Tractor pull roar fills Fieldays air
The event is scheduled to run throughout Fieldays with the national finals of the weight transfer and weight adjusted competitions on Saturday.
The roar of the tractor pull is once again filling the air around Fieldays.
Three events are to be run over the 100 metre track; weight transfer, weight adjusted and TPNZ modified.
The event is scheduled to run throughout Fieldays with the national finals of the weight transfer and weight adjusted competitions on Saturday.
Morrinsville dairy farmer and contractor Barry Townsend is competing in the weight transfer and weight adjusted events for the 25th year in a row.
“It’s great camaraderie here, you get to catch up with your mates you havn’t seen for the last 12 months.
I’ve got a pretty small tractor but because the weight transfer and weight adjusted depend on the size and horsepower of the tractor the field is pretty even. If you have a bad run it might just be because your setup was slightly wrong,” said Mr Townsend.
“I thought it was just because they put Aussie diesel in their tractors,” said Basil Cole, tractor pull committee member.
Mr Townsend says despite his 25 years of experience he doesn’t know how he will do this time around because the track can change so quickly.
“In the old days, when I first started, all you needed was a couple of spanners. You could adjust everything with them. Nowadays you can’t, you need a laptop to run some of them, and the knowhow to use it.”
In the weight adjusted competition drivers do four runs, two with steel sleds and two with concrete.
The most powerful tractors in the competition will be pulling up to eight tonnes.
