When you think diesel, you usually think torque, industrial vehicles, and tractors, not land speed record holding land rockets! British manufacturer JCB may be better known for their earthmoving machines but they are the authority on fast diesel.

As a display of might and likely a healthy dose of national pride, Lord Anthony Bamford instituted the land speed record-chasing program. Bamford is the chairman of JCB, the inheritor of his father Lord J.C. Bamford’s company in 1975.

Streamlined head on view reveals, slippery fared-in design, resembles an aircraft fuselage without wings.

This bright yellow streak across the desert set the world record for fastest diesel powered vehicle back in 2006, and has been since undefeated! The blisteringly fast top speed of 350.092 mph was made possible by a twin engined powerplant. Powering the JCB Dieselmax is a pair of 5.0-liter 750 hp engines, producing a combined total of 1500 hp and 1500 nm (about 1106 lb-ft) of torque. The exhaust note of this relatively high RPM diesel resembles the doppler altered growl of an aerobatic race-plane.

A quick look inside the cockpit of this single seat race vehicle reveals a dizzying assortment of technology. Far more is required to pilot a machine such as the Dieselmax to over 350 mph than a heavy right foot and a set of iron bowels. With the body panels off, one can see the carbon fiber and triangulated tubular construction of the chassis. Union jack graphics adorning the vertical stabilizer make no buts about the origin of the JCB Dieselmax.