Andy Green Sets World Hydrogen Land Speed Record at 406mph in JCB Hydromax

Andy Green, the 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot who in 1997 became the only person ever to break the sound barrier on land, has set a new world speed record in a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Green reached 406mph (654km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, driving JCB's experimental Hydromax car.

Record by more than double

The run surpassed the previous official world record for a hydrogen combustion vehicle — set in 2004 at 185.5mph (298km/h) — by more than double. The Hydromax is powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines producing a combined 1,600 brake horsepower (bhp). Green's new record was measured as the average of two runs, as required by rules for official speed records.

A lifetime of records

Green first broke the sound barrier in 1997 driving ThrustSSC across Nevada's Black Rock Desert at 763mph (1,228km/h). Twenty years ago he also set the world record for a diesel vehicle in JCB's Dieselmax at over 350mph (563km/h). The new hydrogen mark continues that tradition. "Setting a world land speed record with hydrogen power, 20 years after Dieselmax, is a huge privilege," Green said.

JCB's bet on hydrogen

JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford said the Hydromax project, unveiled in May, shows what British engineering can do with clean energy technology: "Twenty years ago we came to Bonneville with JCB Dieselmax and showed what British engineering could do with diesel power. Today we have done it again — this time with engines powered by hydrogen." The car reached 208mph during testing at RAF Wittering in May before the Bonneville record run.