JCB Hydromax Report
Record breaker
Technical Journalist Dan Gilkes reports from Bonneville Salt Flats where the JCB Hydromax has set a World Land Speed Record.
JCB has, for the second time in the company’s history, set a World Land Speed Record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. The JCB Hydromax car, driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, the world’s fastest man, achieved an average over two measured mile runs of 406.320mph (653.909km/h). This set a new speed for a car powered by hydrogen engines, following the company’s diesel-powered record, set at the same location 20 years ago.
The JCB Hydromax team was set the challenge of designing, engineering and then running a hydrogen powered land speed car just over a year ago, as part of Chairman Lord Bamford’s £100m drive to demonstrate that hydrogen is a viable zero emission fuel for construction and agricultural equipment. JCB has already launched a hydrogen-powered generator set and the innovative 3CX Hydrogen Backhoe Loader to the market.
“The internal-combustion engine powered by hydrogen can be one of the important solutions for the future, particularly for the heavy-duty machinery that builds our roads, our homes, our cities and our infrastructure,” said Lord Bamford.
“That is incredibly important to JCB. We are not demonstrating a technology that exists only in a laboratory. At its heart, this technology is based upon the engines and engineering principles that we understand and that we use every day in construction machinery around the world.”
Expert team
The company called on long-time supporters Prodrive and Ricardo to help with development of the car and the engines. Ryze Power supplied the hydrogen on site, while Goodyear developed a unique set of tyres, capable of achieving the desired speeds. In total, a team of 65 was assembled, crucially including 25 staff from within JCB’s own varied engineering divisions.
The car arrived in Bonneville in time for the annual Speed Week festival in August, where a huge variety of cars and motorcycles take on the challenge of breaking various speed records. Under the control of the South California Timing Association (SCTA), which runs Speed Week, the team achieved an SCTA record of 368.347mph, while running with two engines each developing around 600hp.
Extra horsepower
Over the weekend following Speed Week, JCB swapped out those engines in favour of new motors, that had been checked and sealed at the factory in the UK by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile). These two engines promised up to 800hp each, indicating that higher speeds were still to come.
For the FIA-sanctioned land speed record runs, the car travels along a 10-mile course that has been marked on the compacted salt surface. To achieve a record, the car has to be timed through mile 5.5-6.5 in one direction, be turned around, refuelled and readied and then pass through the same measured mile in the opposite direction within one hour.
While that may sound simple, the JCB Hydromax is almost 32-foot long and it has not been designed to make three-point turns. JCB therefore loaded the car onto a trailer to make rotating it through 180 degrees easier. Every time the car was run above 300mph it was necessary to fit a new set of tyres, while up to 250kg of ice had to be loaded into the cooling system, melting as the car completed each run.
The six-speed gearbox, that passes drive from the two engines to both axles, is designed to function from around 50mph, making it necessary for a powerful Land Rover Defender to push the JCB Hydromax up to that speed, before Andy Green could engage drive. That said, the two engines produced so much torque, that it was necessary to limit their performance in first and second gears, just to prevent wheelspin on the ever-changing salt surface. Green then accelerated through the first four miles, to enter the timed mile at a desired speed of around 410-415mph.
Unbelievably, Green would then turn off the engines while still in that flying mile. This helped to start the slowing process, purge any remaining hydrogen from the engines and helped with cooling. JCB Hydromax is fitted with powerful carbon brakes that are used to slow from 200-100mph.
The engines were then declutched before the first of two parachutes was deployed. As that first parachute creates up to 1G of deceleration, it is important to stop the engines before deployment, as the sudden brake force could cause momentary oil starvation within the engines if still operating. A second parachute was then deployed to bring the car to a halt.
World Land Speed Record
Following a nervous wait, while FIA officials checked their timing gear, JCB Chairman Lord Bamford was presented with the World Land Speed Record trophy, standing among the team and the extended Bamford family, who had travelled to Utah to witness the event.
“This achievement is about more than going fast,” said Lord Bamford. “It is about demonstrating engineering solutions, that the internal combustion engine powered by hydrogen can be part of the solution for the future.
“This technology is based on the machines that we are building today. It proves that we are still designing, still engineering and still prepared to take risks.”
JCB Engineering Director and project leader Ryan Ballard added: “This record belongs to the engineering team, which took a hydrogen digger engine and made it the fastest of its kind on earth. This has been an amazing challenge. We came here fully prepared and the car delivered.”
Technology transfer
The two engines in the car share their block with the hydrogen engine in the latest 3CX Hydrogen Backhoe Loader, along with many of the internal components, even the crankshafts are the same. But the transfer of technology from salt to site doesn’t stop there. While the land speed record validates Lord Bamford’s belief that hydrogen is a potential fuel of the future for construction and agricultural equipment, the experience gained throughout the project is already having an effect on JCB’s machines today and tomorrow.
By working with hydrogen provider Ryze Power, the team also demonstrated that supplying fuel to a remote off-grid site can be easily accomplished. Not only can the fuel be safely transported to site, but refuelling can be carried out in a matter of minutes. That fact, as much as the power and speed of the race car, proves that hydrogen on a construction project can provide a zero-carbon solution for a wide range of equipment.
When the dust settles on a memorable few weeks on the salt, the JCB Hydromax legacy will reach far further than a trophy in the company’s Staffordshire reception.
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