year-old retired RAF Wing Commander set at 406.320 mph average speed in the JCB Hydromax streamliner, which is powered by two hydrogen combustion engines from one of the construction equipment giant’s excavator.
Green drove the 1,600 hp car 400.623 mph in one direction and 412.135 mph on the return less than an hour later to make it official. His speed more than doubled the old record of 185.5 mph set in 2004 by the BMW H2R. Green and JCB had previously set a 350.092 mph record for diesel-powered cars in 2006.
“Bonneville is the spiritual home of the world land speed record, and JCB Hydromax has just written itself into that history,” Green said in a news release. “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.”
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The 32-foot-long Hydromax is something of a parts bin special. Along with the zero-carbon 4.8-liter four-cylinder engines, the car also used sturdy JCB digger clutches for their Xtrac six-speed transmissions.
The record coincides with the upcoming opening of JCB’s new factory in San Antonio, Texas, where it will build telescopic handlers and scissor lifts.
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