On the blinding white expanse of Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, the spiritual home of land speed racing, a piece of British engineering wrote itself into the record books this week, and it did so on nothing but hydrogen.
JCB’s Hydromax streamliner, built entirely in the UK, clinched a new Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) class record on 6 August, averaging 368.347mph across two runs at Bonneville Speed Week.
It is a landmark result: the fastest a hydrogen internal combustion engine has ever propelled a vehicle, and proof that zero-emission power can go toe-to-toe with the giants of motorsport.
A Run for the Ages
Driven by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the fastest man on Earth and the only person ever to break the sound barrier on land, the 32-foot, twin-engined Hydromax posted 367.141mph on its first run before topping out at 369.554mph on the second. Under SCTA rules, which require two runs on consecutive days, the average of the two speeds sets the official mark: 368.347mph, enough to claim the Blown Gas Streamliner (AA/BGS, 500+ cubic inches) class record.
That figure shatters the previous class record of 348.342mph, set by the Spectre Streamliner in 2010 — a benchmark that had stood unchallenged for sixteen years until a British machine came to knock it down.
JCB Chairman Lord Bamford called it proof of concept for a technology the company has bet heavily on: “It shows just what JCB’s hydrogen engines are capable of ahead of our outright FIA world record attempt. This project is about proving that hydrogen power can perform at the very highest level with zero emissions.”
Green, who first tasted Bonneville glory two decades ago, was in no doubt about what the run meant for the team: “This record has given all of us huge confidence in the car, the team and the quality of the engineering. With our first record in the bag, we’re now turning up the power on the engines, aiming to go even faster.”
Twenty Years in the Making
The story has a fittingly patriotic thread running through it. It was on this same stretch of salt, in August 2006, that Green drove JCB’s diesel-powered Dieselmax streamliner to a world diesel land speed record of 350.092mph — a mark that still stands today. Now, exactly two decades on, the same driver and the same British manufacturer have returned, this time to prove that hydrogen combustion can match and exceed what diesel once achieved, without a gram of carbon emitted at the point of use.
The Hydromax is powered by two of JCB’s own production-based hydrogen internal combustion engines, developed and built in the UK, with a combined output being pushed towards their full 1,600hp for the record bid ahead. The team has completed 44 test runs to date, steadily building speed and confidence in the car.
Eyes on the Outright World Record
With the SCTA class record safely banked, JCB’s engineers are now turning their full attention to an outright Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) world land speed record attempt, due to take place at Bonneville in the days ahead. Unlike the SCTA class record, an FIA mark would stand as an internationally recognised world record — the sport’s highest accolade — and would mark the first time a hydrogen-combustion vehicle has held such a title.
JCB Hydromax Project Leader Ryan Ballard praised the event and its organisers: “Speed Week is one of the most iconic and respected events in world motorsport, bringing together competitors from around the globe who share a passion for pushing the boundaries of engineering and performance. It has been a privilege for JCB to compete here.”
A Wider Story of British Industry
The speed record comes at a significant moment for JCB more broadly. The company’s hydrogen programme — backed by an investment of around £100 million — has moved into full production, with its 3CX Hydrogen backhoe loader having secured EU type approval across eleven European licensing authorities. Meanwhile, JCB is preparing to open a new $500 million, one-million-square-foot factory on a 400-acre site in San Antonio, Texas, which will employ 1,500 people building machines for the US market, with production due to start later this year.
Speed, in other words, is only the headline. For JCB, the salt flats are also a proving ground — a very public, very fast demonstration that hydrogen power, engineered and built in Britain, is ready for serious work.
JCB’s land speed pedigree extends well beyond Dieselmax and Hydromax: in 2019 the JCB Fastrac was crowned the world’s fastest tractor at 135.191mph, and in 2014 the JCB GT set the world record for the fastest backhoe loader at 72.58mph. Few manufacturers anywhere can claim such a varied trophy cabinet of speed records, fewer still built entirely on home soil.
As the team now turns up the power for the FIA attempt, all eyes are on Bonneville once again, watching to see whether British hydrogen engineering can write the next chapter in a story that began on the same salt twenty years ago.
Figures and quotations in this article are drawn from JCB’s official statement of 6 August 2026 and subsequent reporting.
