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WENDOVER, Utah — <\/span>The first \u2014 and only \u2014 person to break the sound barrier in a car hits the track in Utah this week with new wheels and his eye on another record.<\/p>\n Twenty years ago, British driver Andy Green set the land speed record for a diesel-powered car, reaching 350.092 mph (563.4 kph) at Utah\u2019s famous Bonneville Salt Flats<\/a>. Green will return to the lunarlike landscape Tuesday and try to beat that mark, this time with a hydrogen-powered car. <\/p>\n The retired Royal Air Force fighter pilot aims not only to win another accolade but to showcase the power of hydrogen as a clean-energy alternative<\/a>. It’s the \u201cfuel of the future,\u201d Green told The Associated Press in a July interview.<\/p>\n Green will be driving the 32-foot (9.75-meter) JCB Hydromax, the brainchild of British construction equipment manufacturer JCB. The car is bright yellow, long and slim, resembling a pencil. It’s powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines with a combined 1,600 horsepower, which were adapted from engines used in the company\u2019s construction machinery. They mix pressurized hydrogen gas with air and ignite it to create bursts of power.<\/p>\n In targeting the diesel-powered record, Green also hopes to easily clear the world land speed records for hydrogen internal combustion engines (185.5 mph\/298.5 kph) and electric vehicles (341.3 mph\/549.2 kph).<\/p>\n Green hit a new top speed of 368.347 mph (592.797 kph) in practice last week, but to officially earn the hydrogen record, he\u2019ll have to do it Tuesday in front of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de l\u2019Automobile, the international governing body of motor sports.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the peak speed is, I can\u2019t say. We just don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of the adventure here is we\u2019re going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing Tuesday\u2019s attempt will assuredly not do is approach the supersonic speeds Green reached with jet power three decades ago.<\/p>\n Green had already been flying supersonic military aircraft when he spotted a newspaper ad that read: \u201cWanted: High-speed driver to break the sound barrier,\u201d according to the Guinness World Records. In 1997, he traveled faster than the speed of sound and set the outright land speed record \u2014 763.035 mph (1,227.98 kph) \u2014 in a car powered by twin jet engines. His runs in Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert produced sonic booms that shook the nearby town of Gerlach. <\/p>\n Now 64 years old, Green said he thought he was done racing but came out of retirement when JCB approached him with plans for the new car. The company has invested more than $134 million into hydrogen-powered engines<\/a> that it says emit no carbon dioxide from the tailpipes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re serious about emissions, you have to be serious about hydrogen, and a land speed project is the perfect way to prove it,\u201d JCB Chair Anthony Bamford said at the car’s unveiling in May. Bamford has also argued that hydrogen can better handle the demands of heavy industries than electric power.<\/p>\n But hydrogen is only as clean as its source, and the vast majority is currently produced from fossil fuels. JCB signed a deal to buy green hydrogen<\/a>, which is created using renewable energy but makes up a tiny fraction of global hydrogen production. <\/p>\n Hydrogen combustion engines also present unique safety challenges due to the pressure and flammability of the gas. <\/p>\n \u201cWe’re managing the risks very carefully,\u201d Green said. The car endured rigorous testing, and Green said he spent months learning how it responds to the elements, how the engines work in tandem and how to deploy a parachute to slow the car on the low-friction salt crust. <\/p>\n Since the first race there in 1914, the glassy surface of the Bonneville Salt Flats has drawn generations of drivers seeking to set new land speed records. A remnant of a prehistoric lake bed, the salt flats are about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City and sit atop an aquifer that cools the car tires.<\/p>\n Spectators must stand about a quarter of a mile (400 meters) from the course’s straightaway, which is 10 miles (16 kilometers) long, and often watch through wide-angle binoculars.<\/p>\n The expanse on the border of Utah and Nevada has been a backdrop for movies including \u201cIndependence Day\u201d and \u201cThe World\u2019s Fastest Indian,\u201d and the series finale of \u201cMad Men.\u201d<\/p>\n Green will start just after sunrise to beat the desert heat. His attempt comes a year after a driver died trying to set a land speed record<\/a> at Bonneville’s annual Speed Week<\/a>. Chris Raschke lost control of his rocketlike vehicle called the Speed Demon last August and died from his injuries. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Rico reported from Atlanta. Video journalist Serge Cartwright contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n