Diesel to run for record in August 2006
Posted By RichC on April 21, 2006
The JCB Dieselmax streamliner car will attempt to break the record for a diesel powered ‘land’ vehicle on the Bonneville Salt Flats this summer. In August of 2006, Britian’s Wing Commander Andy Green, will race the JCB Dieselmax car across the famous Utah desert aiming for 300 mph. Andy Green is known as the ‘fastest man ON Earth’ and will be driving this British twin diesel powered vehicle. He set the first-ever supersonic world land speed record at 763.035 mph in ThrustSSC on the Black Rock Desert in October 1997. Green said, “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 ‘300 mph Club,’ and a diesel-engined, wheel-driven one at that.â€
The car is built around two JCB444 diesel engines that are used to power JCB backhoes and will develop 750HP. They are known to be the world’s most powerful diesel engines per liter according to the press release. The project is coded named H1 and the team is being mentored by Richard Noble, the former land speed record holder. JCB is a privately owned company that see this feat as an engineering challenge. Company chairman, Sir Anthony Bamford, responds to the question as to why go for the record with: “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. The JCB444 has been acknowledged as a remarkable piece of engineering, and this programme to build the world’s fastest diesel-powered automobile is precisely the sort of technical challenge that we should rise to.â€
The current diesel-powered land speed record stands at 235.756 mph to Virgil W. Snyder and the Thermo King Streamliner and dates back to 25 August 1973. Click here for a company ‘video’ press announcement.
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