JCB target new diesel land speed record

JCB are aiming to set a new land speed record for diesel-powered vehicles with a super-sleek streamliner car to be driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, the fastest man on Earth. The record attempt will take place on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah during August 2006.

Powering the 9m long JCB DieselMax are two JCB444 diesel engines, developed to produce 750hp each – five times the power needed to drive a JCB backhoe loader, and now the world’s most powerful diesel engine per litre.

Another former land speed record-holder, Richard Noble, has acted as mentor and consultant to the project. He has encouraged the JCB team, led by group engineering director Dr Tim Leverton, to aim for 300 miles/h; the existing record stands at just over 235 miles/h.

Explaining why he wanted to build a record-breaker, JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford said: ‘I am passionate about the importance of engineering excellence to Britain and I see using the JCB engine for this record attempt as a fantastic way of showcasing what British engineers can do. This programme to build the world’s fastest diesel-powered automobile is precisely the sort of technical challenge that we should rise to.’

Andy Green, who set the first-ever supersonic world land speed record at 763 miles/h in ThrustSSC in the Black Rock Desert on 15 October 1997, said he was thrilled to have been given another opportunity to enter the record books. ‘We will be following in the tradition of British record-breakers by running at the sport’s spiritual home, the remarkable Bonneville Salt Flats. I am really looking forward to driving another British entry in the ‘300mph Club’, and a diesel-engined, wheel-driven one at that.’