A historical milestone has been attained at a salt-lake racing area in Utah: powered by the principle of hydrogen combustion, a streamliner known as the JCB Hydromax hit 644.7 km/h (400.623 mph) moving in one direction and then 663.3 km/h (412.135 mph) on its way back, averaging 653.9 km/h (406.320 mph).
That’s a new world record, and it’s held by none other than J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited – JCB for short – a renowned manufacturer of tractors among other agricultural machinery and heavy equipment. Granted, it received assistance from Prodrive for this project, undoubtedly benefitting from the latter’s expertise in professional motorsports.
Speaking of the JCB Hydromax, it’s a machine built for speed with two 4.8-liter hydrogen combustion engines sending a combined 1,622 PS (1,600 hp / 1,193 kW) to its front and rear wheels using two independent transmissions.
The engineering team points out that the turbocharger turbines are made from a titanium alloy and spin up to 150,000 RPM and beyond in the process. Meanwhile, every single piston of each engine requires at least a liter (33.8 fl. oz.) of cooling oil per second. Let that sink in!
If these records got you interested, feel free to search for other experimental rides built by JCB. The company is actually quite well-known for making diesel-powered excavators and industrial machines reach world-record speeds.