Every August, speed junkies, engineers, and legends roll out to the Bonneville Salt Flats to take the world’s fastest cars, motorcycles, and even RVs to their limits. Bonneville Speed Week is the home of land speed records both incredible and weird. This week, I’ll be there watching JCB, the British heavy equipment manufacturer, hopefully set a new hydrogen speed record with a wild car powered by two tweaked engines that normally power construction equipment. What do you want to know?
Racers have been giving it their best on the salt for over a century. The Bonneville Salt Flats, which are located about 110 driving miles west from Salt Lake City in the northwest corner of Utah, consist of desert encrusted in a hard, white salt. The area, which spans some 30,000 acres or about 12 miles by five miles, are what’s left of Lake Bonneville, which covered over a third of Utah some 10,000 to 32,000 years ago.
The salt flats have been used for a little bit of everything from science to filming, and people have been racing motor vehicles on the flats since 1912. It’s been a popular venue for land speed records since 1935. For those seeking to set speed records, Bonneville is a sort of Mecca.
For British heavy equipment manufacturer JCB and retired Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andrew Duncan Green OBE, the flats might just be the place to set a unique speed record. This week, 1,600 horses of hydrogen power will hopefully blow past 350 mph.
Where Legends Are Made
Red Bull gives a primer on what makes Bonneville a great place to test out a vehicle:
Its long, thick stretches of salt-encrusted earth are perfect for driving at high speed. The area was formed during the last Ice Age, when a huge lake dried up, leaving behind mineral deposits. Every summer the flats’ salt crust hardens again after the winter rains, leaving a perfect speedway. Torrential rain and cooler temperatures have led to the cancellation of events there in recent years, and the US Geological Survey estimates that the crust has thinned by nearly half a metre.
The first outright land speed record at Bonneville was scored by Malcolm Campbell and his famous Bluebird in 1935. They notched the first-ever 480kph (300mph) pass. After 104 years of racing and record-breaking there, the place will forever be a motorsport utopia.
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The last outright record to be set at Bonneville Salt Flats was on October 23, 1970, when Gary Gabelich’s rocket-powered Blue Flame peaked at 1,014.656kph [630.478 mph], making him the first to exceed 1,000kph [621.371 mph].
Bonneville has been home to some weird record runs. In 1948, car and motorcycle racer Roland “Rollie” Robert Free took a Vincent Black Shadow onto the flats, managing to hit 148.6 mph in one mile. Determined to hit 150 mph, Rollie stripped out of his motorcycle leathers, leaving him in only swimming trunks, sneakers, and a shower cap. Rollie then laid prone on his Vincent, dangerously close to the abrasive salt just below, and managed to eke out the extra 1 mph. He completed the mile in 23.9 seconds at 150.313 mph, breaking an 11-year-old record and cementing Rollie into the history books.
The run produced perhaps the most iconic image in motorcycle racing history. The photo perfectly sums up the madness of the flats without a single word. Today’s speed runs have greater care for safety, making Rollie’s stunt a thing of the past, but the vehicles and their drivers are plenty crazy.
Many land speed vehicles have been massaged out of the portable drop fuel tanks that hung from World War II aircraft like the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, North American P51 Mustang, and others. In aviation use, these tanks would be used up and then released from aircraft, lightening the load and helping the aircraft maintain a combative edge.
After the war, thousands of these tanks sat around as surplus. Hot rodders realized that these tanks’ streamlined shapes made them the perfect donor for racers. Builders took the tanks, slapped some wheels and a drivetrain on them, slammed them to the ground, then took them racing.
There have also been other sorts of fun and weird land speed vehicles, like three-wheelers, motorhomes, and even a big diesel truck pulling a camper trailer.
Maybe The World’s Fastest Hydrogen Vehicle?
This year, JCB has a weirdo of its own. Meet the JCB Hydromax.
I will be writing about this vehicle in depth later. For now, I’ll hand the microphone to JCB:
20 years on from the JCB Dieselmax breaking the world diesel land speed record at an incredible 350.092mph, we’ve got our sights set on an ambitious new target: a new land speed attempt, powered by hydrogen. We’ll be returning to Bonneville Salt Flats for the annual SpeedWeek this August to set a new record, ahead of opening our new $500million, one million sq. ft, 400-acre factory in San Antonio, Texas.
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The JCB Hydromax will once again use two revolutionary production engines at its core, each tuned to an astonishing 800hp. In an attempt to become the fastest hydrogen-powered car, the hydrogen internal combustion engines will drive all four wheels through a twin-transmission and clutch system – a display of real engineering prowess and a drastic step forward from the JCB Dieselmax project.
