{"id":6896,"date":"2026-08-11T10:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/news\/7806597\/britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-for-fastest-run-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:00:57","slug":"britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6896\/britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s Andy Green sets another speed record, this time in a hydrogen-powered car"},"content":{"rendered":"

WENDOVER, Utah (AP) \u2014 The only person to break the sound barrier in a car earned another world record Tuesday in a show of force for hydrogen power<\/a>.<\/p>\n

British driver Andy Green reached 406.320 mph (653.908 kph) in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines with a combined 1,600 horsepower, setting the record for that vehicle category, according to the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de l\u2019Automobile, the international governing body of motor sports.<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot rocketed across the crystalline crust at Utah\u2019s famous Bonneville Salt Flats<\/a> in a 32-foot (9.75-meter) car engineered by British construction equipment manufacturer JCB. The engines, adapted from those used in the company\u2019s heavy machinery, mix pressurized hydrogen gas with air and ignite it to create bursts of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s magic to be able to showcase this technology and to showcase how good the engineering is on the best racing surface in the world, Bonneville Salt Flats,\u201d Green told The Associated Press after the run.<\/p>\n

To be clear, Tuesday\u2019s feat didn\u2019t come close to approaching the overall land-speed record, which Green set with jet power in 1997. That year, he climbed into the Thrust SSC, a black needle sandwiched between two cartoonishly large jet engines, and hit 763.035 mph (1,227.985 kph), breaking the sound barrier and achieving a feat no one has come close to matching. His runs in Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert produced sonic booms that shook the nearby town of Gerlach.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Green also set the land-speed record for a diesel-powered car \u2014 350.092 mph (563.4 kph) \u2014 at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He returned there Tuesday with the goal of beating that mark using hydrogen power, which he has called the \u201cfuel of the future.\u201d <\/p>\n

In targeting his diesel speed, Green easily topped the previous hydrogen combustion world record of 185.5 mph (298.5 kph). He had a 10-mile (16-kilometer) straightaway to build speed. A few dozen JCB staff members and reporters watched from a distance through cameras and binoculars.<\/p>\n

Green said the cockpit of the car he used on Tuesday was \u201cprobably a little hotter\u201d than in the jet-powered vehicle from 1997, with temperatures routinely above 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have been training four months for that, both training in the gym and actually just getting used to it with hot baths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A remnant of a prehistoric lake bed, the Bonneville Salt Flats are about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City and sit atop a shallow aquifer that cools the tires. The low-friction surface and dry desert air are conducive to speed and have beckoned drivers since the first race there in 1914.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like snow, and it behaves a bit like packed snow \u2014 it is surprisingly slippery,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n

Green was no stranger to speed when he took his first racing job. He had been flying supersonic military jets when he spotted a 1994 British newspaper ad seeking a high-speed driver to break the sound barrier.<\/p>\n

Green did not approach supersonic speeds on Tuesday, but JCB engineers hope his feat with hydrogen power will shake up the clean-energy industry. <\/p>\n

The company’s chairman has argued that hydrogen can better handle the demands of heavy industries than electric power.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen is only as clean as its source, and the vast majority is currently produced from fossil fuels. JCB signed a deal to buy green hydrogen<\/a>, which is created using renewable energy but makes up a tiny fraction of global hydrogen production.<\/p>\n

The concept and development of such technology has been around for decades, but has had a resurgence over the past several years, said Greg Keoleian, a professor of sustainable systems at the University of Michigan and co-director of the school\u2019s MI Hydrogen initiative.<\/p>\n

Many major automakers have already developed hydrogen internal combustion engines or hydrogen fuel cell technology, but the higher cost of hydrogen production compared with gas and diesel is a barrier to wider usage, Keoleian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt represents an important energy carrier for decarbonizing areas of the economy,\u201d he said. \u201cAs far as its deployment, it\u2019s influenced heavily by the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

An emerging focus, he said, is extracting hydrogen from natural deposits instead of separating it from water, a prospect that could significantly reduce costs.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporter Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

\n \"|\"
British driver Andy Green speaks to reporters after setting a new land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (AP Photo\/Hannah Schoenbaum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
The JCB Hydromax sits on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, where Andy Green aims to drive it to a land speed record for cars powered by hydrogen internal combustion engines, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hannah Schoenbaum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
Racing stickers cover a sign for Utah\u2019s Bonneville Salt Flats, home to a speedway where several land speed records have been set, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hannah Schoenbaum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
British driver Andy Green and the JCB engineering team pose with the car used to set a new land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (AP Photo\/Hannah Schoenbaum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WENDOVER, Utah (AP) \u2014 The only person to break the sound barrier in a car earned another world record Tuesday in a show of force for hydrogen power. British driver Andy Green reached 406.320 mph (653.908 kph) in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines with a combined 1,600 horsepower, setting the record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":6897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"f53f98ec-d05f-4ed2-af39-11453b8225fd","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"Hannah Schoenbaum","published":"2026-08-11 10:24:12","updated":"2026-08-11 16:49:50","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[638,1464,1303,1318,1297],"tags":[],"region":[1301],"class_list":["post-6896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-construction","category-international","category-science","category-sports","region-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6896\/britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Britain’s Andy Green sets another speed record, this time in a hydrogen-powered car","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6896\/britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6896\/britains-andy-green-sets-another-speed-record-this-time-in-a-hydrogen-powered-car\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-0c1dce40679a284b2a74eefe0001929ba9810da3db9e0c59e3319deb217b12f2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-0c1dce40679a284b2a74eefe0001929ba9810da3db9e0c59e3319deb217b12f2.jpg"},"articleSection":"business","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-08-11T17:24:12Z","datePublished":"2026-08-11T17:24:12Z","dateModified":"2026-08-12T00:00:57Z"},"rendered":"