How Fast Is The 500HP Record Breaking ‘Trak-tor’?

When you think about top speed records, we almost always start the discussion at around 200 MPH with production cars, as that is a barrier relatively few production cars can reach. Then we turn to the 300 MPH club and talk drag racing, although I suspect within a couple of years, we will have a standing mile car clicking off the first 300 mph pass in that arena. Then we start getting into land speed records set at Bonneville and similar facilities where the cars have miles to run up to speeds reaching, and exceeding, four hundred, five hundred, and even six hundred miles per hour.

And then there’s… this. The guys on the Top Gear crew decided to see if they could set another Guinness world record by resetting the top speed for a tractor. Yes, you read that correctly. A top speed record attempt in a tractor. The standing record going into the test was a respectable 80 MPH, considering most tractors top out around 30 MPH in stock configuration and, at least as far as I know, there has never been a tractor built from the factory to have a big top speed.

This setup is powered by a small block V8 combination that cranks out 500 horsepower and rides on 54” Super Swamper tires. With the legendary Stig himself at the controls, the retina searing yellow farm implement lined up at the Top Gear test track to see just what the small block was capable of pushing the tractor to up on the top end. Even with the wet test track severely limiting traction – not really! – the tractor managed to smash the old record by a full seven miles per hour, resetting the bar at 87.271 MPH and officially claiming the Guinness World Record for Fastest Tractor. As always, the Stig had nothing to say about the feat, simply taking his plaque and walking away as the new reigning tractor top speed champion.