Returning to the Bonneville Salt Flats with its FIA sealed engines, the JCB DieselMax on Wednesday broke the FIA international land speed record for a diesel vehicle for the second time in two days with a speed of 563.417 km/h (350.092 mph).

The third speed record achieved by the JCB DieselMax in only six days, Wednesday's success demonstrates the power and reliability of the Ricardo-developed engines.

Speaking at the Bonneville Salt Flats as the new FIA record was announced, Ricardo director of diesel engineering, Ian Penny, said:

"Today's record is a stunning achievement for the JCB DieselMax team, which includes many Ricardo engineers, led by chief engineer, Matt Beasley.

"We are particularly proud of the faultless operation of the Ricardo-developed JCB444-LSR engines and their performance at full power with no smoke. This is a great achievement for JCB, Ricardo and the JCB DieselMax team, which has demonstrated the very best of British engineering."

The second of the three records, the Bonneville Salt Flats course record, was broken last Friday week with a measured-mile speed of 510 km/h (317 mph). Having already achieved a recorded average speed over a measured mile of 495.68 km/h (308 mph) in the late afternoon of August 17, the JCB DieselMax needed to complete a second run within 24 hours at least matching this speed to take the record. 

Last Friday week's second run was completed successfully, achieving an average speed of 523.04 km/h (325 mph). The average speed of the two runs was thus recorded as 510.19 km/h (317.021 mph), thus establishing the JCB DIESELMAX as the fastest-ever diesel over the Bonneville course.

"Establishing a new Bonneville course record in excess of 300 mph is a major achievement for the team and demonstrates the power and capability both of the vehicle and its Ricardo-developed JCB444-LSR engines", Penny said.

The official FIA record attempt entailed the replacement of the engines with two new units, which were certified and sealed by FIA inspectors at Ricardo's Shoreham Technical Centre prior to shipment to Bonneville. 

For the record attempt JCB DieselMax completed two runs within an hour from entry of the measured mile on the first run to exit on the second.

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