Two hydrogen-burning engines powered this car to a new land speed record
Two hydrogen-burning engines powered this car to a new land speed record
两台氢燃料发动机助力该车创下陆地速度新纪录
It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to report a new land speed record. For a while, it looked like Bloodhound might have been able to make good on its 1,000 mph (1,609 km/h) attempt, but then the money ran out. As a result, Thrust SSC’s two-way average of 763.6 mph (1,229 km/h), set in 1997, remains the fastest anyone has ever driven a wheeled vehicle over a timed mile. 距离我上次报道陆地速度新纪录已经过去太久了。曾几何时，Bloodhound 项目似乎有望实现其 1000 英里/小时（1609 公里/小时）的目标，但随后资金链断裂。因此，Thrust SSC 在 1997 年创下的 763.6 英里/小时（1229 公里/小时）的双向平均速度，至今仍是有轮车辆在计时英里赛道上创下的最快纪录。
But yesterday, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, a new record was set by the JCB Hydromax for hydrogen-powered cars. JCB is a UK-based manufacturer of heavy industrial and agricultural equipment—think diggers, loaders, backhoes, tractors, and so on. And as JCB is based in the UK, it doesn’t have the luxury of being able to ignore carbon emissions targets; it has to have alternatives to diesel engines. 但就在昨天，在犹他州的博纳维尔盐滩（Bonneville Salt Flats），JCB Hydromax 创下了氢动力汽车的新纪录。JCB 是一家总部位于英国的重型工业和农业设备制造商，产品包括挖掘机、装载机、反铲挖土机、拖拉机等。由于总部位于英国，JCB 无法忽视碳排放目标，必须寻找柴油发动机的替代方案。
For some products, that means switching to batteries, but the company has also been working with hydrogen. At first, that meant fuel cells, but after developing prototypes, JCB concluded the tech was too expensive and too fragile for life on the farm or the construction site. Instead, in 2020, the company started developing its own hydrogen combustion engine. 对于某些产品，这意味着转向电池动力，但该公司也一直在研究氢能。起初，他们尝试了燃料电池，但在开发出原型机后，JCB 认为该技术对于农场或建筑工地环境来说过于昂贵且脆弱。因此，该公司在 2020 年开始研发自己的氢燃料内燃机。
The idea of burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine has been tried before with little success. For example, in 2006, BMW modified a naturally aspirated V12 engine in a 7 Series to run on hydrogen, which it did, but with 60 percent of the power and five times the fuel consumption compared to gasoline. More recently, Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda has been among the drivers of an experimental hydrogen-burning Toyota Corolla in some Japanese endurance races. In this case, Toyota started with the GR Corolla’s turbocharged three-cylinder engine; the forced induction from the turbocharger made up somewhat for the reduced energy density of hydrogen. 在内燃机中燃烧氢气的想法此前曾被尝试过，但收效甚微。例如，2006 年，宝马曾改装了一台 7 系的自然吸气 V12 发动机以使用氢气，虽然成功运行，但其功率仅为汽油机的 60%，油耗却是汽油机的五倍。最近，丰田社长丰田章男曾驾驶一辆实验性氢燃料丰田卡罗拉参加了一些日本耐力赛。在这种情况下，丰田以 GR 卡罗拉的涡轮增压三缸发动机为基础；涡轮增压器的强制进气在一定程度上弥补了氢气能量密度较低的缺陷。
JCB decided to build an entirely new hydrogen engine, drawing on its experience developing diesel engines and sharing much of the engine architecture. Hydrogen is injected into the cylinders at much lower pressure and temperature than in a diesel engine, and a spark causes ignition. Like JCB’s diesels (and the Toyota hydrogen race car), the engine is turbocharged, and like a diesel, it runs at very low revs. JCB 决定打造一台全新的氢燃料发动机，借鉴其在柴油发动机开发方面的经验，并共享了大部分发动机架构。氢气以远低于柴油机的压力和温度喷入气缸，并通过火花塞点火。与 JCB 的柴油机（以及丰田氢燃料赛车）一样，该发动机采用涡轮增压，并且像柴油机一样在极低的转速下运行。
