America is the home of drag racing. You can watch everything from cars, trucks and motorcycles tear down the track at incredible speeds. Now you can see the fastest backhoe loader dragster in the world—built by JCB at its North American Headquarters in Savannah, GA.
The JCB GT—a drag racing backhoe loader fitted with a 1000hp engine capable of doing speeds in excess of 100mph—was introduced in Las Vegas at the 2005 Conexpo, the world’s largest construction industry exhibition.
The idea for the machine came from JCB Chairman, Sir Anthony Bamford, the son of the company’s founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford. Irish comedian Frank Carson spurred the idea in 1985 by regularly delivering a joke about a JCB backhoe loader that whizzed by at 100mph.
The first JCB GT was created three years later and was debuted to the public at Donington Race Park in England on August 1, 1988. Irish Comedian Frank Carson appeared to the press to launch the JCB GT—but not with a bottle of champagne, with a bottle of Guinness.
The JCB GT wowed audiences for many years after its initial launch. It entertained crowds at major racing events the world over, including the British Formula One Grand Prix in July 1990 and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in November 1990.
The original JCB GT set the world speed record for a backhoe. Driver Neil Smith, long-time JCB demonstrator, took the machine to 114mph during speed tests.
The current JCB GT will be on tour in the U.S. for the next eighteen months where it will be featured at major sporting events.
JCB Inc. is the North American subsidiary of JC Bamford Excavators Ltd., one of the top four construction equipment manufacturers in the world. JCB markets a wide range of construction equipment in North America, including backhoe loaders, wheel loaders/tool carriers, Loadall telescopic handlers, rough-terrain forklifts, Robot Skid Steer Loaders, hydraulic tracked excavators and articulated dump trucks. In January 2000, the first JCB “Made in the USA” backhoe loader was built at the company’s 500,000 square-foot North American headquarters and manufacturing facility in Savannah, Georgia.
For more information about JCB, visit the JCB Web site at www.jcb.com.
