How Williams Engineering Helped Guy Martin Drive a Tractor to Record Speed

The team that for so long has been involved in making anything from cars to seats for airplanes has had a major contribution to the success recorded by television presenter Guy Martin at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire.

More specifically, it was Williams that engineered the tractor to make it more aerodynamic, reducing drag by about 25 percent compared to the production version of agricultural machine.

The company did this by working its magic on a number of the machine’s components: front bumper, underfloor, cab, rear fairings. And by magic, we mean hack and slash.

The standard bumper of the tractor was replaced by a more aerodynamic one, and a flat underfloor was added. Since neither the tractor nor its driver needed them, the mirrors were removed and the front overhang was cut back. Some other changes were made to allow more air to be drawn into the turbo inlets.

In all, says Williams, a total of 65 computer simulations were conducted before adding the parts that made the record run possible. All, as well as other major engine tweaks performed by the JCB team, allowed the driver and tractor to average 135.191mph (215.568 kph), faster than the previous record set by the same duo a few months back.

“This has been a challenging and fascinating project, one that really showcases the effect that aerodynamic optimisation can have on speed and the versatility of CFD applications,” said in a statement Ian Turner, Head of Aerodynamics at Williams Advanced Engineering.

“In this instance, we’ve been able to bring learnings from race car design to an agricultural vehicle and in doing so, have been able to realise significant aerodynamic improvements. We are proud to have played an integral role in the project and would like to offer our huge congratulations to the team at JCB and partner companies for breaking the world speed record for a tractor.”

An overview of the record runs is available in the video attached below.