JCB FASTRAC SPEED RECORD
2,500Nm
Torque delivered by the
7.2l DieselMax engine
in the modifi ed JCB
iVTInternational.com September 2019 31
A NEW GENERATION
The young team developing the
Fastrac included apprentice JCB
engineers fi nding innovative solutions
to original problems. Jade Holmes, 21
(pictured), a JCB higher apprentice
has been working on redesigning the
Fastrac chassis to make it lighter. But
all the engineers are also encouraged
to help out on other elements of the
design and Holmes has worked on
solutions for the ducting, cooling
pads, and other aspects.
“I’m loving it as it’s so different to
my normal role in the company. I’ve
learned a lot working with specialists
from JCB. They never make you
think you’re being stupid for asking
Fastrac
a question,” she said. “As a team, we
are constantly forced to think outside
the box. It’s probably one advantage
of being an apprentice that fi xed
methods of working are not too
ingrained, so it’s easier to look at
a problem with fresh eyes. But we’re
stretched so far to our limits that it’s
exhausting. When I return home I’m
still thinking about the Fastrac and
my mum will say ‘are you alright?’.”
Holmes began her Level 4 Higher
Apprenticeship at JCB in August
2016. In the fi rst two years, it
involved studying a day a week at the
JCB Academy and the rest of the time
was spent in JCB’s business units.
For the last two years of her
four-year course, she is doing
a day a week at Sheffi eld Hallam
University. She will qualify in
mechanical engineering and hopes
to work in product design.
A small team of nine with an
average age of 27 began working on
the project last autumn. JCB
considered that setting up-andcoming
engineers a series of mindexpanding
technical challenges was
an investment in the future. “ e
underlying goal was to get them to
look at the ‘art of the possible’”, says
Burnhope. “ ey were stretched to
their limits and came up with ideas
that could lter back into
mainstream JCB products.”
e young engineers were guided
by JCB’s veteran ‘engine guru’ Alan
Tolley, group director of
engineering. Tolley is no stranger to
breaking speed records. He was in
charge of the team that set a new
diesel land speed record of
328.767mph with the JCB
DieselMax on the Bonneville Salt
Flats, on August 22, 2006. e
following day the team broke their
own record with an average speed
over two runs of 350.092mph. Only
the restrictions caused by using o -
the-shelf tires prevented the vehicle
getting close to 400mph, according
to Tolley. Clearly, the Fastrac cannot
get close to those speeds, but the
earlier speed project o ered valuable
lessons about how to increase the
power of the super-speed Fastrac’s
DieselMax six-cylinder engine.
e 2006 JCB DieselMax vehicle
was tted with four-cylinder
engines from the same family.
Unlike the DieselMax land speed
record, however, the Fastrac team
was constrained by the speed
limitations of conventional tractors.
e challenge, therefore, was to retain
all the key features of a tractor while
ramping up the speed. “It had to be
instantly recognizable as a tractor
although it’s hard to nd a precise
de nition,” Tulley said. “I think
it should have large wheels and
be able to pull implements, so it
was important to use a lot of the
same parts as the Fastrac 4000 and
8000 ranges. Fortunately, the Fastrac
is already a high-speed dynamic
machine so we could build on its
fundamentals by increasing power,
reducing weight and making it more
aerodynamic,” says Tolley.
It was vital for the team to
understand aerodynamics, but it
ABOVE: A local farmer
working a nearby fi eld
must have wondered
exactly what JCB were up
to on Elvington Airfi eld,
near York, UK
/iVTInternational.com
