British former RAF pilot Andy Green, who in 1997 became the first person to break the sound barrier on land, has set a new world speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Driving JCB's Hydromax car at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the 64-year-old reached an average speed of 406mph (654km/h), more than doubling the previous hydrogen combustion record set in 2004. The achievement marks another milestone for British engineering and for Green, who also set a diesel land speed record two decades ago.

The record was calculated from an average of two runs in the Hydromax, which is powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines producing a combined 1,600 brake horsepower. It follows Green's 1997 supersonic run of 763mph in the jet-powered ThrustSSC and his 2006 diesel record of over 350mph in the JCB Dieselmax. JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, who persuaded Green to take on the challenge, said the feat showed British engineering could achieve with hydrogen what it had previously done with diesel; the car had earlier reached 208mph during testing at RAF Wittering in May.