Along with the LeMans sports racers from Audi and Peugeot, the JCB Dieselmax is probably the best poster child for how well a diesel can perform at the highest levels of motorsports. You may remember the JCB Dieselmax, as it was the streamliner that set a new Land Speed Record (LSR) for diesel cars last August by going more than 350 mph. We covered it quite extensively, as it was a pretty amazing feat. And we're not the only ones who took notice. The Dieselmax just won a fairly prestigious award.

This award is known as the Dewar Trophy, and it was presented by the Royal Automobile Club. They are pretty selective about handing out the trophy, as well. In the last hundred years, the trophy has only been awarded 39 times. Ricardo was the last to receive it for its work on the dual clutch transmission used in the Bugatti Veyron, among other vehicles. Coincidentally, Ricardo was also involved in the JCB Dieselmax project. It was one of the companies that helped construction giant JCB achieve a whopping 750bhp out of each of the Dieselmax engines. That level of thrust was good enough to push the LSR car to a two-way average of 350.092mph. And as test driver Andy Green explained, he never even had a chance to grab top gear!

[Source: Car Keys]