Royal Automobile Club Dewar Trophy to be Awarded to the JCB DieselmaxThe 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.