As for the other learnings in the two decades since our last world record, we’ve studied aerodynamic developments and engineered the body of the hydrogen engine car to cut through the air more efficiently, while also enabling a more stable drive. Every part of the car has been stress and simulation-tested, with suspension components, traction control settings, aerodynamics and camera placement all being critical to get exactly right before the attempt.
JCB says that the team involved in the Hydromax project consists largely of JCB’s own engineers, many of whom worked on the Dieselmax land speed vehicle. Prodrive helped build the car, Ricardo helped tune the twin engines, and gearing from Xtrac.
More on the engine from JCB:
One engine is mounted behind the driver and the other is mounted in front. These engines are based on JCB’s existing 4.8L inline four-cylinder spark ignition with port injection hydrogen engine. The JCB Hydromax also has a sophisticated induction system, with a single-stage motorsport turbocharger to help deal with the high altitude of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
During the development of the production engine, JCB turned to the motorsport industry for inspiration. The initial 448 prototype hydrogen engine was fitted with spark plugs designed for a Le Mans 24 hour engine. Even though the engine is built on production hardware, the JCB Hydromax engines were extensively rebuilt to suit the demands of breaking the speed record. The figures at the exhaust are striking. On the full record run, JCB Hydromax will consume just over 2kg of hydrogen – and produce 18L of water.
Behind the controls will be a living legend. Andy Green OBE served the Royal Air Force for 39 years, commanding such aircraft as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom and the Panavia Tornado F3 in regions including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and West Germany. When he wasn’t tearing across the sky and being a Wing Commander, he was setting records on the ground.
Andy’s most famous land speed achievement happened in 1997, when he took the ThrustSSC twin turbofan-powered car to 763.035 mph. He wasn’t just the first and still only man to break the sound barrier on land, but he remains the fastest guy on the ground.
Andy was JCB’s pick to take the Dieselmax to its historic record, which still hasn’t been beaten. Now, Andy might take home a record in a vehicle powered by something completely different.
I’ll be on the ground the moment that happens. I’ll also be here in Bonneville to check out what other fun land speed vehicles are racing down the salt. Word is that there are some 50cc bikes here!
Of course, this is my first time ever at Bonneville and definitely a bucket list item, so you’ll get to read all about that experience. As I ready myself for a couple of blazing hot days in the desert, what do you want to know about Bonneville, the JCB run, or anything else?
Top graphic image: JCB
I still remember driving my car on Bonneville Salt Flats in the 1990s when it was mostly unoccupied and unused, following the black-orange poles to the infinity and return. My car’s speedometer was one of the Joan Claybrook’s idiotic ideas so I had no idea how fast I drove past 85-mph mark. Too bad my car wasn’t Chevrolet Caprice owned and tuned by Andy Granatelli who drove it both way and broke the speed record for four-door passenger car with a driver and three passengers in 1985.
Yet, the whole experience was quite a nirvana for me.
However, it sucked a big time to spend countless quarters at the self-service car wash nearby to peel those “salt glaze” off from the underneath of my car. The “salt glaze” had the consistency and stickiness of sugar glaze pouring on the doughnuts.
When discussing speeds, I’d like to know whether it is a record (two passes, two ways, in 1 hour), a single pass, or an instantaneous top speed. There seem to be lots of “fastest” claims that are just instantaneous. Record speed is what makes you “fastest”.
After the speed run, it’d be hilarious if JCB put a front loader bucket on it.
Well snaps! I was trying to go this year but had some life events (good ones) pop up that stopped the trip from happening. Looking forward to reading all about it! (also, how did you not FRY in the heat and sun from all directions?)
Take vitamin D3, preferably get your levels tested. Try to wear uv proof loose clothing.
There are higher rated sunscreens from Europe now available here.
Coppertone sport spray seems to outlast standard sunscreens.
Wear a 1000 spf hat, one that covers your neck as well.
Middle eastern clothes work for staying cool as much as sun control.
The salt is the most reflective surface most people ever see.
You can burn areas under your 1000 spf hat very well.
You’ll find arms and legs unused to sun burn easily from reflected light, and aren’t so happy about it.
Consider eye protection.
Suggestions, as this’ll be your first time out here:
Have fun, make sure to explore some of the other West Desert possibilities while you’re out here!
Wheels, tires (when used), suspension.
Who makes them? Who sells them? What are the forces exercised on suspension and wheels, by orders of magnitude, vs a regular vehicle doing 100mph or so?
Thanks 🙂
Some of the most extreme are made for the vehicle, of metal.
It’s , um, complicated.
https://arxiv.org/html/2502.15341v1
Also, ever wondered why tiny little go kart tires work at 140mph, or skateboard wheels at 90mph?
Darn, I just spent an hour watching longboard videos. I used to really love longboards.