New ploughing record
26 April 2002
New ploughing record
MANs insatiable pursuit of records – and presumably the kudos which goes with them – has resulted in yet another ploughing record being broken.
A Massey Ferguson 8280 Xtra tractor with 17 furrows has managed to plough 251.376ha (620 acre) in 24 hours working at a depth of 27cm, beating the previous record set in 2000 by 40ha (100 acres).
Equipped with a front mounted 4-furrow Gregoire Besson plough and a 13-furrow semi-mounted on the back, operator Gerard Briez averaged 10.48ha/hr (25.8 acre). Average fuel consumption was 8.35 litres/ha – 87 litres/hr.
For the record attempt made on Mar 26/27 at Sanguinet, Bordeaux, engineers tweaked the 8280s 8.45 litre engine to increase power output from a standard 288hp to 387hp. This included altering the turbocharger and injection timing settings and, to ensure that all remained in one piece, engine sensors allowed performance to be continually monitored.
The tractors 18/6 Powershift transmission remained untouched. *