A hydrogen-powered car has broken the land speed record for hydrogen vehicles, reaching an average of 406.320 mph across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, more than double the previous mark for a hydrogen internal-combustion car.
The vehicle, JCB's Hydromax streamliner, was driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, the only person to have broken the sound barrier on land, at the wheel of the ThrustSSC car in 1997. Under rules confirmed by the FIA, motorsport's governing body, Green completed two runs in opposite directions within an hour: 400.623 mph on the first pass and 412.135 mph on the return, averaging to the record figure. The attempt took place on the Bonneville salt flats, the traditional venue for land speed records, on 11 August.
The previous FIA-recognised record for a hydrogen combustion vehicle stood at 185.5 mph, set by the BMW H2R in 2004 — meaning Hydromax more than doubled the existing mark. The 32-foot, twin-engine car runs on two of JCB's production hydrogen combustion engines, the same units the British manufacturer fits to its construction diggers, adapted to produce a combined 1,600 horsepower. JCB has promoted the technology as a lower-carbon alternative to battery power for heavy machinery, arguing that hydrogen combustion can reuse much of the engineering already built for diesel engines.
This record was set by production-based engines. That is the point: it shows hydrogen works.
Lord Bamford, JCB chairman
Green, who also holds the outright world land speed record of 763.035 mph set in 1997, called Bonneville "the spiritual home of the World Land Speed Record." JCB previously set the diesel-engine land speed record at the same salt flats two decades ago, at 350.092 mph in 2006.
The FIA has now ratified the run as the official world record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle of any kind, ahead of an existing hydrogen fuel-cell mark of roughly 303 mph. JCB said it had no immediate plans for a further attempt, framing Tuesday's run as a demonstration of hydrogen combustion technology rather than the start of a sustained speed campaign.