Sleek like a missile and just as fast: the JCB Hydromax prepares to break new barriers at Bonneville
Forget traffic jams and diggers full of rubble, JCB is once again after a land-speed record, powered by nothing but hydrogen.
We're on the runway at RAF Wittering near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, and there is a yolky-yellow JCB in front of me. It is very low, very long (32ft) and narrow; sleek like a missile and just as quick (and potentially devastating). Agricultural is the last word you’d use to describe this thing. Ballistic, more like.
It is powered by two hydrogen-gas-powered engines that have been developed, mind-blowingly, from regular JCB four-cylinder blocks (specifically the 3CX Backhoe Loader), raising power from 80bhp each to a combined 1,600bhp. That is alchemistic tuning; Jesus may have upgraded water into wine, but he had nothing on this. In between the engines and their digger-derived clutches sits a 63-year-old man without a hi-vis vest or construction hat. Instead, he wears a lemon-yellow race suit and a full-face helmet. He is retired Wg Cdr Andy Green, the fastest man on earth. The plan for this JCB, christened ‘Hydromax’, is to exceed 350mph on the salt flats in Bonneville, Utah in the US of A.
Strangely, JCB is no stranger to speed. The Guinness World Record holder for the fastest tractor belongs to the JCB Fastrac Two, which Guy Martin got up to 153.771mph back in 2019. Twenty years ago, chairman Anthony Bamford came up with the idea to construct the JCB Dieselmax and break the world land-speed record for a diesel-engined vehicle, given that diesel engines powered the vast majority of his products. It had two engines producing 750bhp each and, in Bonneville on August 22, 2006, a JCB tractor gave it a bump start from which the Dieselmax sprinted into the distance, clocking 350.092mph.
'The chairman’s either completely mad or totally brilliant, but he’s willing to ride with that. And the rest of us are going, "yeah, alright, we’ll give it our very best shot and see if we can make that happen"'
Wing Commander Andy Green currently holds the world land-speed record.
Two decades later, Lord Bamford is ready to try again. JCB is producing hydrogen-gas-powered products, so why not create the Hydromax and go for the zero-emission land-speed record (LSR). This machine has already beaten the previous hydrogen internal combustion LSR of 185.5mph, set in 2004 by BMW’s H2R prototype. It should surpass the hydrogen fuel-cell record of 303mph achieved in 2007 by Venturi and Ohio State University’s Buckeye Bullet 2 without breaking a sweat. The electric vehicle top speed of 342mph achieved by the Buckeye Bullet 3 in 2016—also built by OSU and Venturi—is well within JCB’s sights, if everything goes to plan.
‘This is not just about speed—it’s about showcasing the world-class engineering talent we have here in the UK and the robustness of our new hydrogen engines,’ says Lord Bamford. ‘Dieselmax was always a bit of an unusual idea, but it proved a point. Putting an advanced engine into a land-speed car showed the world what it could do in a way a digger never could. It’s the same thinking with hydrogen today.’
The 2006 Dieselmax and 2026 Hydromax look similar. However, the only carry-over part is Wg Cdr Green. He served in the RAF from 1980 to 2019, where he flew Phantoms and Tornados and captained the Cresta Run team. Between 2003 and 2007, he was the commanding officer at RAF Wittering, where we are for the Hydromax’s shakedown.
In 1997, aged 34, Wg Cdr Green (whose callsign was ‘Dead Dog’) found a new hobby; going supersonic on the ground. He set his still-unbeaten record of 763.035mph in the cockpit of ThrustSSC, the Richard Noble-built jet car powered by two massive Rolls-Royce engines. He was behind the wheel of Dieselmax’s 350mph run in 2006, and now Hydromax, which must be a bit ‘pipe and slippers’ compared to the ThrustSSC. Of course, cars, lorries and construction vehicles have little use for jet engines. Hydrogen has a lot more relevance for the future of land-based mobility.
JCB booked out RAF Wittering’s north taxi-way to test the machine and invited Country Life to bear witness. Horsepower was ratchetted up gradually. Like its predecessor, the new LSR car requires a push-start, this time courtesy of a powerful Land Rover Defender Octa (nicknamed ‘Octapushy’). After a couple of false starts, Wg Cdr Green was off, whooshing down the 1km (0.6 mile) tarmac straight, revving to a pre-agreed limit and triggering the parachutes at 180mph. The vehicle consumed a little over 2kg (4.4lb) of hydrogen during that day’s run and produced 18-litres of water as its only by-product.
Where we're going, we don't need brakes.
Later in the week, the team would achieve 208mph, but it’s not about top speed for now. It’s about systems checks, gradual development and ironing out all the niggles. In Bonneville, which has 10 miles of straightaway, they’re looking to double that V-max.
‘It is an extraordinarily ambitious attempt,’ says Wg Cdr Green. ‘The chairman’s either completely mad or totally brilliant, but he’s willing to ride with that. And the rest of us are going, yeah, alright, we’ll give it our very best shot and see if we can make that happen. Based on what I’ve seen so far, we will.’
After Bonneville, the wing commander intends to hang up his helmet. It will be his final journey towards the record books and this national treasure will finally slow down to the national speed limit. ‘I’ll be 64 when I leave Bonneville this time and I think I’ll draw a line under it after this visit. I’ll say I’ve been very lucky to drive some very fast cars.’
