Andy goes flat out for new speed record
A FUTURISTIC car that was fine-tuned on the runways at RAF Wittering has dramatically smashed a land speed record that has stood for more than 30 years.
A FUTURISTIC car that was fine-tuned on the runways at RAF Wittering has dramatically smashed a land speed record that has stood for more than 30 years.Wing Commander Andy Green, who is based at Wittering, near Peterborough, broke the land speed record for diesel powered vehicles yesterday, averaging a speed of 328.767 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US.
Running in the afternoon in his JCB Dieselmax, Wing Co Green had to complete two measured miles at the speed to break the record.
It smashed the previous record of almost 236 mph set in 1973.
The record attempt came after a string of trial runs on the runways at the airbase. But while testing went well, the team endured a troubled time in the US. The combination of the altitude (4,000ft) and the higher air temperatures affected the performance of the second engine, which was generating insufficient turbo boost pressure and led to days of work for the small team of engineering experts
Stepping from the car Wing Co Green said, "This is exactly what we came to do today – this is British engineering at its absolute best. We now have the fastest diesel in the world.
"This is a stunning engineering and team achievement.
"The runways at RAF Wittering were perfect for our practice runs, and part of the reason this attempt seems to have gone so smoothly. We are all delighted."
Project director Dr Tim Leverton said: "To have built the world's fastest diesel is a stunning achievement for the whole JCB Dieselmax team, and the car performed superbly.
"Our goal was to set an official FIA record in excess of 300 mph, and we have achieved that, and more. The success is a tribute to everyone who has worked so tirelessly and with such passion to make JCB Dieselmax a world beater."
The Dieselmax is a 9m-long streamliner powered by two finely-tuned 750 Bhp JCB 444-lsr diesel engines.
Wing Co Green, who set the first-ever supersonic world land speed record at 763.035mph in 1997, is thrilled to have entered the record books again.
No stranger to adventure, Wing Co Green has spent three spells in Afghanistan as an RAF detachment commander at a base in Kandahar, in the south of the country.
The scene of the history-making attempt, Bonneville salt flats in Utah, is the world's largest deadflat space and is made up of a powdery salt.
FACTFILE... The JCB Dieselmax
The JCB Dieselmax occupies a unique place in record-breaking history as the first car designed entirely by computer
It is powered by a version of the JCB444 engine, found in many JCB vehicles and generators
There are two engines, each boosted by a turbo and connected to a six-speed gearbox
It is nine metres long, just over a metre wide and 1.3 metres high
In order to slow the car down, it is fitted with three braking systems: "traditional" brakes, engine braking and parachutes
Since arriving in America, the 30-strong team has had to enlist a local bar to help with its laundry after finding the hotel had no suitable facilities
The team has also had to alter the GPS software which measures the car's speed, after it kept cutting out at 223 mph because it thought that was too fast
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Thursday 18 March 2010
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