JCB DIESELMAX Takes Bonneville Speed Record With Ricardo-Developed Engines

The international diesel land-speed record for diesel-powered vehicles moved a step closer today as the JCB DIESELMAX broke the Bonneville Salt Flats course record with a measured-mile speed of 317 mph

VAN BUREN TWP., Mich., Aug. 18 -- Having already achieved a recorded average speed over a measured mile of 308 mph in the late afternoon of Thursday Aug. 17, the JCB DIESELMAX needed to complete a second run within a twenty four hour period at least matching this speed in order to take the record.

Today the second run was completed successfully achieving an average speed of 325 mph. The average speed of the two runs was recorded as 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," said Ian Penny, Ricardo director of diesel engineering. "We have every confidence that the JCB DIESELMAX has the capability to take the official international FIA record in the next few days and the Ricardo engineering team on site at Bonneville will be working flat out to ensure that the engines they have developed will perform to their full potential."

Having achieved the course record, the JCB DIESELMAX team will now prepare the vehicle for its official FIA record attempt. This will entail the replacement of the engines with two new units, which have been certified and sealed by FIA inspectors at Ricardo's Shoreham Technical Center prior to shipment to Bonneville.

For the record attempt the JCB DIESELMAX will need to complete two runs within the space of one hour from entry of the measured mile on the first run to exit on the second.

With its North American headquarters in Van Buren Twp., Mich., Ricardo -- a world-leading vehicle system and powertrain technology provider for automotive manufacturers, heavy-duty manufacturers and tier one suppliers -- has been providing value through innovation and technology for 100 years.

Ricardo is the premium global deep-content engineering and management consulting partner for automotive, commercial vehicle and related industry sectors. The company provides complete engineering services from strategy through product concept, design release and validation, and all phases of the product lifecycle. Ricardo technical expertise lies in powertrain and driveline, vehicle engineering, hybrid and fuel cell technologies, controls and electronics, niche volume manufacturing and advanced simulation software.

Ricardo is committed to excellence and industry leadership in people, technology and knowledge. A public company based in the U.K., Ricardo plc posted sales of $272 million in fiscal year 2005 and is a part of the FTSE techMark 100 index -- a group of innovative technology companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit http://www.ricardo.com/ .

NOTE TO EDITORS: A selection of images accompanying this release are available for high resolution download from http://www.ricardo.com/media/pressreleases and http://www.jcbdieselmax.com .