‘The fastest man on wheels’ - Wing Commander Andy Green, Officer Commanding Operations Wing at RAF Wittering near Peterborough, has undertaken his final series of test runs in the UK in preparation for his attempt on the world land speed record for diesel cars. Driving a purpose designed streamliner car – the J CB Dieselmax - Andy is hoping to achieve speeds of over 300 miles per hour in the vehicle to become the ‘World’s fastest diesel’. Andy who comes from Atherstone in Warwickshire, set the first ever supersonic world land speed record reaching speeds of 763.035 miles per hour in the ThrustSSC in October 1997.

The current diesel record at 235.756 miles per hour is held by Virgil W Snyder and the Thermo King Streamliner and was set in August 1973. Wing Commander Andy Green is Deputy Station Commander and in charge of running the airfield and other station operations. RAF Wittering is the traditional home of the Harrier and more recently the home of the RAF Logistics Hub. He is a trained pilot, having flown Phantoms, F4s and Tornado F3s.

Yesterday was the final day of preliminary trials that have been taking place at RAF Wittering for the last two and half weeks. The car reached a top speed of 195 miles per hour and testing of its parachute deployment system continued. Its test speed was only limited because of the length of the 1.6 mile northern runway at RAF Wittering.

Wing Commander Andy Green says: “Nine years ago I drove Richard Noble’s Thrust supersonic car to 763 miles an hour. As a fast jet pilot and with that background , it wasn’t a great surprise when Richard phoned me up and said "I’m helping J CB put this project together would you like to drive this car". I had to think about it for nearly two seconds before I agreed to have a chat with him.

“It’s not just a showcase for J CB , its about showing how good British engineering is. The whole package - the Ricardo-developed J CB engines and the visionary chassis - is a fantastic product and we are going to go to the world famous Bonneville speed week to show not just the Americans but the whole world just how good British engineering is.”

To reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour, J CB in conjunction with Ricardo plc, developed the world’s most powerful automotive diesel engine – the J CB 444 - at 150 brake horse power per litre. The J CB Dieselmax car, weighs four times as much as a Formula 1 car at 2700 kilograms and twice as fast. It is powered by two 750 brake horse power two-stage turbocharged J CB 444 diesel engines driving through separate six speed transmissions.

The team will depart for the United States on 9 August and take part in the Bonneville Speed Week between 12-18 th August in preparation for the record attempt. The world record attempt will take place at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah , USA on 21 st August 2006 . The record attempt will consists of two runs of nine miles. Each run will involve four miles of speed up, a ‘flying mile’ and four miles of slow down.

The record attempt was the brain child of Sir Anthony Bamford, the Chairman of J CB . J CB , perhaps better known for being one of the leading companies in the design and manufacture of construction equipment, has brought in a team of experts to design the car, led by J CB Group Engineering Director Dr Tim Leverton with Richard Noble, the former land speed record holder acting as a consultant. RAF personnel were also involved in advising the design team of the deployment and operation of the parachute system to slow the vehicle down.

Sir Anthony Bamford said: “We began this project with one basic aim. Everything always comes back to that same starting point; we are doing this to prove our engine. To power the world’s fastest diesel car with two J CB engines designed for our construction machines will be a huge achievement.”

Source: The Royal Air Force (RAF)
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