Banbury's Prodrive helps smash 400mph hydrogen land speed record
Banbury’s famous motorsport and advanced engineering company Prodrive has helped set a record for the fastest hydrogen-powered vehicle on land.
The Prodrive team lent its expertise to the JCB Hydromax team during its successful attempt to set a new FIA World Land Speed Record on Tuesday, August 12.
Driven by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the purpose-built JCB Hydromax streamliner achieved an official average speed of 406.320mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
The achievement marked a new world benchmark for a vehicle powered by a hydrogen combustion engine and comes 20 years after JCB's Dieselmax, also driven by Mr Green, set a land speed record at the same location.
Prodrive was appointed to the JCB Hydromax programme last year and was responsible for vehicle integration and trackside operations.
The Banbury-based team’s main responsibilities included helping prepare the car and crew for the demanding record attempt.
Working alongside JCB and engineering company Ricardo, Prodrive supported the development, testing and execution of the programme.
The record attempt required the team to complete two runs in opposite directions within a one-hour window, putting considerable pressure on the crew to prepare the vehicle for its second run.
Prodrive played an important role in helping the JCB Hydromax team complete the turnaround in 47 minutes and 52 seconds.
David Richards, chairman of Prodrive, said the achievement was the result of “thousands of details, executed flawlessly”.
He added: “What stood out throughout this programme was the way engineers, technicians, drivers and support crews from different organisations came together as one team to overcome every challenge put in front of them.
“We are proud to have partnered with JCB, Ricardo and the entire JCB Hydromax team in achieving this remarkable milestone.”
The record follows a rapid development programme, with JCB Hydromax previously exceeding 200mph during testing in the UK before setting a 368.347mph Southern California Timing Association class record during Bonneville Speed Week.
Simon Dowson, Prodrive’s director of special projects and JCB Hydromax race team principal, said: “This record is the result of an enormous amount of hard work by an exceptional team.
“To progress from an idea to a new FIA World Record in such a short period of time is a remarkable accomplishment and one that everyone involved should be incredibly proud of.”