166kmph Makes This 1000Bhp JCB Tractor Fastest In The World — Guy Martin Suits Up

J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited, universally known as JCB, appeared in the news a long time ago after millions of people watched at a video of one digging up a construction site. Today, another JCB has made headlines after it became the fastest tractor in the world to record a top speed of 166kmph. Who was insane enough to pull it off? A certain Guy Martin.

This is not the first time someone has tried to clock insane speeds on a tractor. The latest record beat the 140kmph record that The Stig (from the Top Gear series) clocked at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, a former Royal Air Force (RAF) aerodrome located in Leicestershire, UK.

The new record was set after the tractor achieved a speed of 166kph on Yorkshire's Elvington Airfield with legendary motorcycle racer (and TV presenter) Guy Martin behind the wheel. The record setting feat will feature in the documentary that Channel4 plans to release later this year.

Guy Martin said, "It had been a great day with the JCB at Elvington, proper job with some right proper engineers. She felt rock steady on the runway, the job's a peach."

The JCB tractor that Guy Martin drove is powered by a 7.2-litre diesel motor that produces a massive 1,000bhp and 2,500Nm of torque. While there is no information about the lads who tuned the tractor, we know that its aerodynamics were handled by Williams Advanced Engineering, the same team that works the Williams' Formula 1 project.

Born in 1981, Guy Martin is a British lorry (truck) mechanic, and is better known as a motorcycle racer. He started racing in 1998, and debuted at the Isle of Man TT in 2004. He is a speed freak and hold three Guinness records for fastest speed on a gravity powered snow sled, fastest speed in a soapbox, and highest speed on a wall of death.

Thoughts About The 166kmph Record Set By Guy Martin In A JCB Tractor

Only Guy Martin is capable of such things. While most folk head to the Bonneville Salt Flats to set speed records, Martin seems to enjoy setting them at unlikely places. He's must be thrilled with this record, and knowing the man, he's probably looking for something else to set a new record in. What we want to know is who tuned that tractor. We'd like to send Rizwan Bhai for a quick chat.