Back in 2018, The Stig – who you all know as the Top Gear’s anonymous test driver – managed to take a modified tractor known as the ‘Track-tor’ to a top speed of 87.2 mph. This speed was the world record for the highest tractor speed. The record has been broken by a tractor company, JCB, Williams Advanced Engineering, and Guy Martin who is a motorcycle racing legend.
The tractor managed to achieve a top speed of 103.6 mph while making use of JCB’s 4000-series Fastrac tractors as a base. All of the unnecessary items were taken out in order to keep the weight to a minimum. The engine is a JCB-built 7.2-liter diesel straight-six generating 1000hp and 1,844 lb-ft of torque.
The engine also features upgraded valve seats and connecting rods along with an auxiliary piston cooling and an external oil cooler that deals with the heat that is being generated. Instead of the conventional CVT, a six-speed ZF manual transmission has been installed combined with a multi-plate wet clutch. Power is provided to the rear wheels by making use of a locked differential.
Williams Advanced Engineering is the long-running F1 team behind Singer’s Dynamics and Lightweighting Study and Lotus’s future drivetrain development. The team assisted JCB with aerodynamics to make sure that the tractor was able to take care of the immense drag of the field equipment. Guy Martin was driving the tractor as it made two runs in the opposite direction at Elvington Airfield new York, England. The tractor was able to maintain an average top speed of 103.6 mph thus crossing the record set by The Stig by 16.4 mph.
Video of the run is slated to be released as part of a documentary that will cover the process of building the tractor later during this year on BBC4. What do you think of this tractor?