E46 M3 vs......

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Brighton - In the seat that Ro
A 1956 massey ferguson tractor

Been discussing this at work alllllllllllllllll day as one of our powerstations is selling there well maintained one for buttons (£750 or something silly)

Anyway it has 40bhp and I piped up "ohh I could have it in a pulling compertition" without thinking

Then my chum who used to work on a farm pointed out the rediculously low gear ranges.

hmmmm what would happen

My car totally over powers it in torque and bhp and on tarmac should have oodles of grip. Although the tractor has larger wheels they are narrow so the contact area would be less.

If I started spinning i would be all over so I would end up riding the clutch and then that would burn out.

I can't see the tractor wheel spinning in its lowest gear with them wheels, or would it just very slowly?

This really has detracted me from my work today :o :p

ahhhh
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
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18 Oct 2002
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12,264
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Cotswolds
The tractor's ultra low gears and huge wheels means that the absolute torque being put down is phenomenal. Remember, gears are a torque multipler, and then the huge wheels lower the gearing again.

Sorry dude, he'd 'av you ;)
 
Associate
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29 Jun 2005
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Glasgow
Did anybody see the episode of Top Gear where Clarkson tried this very thing.

He rocked up in a CL65 AMG or some other huge merc. 600bhp and enough Torque to move Scotland further away from England. Anyway he tied a rope to the back and got a middle weight Tug of War team made up of 8 blokes. The car got owned. The 8 blokes prevented the car from moving, and then pulled it backwards. This was both before the tyres broke traction and while they were spinning.
 
Permabanned
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Haskins
Massey Ferguson Vs V10 TDi Touareg! Now theres a battle! :D

IIRC its all about contact patch with tyres and the ground, which is interesting, because in this debate peoples eyes are suddenly opened to the fact that your tyres play a major role in grip and getting power down. Yet when it comes back to the debate about your brakes are only as good as your tyres (which is 100% physics backed as is Top Gears experiment re: torque) all common sense goes out the window, and apparently 308mm brakes will stop a car quicker than 288mm brakes when they both wear the same rubber and the tyres lock up at the same point! :rolleyes:
 
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