A New Cat Diesel? JCB's Bamford Says He'd Buy Jaguar

What would a Jaguar XJ bulldozer look like? We may soon have an answer. Hot on his company's diesel speed record victory — 333 mph was the latest in the Dieselmax march-to-400 mph sweepstakes — Sir Anthony Bamford, CEO of JCB, is making headlines this morning by saying he'd be interested in buying Jaguar from Ford if Land Rover was off the table. Bamford, who built JCM into a construction-machine powerhouse since he arrived on the scene in 1976, also voiced a few opinions on what the troubled marque would face under his reign, including downsizing and line alterations. "The little car (X-type) needs to go. The S-type is critical and the XJ is a very good car, but it needs a re-skin," he told the UK's Financial Times. Still, Bamford — a D-Type collector — says he hasn't approached Ford with the plan. We'd imagine a comment, or none thereof, is forthcoming from Bill Boss. More »

It's Official: JCB's Got the World's Fastest Diesel Rig

JCB's construction equipment may be slow, but its Dieselmax racer fulfilled boss Sir Anthony's dreams of speed. Anthony wanted to make a statement regarding the extreme performance of his hardware. That desire led to the Dieselmax project, which led to yesterday's FIA-observed run on the Bonneville Salt Flats by commander Andy Green, who set the international speed record for a diesel-powered car of 328.767. It shattered the existing record, allegedly set by trucker BJ McKay, who according to TV viewers in 1979, gave Sheriff Lobo quite a run somewhere in rural Georgia. Ok, ok. The previous record was actually set at Bonneville by the Thermo King Streamliner — piloted by Virgil W Snyder — in 1973 (235.756 mph). More »

Oil Burner Smokes the Salt: Dieselmax Hits 300 mph in Bonneville

Those daring young Brits and their smelly rocket, the JCB Dieselmax, rocked the Bonneville Salt Flats yesterday, breaking 300 mph for the first time. Wing Commander Andy Green took the diesel-powered streamliner to 308 mph — and he says there's room to spare. While the only glitch was a parachute that failed to open, the load of Coors was delivered to the Big and Little Enoses without so much as a peep from smokey. More »

Fastbound and Down: Videos of JCB's Diesel Land-Speed Car

Holy crap. When we heard JCB was going after the diesel land speed record, we pictured something exactly like the aero-slip DieselMax racer it came up with. But did we expect the twin-turbo slingshot to sound like a Cummins-powered Freightliner? Damn straight we didn't (tho it makes perfect sense — it is still just a really fancy, low-riding rig with poor cargo capacity). The JCM bunch hit 201 mph in the DieselMax this week, ahead of its attempt at 300 mph later this month on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Check out some of the videos on Farmers Weekly Interactive (seriously), and tell me that telltale clatter doesn't blow your mind. More »