Performance might match JCB’s diesel engines, but 74 hp (55 kW) won’t go very fast on the salt. Instead, each of the two hydrogen engines powering the JCB Hydromax has been seriously worked on, increasing their outputs to 800 hp (597 kW) apiece. That required doubling the engine speed to a heady 3,800 rpm, replacing the pushrod valves with double overhead camshafts for better control over timing, and moving to direct fuel injection at much higher pressure than the production engine. 其性能或许能与 JCB 的柴油机相媲美，但 74 马力（55 千瓦）在盐滩上跑不快。因此，为 JCB Hydromax 提供动力的两台氢燃料发动机都经过了深度改装，每台的输出功率提升至 800 马力（597 千瓦）。这需要将发动机转速提高一倍至 3800 转/分，用双顶置凸轮轴取代推杆气门以更好地控制正时，并采用比量产发动机压力高得多的缸内直喷技术。
JCB also dry-sumped the engine, cut weight, and improved cooling. The JCB Hydromax even uses two ice tanks to cool the air leaving the turbocharger, down from 392° F (200° C) to below 50° F (10° C). JCB 还为发动机配备了干式油底壳，减轻了重量并改善了冷却系统。JCB Hydromax 甚至使用了两个冰箱来冷却离开涡轮增压器的空气，将其温度从 392°F (200°C) 降低到 50°F (10°C) 以下。
Behind the wheel yesterday was RAF Wing Commander Andy Green, who is no stranger to the record books. He also drove Thrust SSC through the sound barrier in 1997, and in 2006, he set a diesel-powered land speed record, again with JCB, with the JCB Dieselmax, which topped out at 350 mph (563 km/h). 昨天坐在驾驶座上的是英国皇家空军中校安迪·格林（Andy Green），他对于破纪录并不陌生。1997 年，他曾驾驶 Thrust SSC 突破音障；2006 年，他再次与 JCB 合作，驾驶 JCB Dieselmax 创下了 350 英里/小时（563 公里/小时）的柴油动力陆地速度纪录。
With a combined 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) and 2,600 lb-ft (3,525 Nm) and all-wheel drive, the JCB Hydromax set a speed of 400.623 mph (644.74 km/h) yesterday, followed by a run in the other direction of 412.135 mph (663.27 km/h) for a two-way average of 406.320 mph (653.91 km/h). 凭借总计 1600 马力（1193 千瓦）和 2600 磅-英尺（3525 牛·米）的扭矩以及全轮驱动系统，JCB Hydromax 昨天创下了 400.623 英里/小时（644.74 公里/小时）的速度，随后在反方向跑出了 412.135 英里/小时（663.27 公里/小时）的成绩，双向平均速度为 406.320 英里/小时（653.91 公里/小时）。
That’s more than twice as fast as the previous hydrogen combustion land speed record of 185.5 mph (298.53 km/h) set by the BMW H2R in 2004. And it’s a lot faster than the fastest hydrogen fuel cell speed record as well, which stands at 303 mph (488 km/h), set by the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 in 2009. It also beats the fastest EV land speed record, which was set in 2016 by VBB3 at 341 mph (549 km/h). However, the fastest wheel-driven land speed record belongs to the nitromethane-fueled V8s of Challenger II, which set a record of 449 mph (722 km/h) in 2018. 这比 2004 年宝马 H2R 创下的 185.5 英里/小时（298.53 公里/小时）的氢燃料内燃机陆地速度纪录快了两倍多。它也远超 2009 年 Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 创下的 303 英里/小时（488 公里/小时）的氢燃料电池速度纪录。它还击败了 2016 年由 VBB3 创下的 341 英里/小时（549 公里/小时）的电动车陆地速度纪录。不过，最快的轮式驱动陆地速度纪录仍属于 2018 年由使用硝基甲烷燃料的 Challenger II V8 发动机创下的 449 英里/小时（722 公里/小时）。
“Bonneville is the spiritual home of the world land speed record, and JCB Hydromax has just written itself into that history,” Green said. “The car was terrific—stable, strong, and fast. Setting a world land speed record with hydrogen power, twenty years after Dieselmax, is a huge privilege. This record is a huge achievement by a world-class team and superb technology.” “博纳维尔是世界陆地速度纪录的精神家园，而 JCB Hydromax 刚刚将自己的名字写进了这段历史，”格林说道。“这辆车非常棒——稳定、强劲且快速。在 Dieselmax 之后二十年，能用氢动力创下世界陆地速度纪录，我感到无比荣幸。这一纪录是世界级团队和卓越技术的巨大成就。”