The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2016 - Issue 47 | Page 85

Machinery

JCB CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF FASTRAC
» JCB IS CELEBRATING 25
years production of the
Fastrac – a remarkable range
of agricultural tractors that
brought together established
technologies and components in
a new way that not only provided
exceptional ride comfort for an
agricultural tractor - thanks to the
suspension incorporated in both
axles - but, as first tests were to
prove, it also shattered the myth
that suspension and ploughing is
an impossible combination.
It was JCB Chairman Anthony
Bamford who struck on the
idea of manufacturing an
unconventional tractor while
he was on holiday overseas in
1984. He saw an opportunity
to develop a tractor that had
high road speed and which
would also be capable of field
work, including heavy draft
applications. His inspirational

idea would become reality some
years later when the world’s first
real tractor with full suspension
was launched.
Quite apart from being the
first high-draft agricultural tractor
with all round suspension and
capable of top speeds up to
75kph (47mph), over the past 25
years the Fastrac has been the
first to feature truck-standard disc
brakes, multi-mode four-wheel

Philip
Ltd

steering, an anti-lock braking
system (ABS) and