- Andy Green broke the speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle after reaching 406.32 mph on Tuesday at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.
- Green, a former British fighter pilot, is the only person to break the speed of sound in a car, he hit 763 mph in 1997.
- Construction equipment builder JCB created the car to showcase the power of its hydrogen engines.
Andy Green, the only person alive who’s driven a car faster than the speed of sound, broke another land speed world record on Tuesday, fueled by nothing but hydrogen.
The record was broken on what Green said is “the best racing surface in the world,” the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
In 1997, the 64-year-old former British fighter pilot drove a jet-powered car past the speed of sound at 763 miles per hour.
He returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats this week to push a new engine technology — hydrogen — to the limit. Reaching 406.32 miles per hour on the 10-mile track, Green shattered the previous record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle by more than double.
The previous record of 185.5 mph was set in 2004, per BBC.
“To be able to work with a world-class team to help to develop and showcase great British engineering on a global stage, and of course to demonstrate this real-world technology of the future, hydrogen-powered racing cars, why wouldn’t I want to do it?” Green said, according to The Associated Press.
The 32-foot land rocket, called the Hydromax, is powered by two modified heavy machinery engines that fire pressurized hydrogen and churn out 1,600 horsepower.
The driver also said that hydrogen is the future of clean fuel.
“You can make hydrogen if you’ve got electricity, and if you have sunshine and water and a solar panel, you can make your own hydrogen and fuel these things,” he said, per the AP. “Genuinely zero-carbon. You burn hydrogen, water comes out of the exhaust. Doesn’t get any cleaner than that.”
The car was created by construction equipment builder JCB. The company is betting on hydrogen as a cleaner fuel for its heavy machinery. The car was built to show off how powerful the hydrogen engines can be.
For decades, Bonneville’s exposed salt lakebed has been an ideal location for drivers chasing records. An underground aquifer that helps cool the tires and its low-friction surface make it conducive to speed.
“Look at the surface, it’s fantastic. You can drive as fast as you want on this surface. Well, as fast as we can go,” Green said.
The driver also said that the car has more to give, pointing out that the vehicle has six gears and he only used five of them on Tuesday.
According to BBC, Green also set a world land speed record for a diesel vehicle 20 years ago. He reached a speed of over 350 mph in the JCB Dieselmax.