TV speed king Guy Martin has smashed his own fastest tractor world record.
Back in June he set a new Guinness World Record when he reached a speed of 103.6mph in his JCB Fastrac One, designed and built by a team of young engineers in Staffordshire.
Now Guy has reached a speed of 135.191mph at Elvington Airfield in York in Fastrac Two.
The story of the tractor’s development and assault on the record was told in a TV documentary on Channel 4 (Nov 17) called ‘Guy Martin: The World’s Fastest Tractor’.
“This has been a massive undertaking, and I was a very small cog in the machine,” said Guy.
“It was a proper privilege to be involved, so thank you very much to JCB and its engineering team, who got this tractor absolutely spot-on.
“Just look at it, they get stuff done, it’s brilliant, and it is still a working tractor, so could have gone straight into the nearest field to put in a shift.”
A team of JCB engineers has been working on the project to further develop the tractor over the last few months and JCB Chairman Lord Bamford praised their “amazing achievement”.
He added: “When we reached 103.6mph with the Fastrac in the summer, I was convinced we could go even faster, and the JCB team has risen to the challenge by setting this new record.
“It’s an amazing achievement delivered by a young and enthusiastic engineering team. Everyone involved should be very proud of the part they have played in showing off British engineering at its very best.”
JCB is no stranger to land speed records. In 2006, its Dieselmax streamliner set a new diesel land speed record when it reached 350.092mph on Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA, using two JCB Dieselmax engines. It’s a record that still stands to this day.
