New world speed record of 406 mph set with – Business News
A new land speed record was set at present in Utah by British driver Andy Green, driving a specifically designed JCB Hydromax car, which reached 406.320 miles per hour.
The milestone was set within the vibrant yellow tubular vehilce, powered by two hydrogen inside combustion engines, which Green calls the “fuel of the future” on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
He simply beat the earlier class record for a hydrogen engine, which had stood at 185 mph.
The car, known as Hydromax, is pushed by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the previous Royal Air Force fighter pilot who grew to become the quickest man on earth when he broke the sound barrier on land. James Arbuckle
The driver is a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot who’s the one particular person to have damaged the sound barrier on land, which he did when setting the total land speed record, reaching 763 mph in a car powered by twin jet engines in 1997.
UK company JCB, based in 1945, is best identified for its heavy machinery and is one of the world’s largest privately owned producers of construction and agricultural gear — however it has additionally been quietly making a main wager on hydrogen energy.
Lord Anthony Bamford — who chairs the company his father, Joseph Cyril Bamford, based — has invested more than $132 million over the past 5 years into developing hydrogen combustion engines, a cleaner various to diesel engines which emit innocent water as a substitute of carbon dioxide, the bi-product of burning common fuel.
Lord Anthony Bamford, who chairs the company his father Joseph Cyril Bamford based, has invested more than £100 million over the past 5 years into developing hydrogen combustion engines. Ben Gregory-Ring
While one other variety of hydrogen energy, hydrogen fuel cells, has been used for some cars in recent times, JCB researchers discovered the technology too advanced, too expensive and never strong enough to work in its heavy gear. Therefore the company focused on a modified internal-combustion engine that may be more simply built-in into future gear.
While Bamford, who’s spending the week in Utah, is worked up concerning the speed take a look at, he’s far more centered on what the technology can do past the salt flats, he instructed The Post.
“Anything can be a hydrogen engine,” Bamford, 80, defined to me.
The company is poised to right away deploy the technology with its final aim to put hydrogen engines into a massive portion of its fleet.
JCB Hydromax with driver Wing Commander Andy Green OBE at RAF Wittering James Arbuckle
“Making engines is something we are used to,” Bamford stated. The company produces roughly 400 engines a day and over a million are at the moment in operation across the world.
In the years since this project began, JCB has shortly moved from prototypes in December 2020 to having absolutely permitted working hydrogen combustion engines in gear.
It is a playbook JCB has used earlier than.
In 2006, the company publicized its diesel engines with the Dieselmax speed take a look at, a streamliner vehicle pushed by Green which grew to become the world’s quickest diesel-powered vehicle at 350 mph, a record which nonetheless stands.
JCB expands its footprint within the United States — he company is building a new $500 million, 1-million-square-foot manufacturing unit on a 400-acre web site in San Antonio, Texas. Guy Dixon
“It’s part of a history of a company doing this,” Bamford stated. “We have done it before.”
The aim, he added, is to show how “what you’d think are mundane products are actually on the cutting edge.”
The hydrogen push additionally comes as JCB expands its footprint within the United States. The company is building a new one-million-square-foot manufacturing unit in San Antonio, Texas, at a price of $500 million.
JCB sells tens of hundreds of machines annually and they’re poised to have the ability to instantly deploy the technology — and the last word aim is to put hydrogen engines into a massive portion of its fleet.
JCM, which relies within the UK, is one of the world’s largest privately owned producers of construction and agricultural gear. King Charles III is seen visiting one of their factories.
The plant, initially deliberate at 500,000 sq. ft, was doubled in dimension after the 2025 tariffs on imports have been introduced, as JCB determined to invest in manufacturing more of its gear for American clients on US soil. The facility is projected to make use of about 1,500 people.
The enlargement in Texas and the hydrogen program are half of the identical longer-term wager: building more “Made in America” machines whereas getting ready the subsequent era of engines that may energy them.
If anybody can do it, Bamford argues it’s JCB.
“We sell 140,000 machines around the world a year, and virtually all have been powered by diesel,” he stated. “And now they will be hydrogen engines.”
