November 13, 2019 10.11 am This story is over 52 months old

Guy Martin’s tractor speed record airs on TV this weekend

Will you be watching?

TV presenter and engineering guru Guy Martin will hit television screens this weekend as he embarks on his latest speed challenge – to become the first person ever to drive a tractor at over 100mph.

As previously reported, Guy, who was born in Grimsby, was behind the wheel as JCB set a new British speed record for tractors in June. The high-speed Fastrac tractor notched up 103.6mph at Elvington Airfield near York on Thursday, June 20.

The record attempt will feature in ‘Guy Martin: The World’s Fastest Tractor’ on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday, November 17.

Local business Kurnia Aerial Photography was commissioned to capture the aerial footage for the show, including exclusive indoor flying over a live production line at JCB.

Guy Martin helped JCB set a new British speed record for tractors. Photo: JCB

A team of JCB engineers worked on the secret project to develop the tractor. It was JCB Chairman Lord Bamford’s idea to develop a tractor which had a high road speed capable of field work.

When the record was achieved it came exactly 28 years to the day since the first production model rolled off the line. The latest speed smashed the previous record of 87.27mph set in March 2018 by Top Gear’s Track-Tor driven by The Stig.

However, it isn’t JCB’s first land speed record. 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.

At the time Guy, who lives in Lincolnshire, 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, job’s a peach.”

Lord Bamford said: “It is British engineering at its best and it really does highlight the skills and innovation we have in our engineering team. They have done a truly fantastic job.”

In November 2018, Channel 4 aired ‘Guy Martin: The World’s Fastest Van?’ where he rebuilt his beloved transit van and tried to break the van lap record at Nürburgring in Germany.