Fourteen JCB Loadall telescopic handlers were used at the British Grand Prix last weekend. The 531-70 models, which can lift weights of 3t, provided four days of support at the race circuit.

Loadall development engineer George Cooper, 25, of Tean, near Cheadle, and Sam Goodman, 21, of Derby, who works in product sales at JCB’s world HQ, waved off the fleet of machines with traditional racing chequered flags when they left for the circuit last week.

George has been instrumental in helping develop a special jib attachment for the Loadalls, which made it easy to quickly recover crashed cars during the various race events, including F2 and GP3 classification races and F1 practice, qualifying and the main F1 race event.

George has spent six months working on the reconfigured 531-70 and the attachment and he was one of five JCB employees on hand to drive the Loadalls at the circuit, working alongside nine qualified telescopic handler operators employed by Silverstone.

George said: “We have been working with the motorsport governing body FIA to develop the special Loadall over the last six months. The main benefit of the new jib attachment is it moves the lifting point of the car away from the actual machine, so it makes it easier and safer to recover a vehicle from the track.”

The 14 machines were strategically located around the circuit on bends and at points where the likelihood of a car spinning off is higher.

In addition to the Loadalls, JCB has supplied a further six machines to Silverstone, including a 8026 mini excavator, VMT260-120 roller, site dumper and a backhoe loader to meet the needs of the circuit on and off the track.