In July of this year, Guy Martin, who holds Guinness World Record for the fastest Soapbox and highest speed on a Wall of Death, absolutely demolished the tractor world speed record with his turbocharged JCB Fastrac 8000 tractor. Back then, all we had was an incredibly brief clip of the tractor cruising at its record speeds. Today, Guinness gives us a deeper dive into the process of actually setting one damn cool record.
The video includes interviews with both Martin himself and a representative for Guinness World Records, interspersed with clips of Martin going for the record. It’s actually kind of fascinating to see how things worked.
Martin has had a few videos on his own channel talking about his preparation and experience. Honestly, one of the coolest things is the fact that Martin prepped for this with virtual reality. What better way to come to grips with a big ol’ turbocharged tractor than through a VR headset?
The record was set at Elvington Airfield, near York, with the JCB tractor logging some pretty impressive numbers: the 7.2-liter diesel engine generates 1,000 horsepower and 1,843 pound-feet of torque. With Martin behind the wheel, the Fastrac 8000 hit a whopping 103.6 mph.
But that wasn’t good enough for Martin and his team. Four months later and with a few more alterations, Martin was able to push the tractor up to an astonishing 135.1 mph.
Now excuse me while I daydream about getting to cruise around in this thing myself.