The JCB GT, originally designed to perform high-speed wheelies, has been crowned the world’s fastest digger at 116.82km/h.
THE JCB GT was brought to Australia earlier in the year to perform at a series of V8 Supercar rounds as well as the Deni Ute Muster where it performed alongside the Dancing Diggers – the original JCB GT performed in Australia at the 1990 Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne. But it was its appearance at the Supercheap 1000 that was the main event with the JCB GT performing a series of runs over 400m, shooting for the world speed record for diggers.
This week Guinness World Records confirmed the JCB GT had exceeded the target it had set for the digger of 110km/h, averaging 116.82km/h. The 1000hp digger is now officially the world’s fastest backhoe loader.
Fab Carrettin, Managing Director of JCB Pacific, said: “The JCB GT has always been regarded as the fastest backhoe around and now it’s official. It’s fantastic to have achieved this record and underlines the world-class engineering, power and performance our customers demand from the JCB backhoe.”
Glenn McLeod, backhoe product manager for JCB dealer JCB Construction Equipment Australia (CEA) added: “The 116.82 km/h we achieved was actually higher than the 110km/h benchmark set for us by Guinness World Records. We couldn’t be happier with the results.”
The man who steered the JCB GT to its world record title is known around the world as The Dig, but he has recently revealed his true identity as JCB Demonstration Driver, Matthew Lucas. Matthew, who usually resides in Staffordshire, England said: “it was great to be involved in such an exciting project and a real honour to be behind the wheel when we achieved the record.”
