JCB Dieselmax
The JCB Dieselmax project is probably the most exciting team event I have ever had the privilege to be part of.
Dieselmax is the brainchild of JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford, who dreamed of breaking the land speed record for a diesel engine, using his very own modest digger engines.
In the summer of 2006, he realised that dream when Wing Commander Andy Green coolly drove the famous yellow streamliner to an international record speed of 350.092 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
I am one of the lucky ones who can proudly say, 'I was there', and I was part of the team that changed history.
My role as team mechanic on the car began in May, on home soil at Visioneering in Coventry, where a prototype mock up of the car was made and the real, soon to be record-breaking car was built.
We had 5 weeks (of working under extreme pressure) to build a brand new car to the highest, record-breaking standards.
The next stop, in July, was RAF Wittering in Peterborough, where we put the Dieselmax through a vigorous testing programme in order to get it ready for Bonneville Speed Week.
At this point the project had fallen behind schedule, and we encountered many challenges and unforeseen complications during test runs, often working very long hours to resolve them.
But somehow we all pulled together and got things back on track, and the car was ready to be transported 6,000 miles to Salt Lake City, where it arrived on the 6th of August.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are amazing. The thousands of acres of dazzling white salt that stretch before you and the mountains in the far distance make for a truly breathtaking experience.
But we weren't there for sightseeing; we had the serious matter of world record breaking to attend to.
Thanks to a remarkable team effort, perfect weather conditions, and the superior driving skills of Mr Supersonic himself, Andy Green, the JCB Dieselmax successfully set a new world record for diesel powered wheel driven vehicles of 350.092 mph, on the 23rd August 2006.
The rest as they say, is history.
I would personally like to thank all of the team members and everyone involved for making the JCB Dieselmax such an enjoyable, exciting and successful project to work on.
I especially would like to thank Visioneering and JCB for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.
The story of Dieselmax ended in November with an invitation to a party thrown by Sir Anthony Bamford at the Bluebird Cafe in London, in recognition of the team's achievements. Champagne flowed all night and it's safe to say everyone had a great time!
And of course the book, The World's Fastest Diesel by freelance motorsport writer David Tremayne, lives on to tell the tale.
If you want to read the inside story of the JCB land speed record success, it's a fascinating read and brilliantly written with some superb photography.
