Hydrogen-powered JCB Hydromax hits 368 mph in practice runs
Green, a retired Royal Air Force fighter pilot, set the diesel-powered land speed record at 350.092 mph (563.4 km/h) at Bonneville Salt Flats in 2006. He told the Associated Press in a July interview that hydrogen is the “fuel of the future.”
The 32-foot JCB Hydromax is powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines that mix pressurized hydrogen gas with air and ignite it to create bursts of power. The engines were adapted from units used in JCB’s construction machinery. The car is bright yellow, long and slim, and resembles a pencil, according to The Guardian.
In targeting the diesel-powered record, Green also aims to surpass the existing world land speed records for hydrogen internal combustion engines at 185.5 mph (298.5 km/h) and electric vehicles at 341.3 mph (549.2 km/h).
Green hit a practice top speed of 368.347 mph (592.797 km/h) last week. To officially earn the hydrogen record, however, he must reproduce a record-setting run on Tuesday in front of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the international governing body of motor sports.
“What the peak speed is, I can’t say. We just don’t know,” Green said. “Part of the adventure here is we’re going to find out.”
One thing Tuesday’s attempt will not approach is the supersonic speed Green reached with jet power three decades ago. In 1997, he traveled faster than the speed of sound and set the outright land speed record — 763.035 mph (1,227.98 km/h) — in a car powered by twin jet engines. His runs in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert produced sonic booms that shook the nearby town of Gerlach, according to Guinness World Records.
Green, now 64, said he thought he was done racing but came out of retirement when JCB approached him with plans for the new car. JCB has invested more than $134 million into hydrogen-powered engines that the company says emit no carbon dioxide from the tailpipes.
“If you’re serious about emissions, you have to be serious about hydrogen, and a land speed project is the perfect way to prove it,” said Anthony Bamford, JCB’s chair, at the car’s unveiling in May.
Bamford has also argued that hydrogen can better handle the demands of heavy industries than electric power. But hydrogen is only as clean as its source, and the vast majority of hydrogen globally is produced from fossil fuels. JCB signed a deal to buy green hydrogen, which is created using renewable energy but makes up a tiny fraction of global hydrogen production.
Hydrogen combustion engines present safety challenges due to the pressure and flammability of the gas. “We’re managing the risks very carefully,” Green said. He told The Guardian he spent months learning how the car responds to the elements, how the two engines work in tandem, and how to deploy a parachute to slow the vehicle on the low-friction salt crust.
The Bonneville Salt Flats, a remnant of a prehistoric lake bed about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City, have drawn drivers seeking land speed records since the first race there in 1914. The course’s straightaway stretches 10 miles, and spectators must stand about a quarter mile from it, often watching through wide-angle binoculars. The salt sits atop an aquifer that cools the car’s tires during runs.