- A Finnish tractor manufacturer has just lapped the Red Bull Ring in Austria with a full-size agricultural tractor.
- Hitting a top speed of 54 mph, the 245-hp Valtra T Series became the fastest farm tractor to circle the circuit.
- As a feat, it's a bit pointless, but as an attention-grabbing stunt—mission accomplished.
Austria’s Red Bull Ring is a nearly 2.7-mile track that hosts an assortment of big-time racing series, from Formula 1 to MotoGP, but it recently hosted a different type of motorsports spectacle: a towering farm tractor setting a record lap time.
Putting the track in tractor, it's a Valtra T Series enclosed-cab farm tractor, running a diesel 7.5-liter inline-six good for 245 horsepower. Hitting a peak speed of 54 mph on the straights, it's like the crossover episode of Clarkson's Farm and The Grand Tour we never knew we needed.
Is tarmac handling and top speed of importance in the farming world? In a word: no. In two words: absolutely not. Farmers are far more interested in reliability and running costs, keeping those margins as healthy as possible in an industry where the whims of the weather gods can still spell catastrophe.
However, as a stunt, Valtra does get to show off that its T Series tractor is a serious workhorse. It's also, surprisingly, not the only time a tractor has set a lap time at a racetrack. A few years ago, German enthusiast magazine Auto Motor Und Sport took one of the country’s most powerful tractors for a spin around the Nürburgring. The entertaining YouTube video shows 30,000 pounds of farming equipment speeding along the same arena dominated by lightweight Porsche 911s. Rally legend Walter Röhrl once also drove a vintage Porsche Junior tractor for a lap too (probably his slowest lap time ever).
Further, Valtra's T Series tractor simultaneously set a second speed record, one that's a lot more relevant. Hitting an in-field top speed of 25 mph while towing a seed planter, it managed to hit 95 percent accuracy in planting. Now that's performance a farmer can actually use.
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.