Forget turtle and rabbit, this new machine from equipment company JCB needs a rocket ship icon on its control panel. The company’s Hydromax is a land speed car designed to showcase the hydrogen combustion power that has so far stymied automakers like Toyota and Ferrari.
The latest Hydromax test run took the car beyond 200 miles per hour, and it’s the last step before it heads to the Bonneville Salt Flats to really go all out. Not bad for a pair of backhoe engines, but it’s only half of what the team hopes to accomplish on the salt.
From Backhoes To Bonneville, This JCB Engine Can Haul
JCB HydromaxJCB
JCB’s day job is making heavy equipment. We’re talking excavators, backhoes, telehandlers, and whatever else construction and agricultural companies need to move, destroy, and create. The company’s leadership also has a penchant for setting land speed records, probably in compensation for spending all day crawling at 2 miles per hour, and the latest is the JCB Hydromax.
On a runway at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, England, the Hydromax managed 208 miles per hour. With legendary land speed record-setter and former fighter pilot Wing Commander Andy Green OBE behind the wheel, it probably felt like a Sunday drive up the coast.
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A nice, easy run was the goal of this test, which was the first time the car came anywhere near 200 mph. This was a test of the engineering that went into the car and of the hydrogen refueling. That refueling between runs is a key part of the ultimate goal for the Hydromax: a land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, which requires quick servicing before the car is impounded until a second run can back up the record.
Fighter Pilot Will Be Driving Something More Agricultural
JCB HydromaxJCB
Green, the first and still only person to break the sound barrier on land, was behind the wheel with JCB 20 years ago when the Dieselmax car ran to 350 mph on the salt. This time around, JCB wants to break the hydrogen combustion record of 185.5 mph, the hydrogen fuel cell record of 303 mph, and the EV record of 342 mph, as well as ultimately beating the diesel-powered car.
The Hydromax is powered by two of JCB’s hydrogen engines, based on the H2-combustion engines that it sells in excavators now. But instead of the 74-horsepower 4.8-liter engine in the excavator, each one of the engines in the Hydromax puts out 800 hp.
It drives all four tires, using a twin-transmission and clutch system. JCB says it has learned from the Dieselmax car and created a shape that’s more aerodynamically efficient and more stable at speed. More than 150,000 hours of engineering have gone into the car.
It’s almost time for the record attempts, which will take place at Bonneville Speedweek this year. The event runs August 1-7, and will host hundreds of cars and drivers looking to go faster than they imagined possible and to try to set new records on the wide-open salt flats.
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If it hits the goal, it will join the Dieselmax and the World’s Fastest Tractor in JCB’s trophy case. That tractor, Fastrac Two, hit 153 mph while still looking like a tractor, thanks to a heavy dose of aero parts and a boatload of horsepower.
