Andy Green sets hydrogen car record at 406mph
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- Andy Green, a 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot, reached 406mph (654km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the fastest a hydrogen-powered car has ever traveled.
- The Hydromax record was measured as the average of two runs in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines producing a combined 1,600 brake horsepower.
- The new mark surpassed the previous official hydrogen combustion record of 185.5mph, set in 2004, by more than double the speed.
- Green drove the jet-powered ThrustSSC to 763mph (1,228km/h) across Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1997, making him the first and still only person to break the sound barrier on land.
- JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford called Green personally to offer the hydrogen challenge, with Green crediting his wife's encouragement for accepting it.
- In May, the Hydromax reached 208mph (335km/h) during testing at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire before improving to 406mph at Bonneville.
Why it matters: The 406mph run more than doubles the 2004 hydrogen combustion benchmark of 185.5mph, proving hydrogen internal combustion can perform at speeds long dominated by jet and diesel power. For JCB, the record is a deliberate brand play — the firm used the 2006 Dieselmax diesel record to showcase British engineering and is now repeating the formula to stake a claim in alternative propulsion.
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