JCB, one of the world's top five privately-owned manufacturers of construction equipment, is doing something radical. It recently unveiled the JCB Dieselmax vehicle with which it aims to break the world land speed record for a diesel-powered automobile in August 2006 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. The single-seater Dieselmax has been designed and built by JCB with the mission being to crack 300mph (480kph) to break the diesel and land speed record. Powered by a pair of advanced 4-cylinder, 5-litre JCB444-LSR diesels, developed with the support of Ricardo, the JCB Dieselmax boasts the world’s highest specific power diesel engines used in any automobile application.

In addition to its advanced diesel engineering expertise, Ricardo applied its state-of-the-art powertrain computer- aided engineering software to the task of assisting JCB in the development of the advanced JCB444-LSR engines which power the JCB Dieselmax. Ricardo was also able to draw upon extensive knowledge and experience of the engine architecture which forms the basis of the JCB444-LSR engines as a result of its previous role as concept engineering partner on the production JCB444 engine from which the land speed record engines are developed and with which they share many components. The resulting JCB444-LSR engines exhibit many of the technologies which are likely to form the basis of the next generation of high performance, low-emissions diesel engines in both automotive as well as heavy-duty applications.

The results are truly impressive: with each delivering peak power of 750bhp and torque of 153kgm, the engines are over five times the power of the production version and at 150bhp/litre, they exceed even motorsports applications as the world’s highest specific power diesels. At the same time the JCB Dieselmax engines retain excellent fuel efficiency and very low emissions through the use of advanced combustion control and diesel particulate filter technology.

The block and head are stock items, and this is the point of the Dieselmax. It’s a showcase for JCB’s engineering ability. The company has designed the steel spaceframe, built the suspension and created the enormous cooling system that’s packed with half a tonne of ice that will melt on the run. The only thing that JCB hasn’t done is driven it — enter the fastest man on earth, Andy Green. He is the current holder of the land speed record when, in 1997, he reached 714mph ( 1142.4kph) in ThrustSSC and achieved the first supersonic record of 763mph (1220.8kph) Green will drive the Dieselmax at Bonneville Salt Flats in August over a nine-mile course (four miles to get up to speed, a flying mile and four miles to slow down) to break the 235.756mph (377.21kph) diesel record. That was set in 1973 by Virgil W Snyder in the ThermoKing Streamliner. JCB Dieselmax has the ring of an energy drink for truckers, but it is a home-grown effort from a very successful British company. It deserves to succeed.