Diesel land speed record attempt coming this summer

JCB, a construction equipment manufacturer, will attempt to break the diesel land speed record this summer at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. To reach speeds over 300 mph, JCB built the world's most powerful diesel engine at 150 bhp per liter, based on the same 4-cylinder, 4.4 liter (444) diesel engine the company uses in the world's best-selling backhoe loader. The Dieselmax car will be driven by RAF pilot Andy Green, who set the first-ever supersonic world land speed record at 763.035 mph in ThrustSSC in the Black Rock Desert on October 15, 1997. The Dieselmax is more than 29 feet long, weighs nearly three tons and is powered by two 750 bhp two-stage turbocharged JCB444 diesel engines driving through separate six-speed transmissions. The Dieselmax is twice as powerful and twice as fast as a Formula 1 car.





Initial vehicle testing will be conducted by Green at the Wittering Royal Air Force station, near Peterborough, England prior to the first salt testing at Bonneville during Speed Week, which runs August 12-18, 2006. The team will make its first attempt to set a new record the following week.

The current record is held by Virgil W. Snyder, who hit a speed of 235.756 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats on August 25, 1973.