Long before it was rolling off local dealership floors, the JCB Fastrac was setting records on a disused World War II airfield in Yorkshire.

The Fastrac Two, a heavily modified version of the tractor now sold through dealerships including Michael’s Moama, hit a peak speed of 247.47km/h during a Guinness World Records attempt at Elvington Airfield in October 2019.

Driven by motorbike racer and mechanic Guy Martin, the tractor's two runs down the airfield's runway averaged out to an official record speed of 217.57km/h, which is still the fastest a tractor has ever gone.

It's old news by now, six years old in fact, but it remains a handy piece of trivia for anyone climbing into the cab of a standard Fastrac 8000 series, which by comparison tops out at a more sedate 70km/h.

We say sedate, but it is still the fastest production tractor on the market.

The previous British record was 166.73km/h, set only a few months earlier by JCB’s Fastrac One.

Between the two models, JCB stripped several tonnes, swapping steel panels for aluminium, carbon fibre and fibreglass bodywork, and enlisting Formula One aerodynamics from Williams Advanced Engineering to cut drag.

The power came from a modified version of JCB's 7.2-litre diesel engine, tuned to produce more than 1000hp, over three times the output of a standard Fastrac.

The record stands to this day, and JCB has kept trading on it since, with the Fastrac's blend of speed and haulage capacity remaining a selling point for the tractors now working paddocks across northern Victoria.

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Sunday, 26th September 2032

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