Piloting a JCB Fastrac 8000, famous British TV presenter and motorcycle racer Guy Martin has set a new world record by accelerating the tractor all the way to 166.7 kilometers per hour (~103.6 mph).
The award-winning race took place at the Elvington Runway in the UK, at the site of a former Royal Air Force base. Channel4 has filmed a story about the race and will be showing us a short video later.
The tuned JCB Fastrac 8000 comes powered by a 7.2-liter diesel engine boosted to approximately 1,000bhp (745 kilowatts) and 2,500 Newton-meters (1,844 pound-feet) of torque. While the tractor usually ships with a CVT box, this particular example was retrofitted with a six-speed ZF transmission. In turn, Williams Advanced Engineering devised a special aerodynamic kit for the tractor.
The new record beats the old one held by The Stig, the star driver of the TV show Top Gear. The Stig took his Track-tor to 140.4 km/h (~87.2 mph). He only had around 500 horsepower (373 kilowatts) at his disposal, though.
Photos: JCBmachines