Royal Automobile Club Dewar Trophy to be Awarded to the JCB Dieselmax
06
February 2007
The Royal Automobile Club Dewar Trophy will be presented to the team
that captured the world diesel land speed record for Britain at a special
lunch at the Pall Mall Clubhouse on Tuesday 13th March 2007.
The JCB Dieselmax land speed record project achieved significant technical
advances in diesel technology in an extremely short period of time
to achieve the goal of travelling at 350mph in a diesel powered vehicle.
The Dewar Trophy is awarded for outstanding British technical achievement
in the automotive world. The Royal Automobile Club has presented the
57cm high silver trophy on just 38 previous occasions since 1906 when
the achievements have met the stringent standards required by the Dewar
Trophy Committee. Previous winners include Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and
Dunlop, with Ricardo plc winning in 2005 for its work in the development
of the Dual Clutch Transmission in the Bugatti Veyron.
"This is without question a superb achievement from an all British
team," said John Wood, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club’s
Dewar Trophy Technical Sub Committee. "What really impressed
the judges from the start was the absolute determination by the JCB
team to make full use of the technology and expertise in the UK and
their total commitment to ensuring that no detail was overlooked, nothing
was too small that it wasn’t designed for purpose. The result
was this beautiful machine that did exactly what they designed it to
do. It is 100 years since the Dewar was first awarded and I can’t
help but feel that Sir Thomas Dewar and the founding fathers of the
Royal Automobile Club would have fully approved. This is what they
set out to do – to encourage outstanding British achievements
in the field of automotive technology."
On Wednesday 23rd August 2006 the JCB Dieselmax streamliner, driven
by World Land Speed Record holder Wing Commander Andy Green RAF, became
the world’s fastest diesel at Bonneville Salt Flats in the United
States, recording an average speed of 350.695mph and beating their
previous day’s best of 328.767mph, itself a new land speed record
for a diesel powered vehicle.
The team behind this world beating machine took two standard JCB444
140bhp four cylinder diesel engines, used in a variety of JCB products.
A team led by Matt Beasley of Ricardo then developed them to become
the world’s highest specific power diesel, producing 750bhp each.
The car design team, led by Chief Designer John Piper and world renowned
aerodynamicist Ron Ayers, then produced an outstanding vehicle that
set completely new standards in the application of technology to the
art of land speed record breaking. The whole project was completed
in a very short, intense period from initial conception to the record
beating run in August 2006: an outstanding achievement.
Dr Tim Leverton,
JCB Group Engineering Director, who led the JCB Dieselmax project said:
"JCB is delighted to have been recognised with this prestigious and
long established award. We are proud that our team’s achievement is now associated, through this Trophy, with
the most famous names in the history of British engineering."
The Royal Automobile Club Dewar Trophy Technical Sub Committee is
comprised of five leading individuals from the automotive industry.
John Wood
(Chairman), Managing Director Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA)
Dr Stephen Hammerton, Chairman, the Royal Automobile Club Motoring
Committee
Alec Osborn MBE, President, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
(IMechE)
Karl Ludvigsen, Influential and highly respected motoring author and
historian.
Former Senior Executive with Ford, Fiat and General Motors
Steve Cropley, Editor-in-Chief, Autocar Magazine
The Dewar Trophy Technical Sub Committee have also chosen the winner
of The Royal Automobile Club Simms Medal for 2006, which will be presented
to Bill Gibson, founder and Managing Director of Zytek, for his achievements
in the fields of motorsport and electric vehicles.
The Simms Medal is awarded to an individual or company by the Royal
Automobile Club for their work in the development of motoring, automobiles
or motorsport and exemplifies the spirit of adventure. Previous winners
of the Simms Medal include Radical, BAR Honda and last year’s
winner Simon Saunders, the designer of the Ariel Atom.
The Royal Automobile Club Dewar Trophy and Simms Medal Award Lunch
will take place at their London Clubhouse in Pall Mall on Tuesday 13th
March 2007.
See trivia page for World Land
Speed Records
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