Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, better known as the 'fastest man on Earth', has set another land-speed record, this time using hydrogen power.

The former Royal Air Force fighter pilot, who remains the only person ever to break the sound barrier in a car, reached 406.320mph (653.908kph) in JCB's 1,600bhp Hydromax streamliner on Tuesday, just two weeks after celebrating his 64th birthday.

At that speed, Green was covering a mile every nine seconds, or two full-size football pitches per second - and he didn't even hit top gear, he said.

The achievement has been hailed as a major boost for hydrogen technology.

Green rocketed across the crystalline crust of Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flats in the bullet-shaped vehicle, which is powered by two hydrogen combustion engines developed by JCB for its signature yellow construction machinery.

The pair of engines within the 32ft (9.75m) streamliner mix pressurised hydrogen gas with air and ignite it to create bursts of power.

The record has been verified by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of world motorsport, as the highest speed ever achieved by a hydrogen-powered car.

Green said: ‘We had, in our wildest dreams, thought we might get up to 400mph. 

'The car has got six gears and each engine can develop 800 horse power. 

‘[To break the record], we used only five of six gears, we never got into top gear, and we only used 700 of the 800hp. 

'We actually had the engines turned down because we didn’t need full power. 

’He added: ‘The car was terrific – stable, strong and fast. This record is a huge achievement by a world class team and superb technology.’

The feat is still some way short of the outright land-speed record Green famously set almost 30 years ago.

In 1997, he piloted the jet-powered Thrust SSC to 763.035mph (1,227.985kph), becoming the first and only person to break the sound barrier on land.

Those runs in Nevada's Black Rock Desert generated sonic booms that rattled the nearby town of Gerlach.

Green also holds the diesel land-speed record, having reached 350.092mph (563.4kph) at Bonneville in JCB's Dieselmax in 2006.

Twenty years on, his return to the salt flats has seen him eclipse that benchmark with a vehicle that produces zero tailpipe emissions.

Green's 406.320mph this week comfortably trumped the previous hydrogen-combustion record of 185.5mph (298.5kph) set by BMW's H2R in 2004.

Using a 10-mile (16km) stretch, Green steadily built up speed as dozens of JCB staff and reporters watched from afar through cameras and binoculars.

He admitted conditions inside the cockpit were 'probably a little hotter' than in the Thrust SSC, with temperatures regularly exceeding 122F (50C).

'But I have been training for four months for that, both in the gym and by getting used to it with hot baths,' he said.

While Green's latest achievement fell well short of supersonic speeds, JCB believes the record demonstrates hydrogen's potential as a clean-energy solution for heavy industry.

Company chairman Lord Bamford has long argued that hydrogen can meet the demands of construction and agricultural machinery more effectively than battery-electric alternatives.

It was his idea to showcase the capabilities of JCB's in-house hydrogen combustion technology by pursuing a new world land-speed record.

Lord Bamford said: 'Twenty years ago we came to Bonneville with JCB Dieselmax and showed what British engineering could do with diesel power.

'Today we have done it again, this time with engines powered by hydrogen.'

He added: 'This record was set by production-based engines, the same engines powering JCB machines right now.

'That is the point of JCB Hydromax. It shows hydrogen works, and it works today at the highest level with zero emissions.'

Hydrogen's environmental credentials depend largely on how it is produced. Most hydrogen is currently made using fossil fuels.

However, JCB has signed an agreement to purchase green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy, although it currently accounts for only a small fraction of global hydrogen production.