A Claas combine has made it into the Guinness Book of Records.

Working in Lincolnshire at the beginning of September, over an eight-hour period the Lexion 770 cleared 69.7ha (172acres) resulting in a 674.8-tonne pile of grain.

That beats New Holland’s 2008 world record by over 20% and equates to an average throughput of about 85t/hour. Having started at 9.46am, the Claas team had smashed the record by 5.45pm and decided to crack on into the night.

By 6.34am 129.36ha (320acres) had been cleared with the various fields averaging 9.7t/ha (3.9t/acre) at moisture levels of between 14%-18%. With service stops and field changes, the big Lexion managed an average of 70.94t/hour over the 19.2 hour day and amassed a final total of 1,362t of wheat cut.

Working at that rate and with a wheat price of £160/t, it would take around 44 hours to pay off the 770’s eye-watering £500,000 price tag.

• Hours worked: 19.2hours

• Area cleared: 129.36ha (320acres)

• Total tonnage: 1362t

• Workrate: 70.94t/hour or 6.74ha/hour (16.65acres/hour)