Police Seize New Holland Tractor Caught Street Racing Against Motorcycles

The Farmer and the Furious.

byKyle Cheromcha|
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A farmer in England took the phrase run what you brung to new heights recently when police busted him drag racing his New Holland T6.175 tractor against a group of motorcycles near the small town of Amesbury last week. No word on the outcome of the race, but chances are the unfortunate driver lost in more ways than one that night.

Amesbury Police tweeted out a picture of the blue New Holland tractor with a giant sticker reading "Seized by Police" slapped across the side window. The tweet says the department received multiple reports about a street race between a tractor and several motorcycles on a public road and arrived on scene to stop the show. The motorcyclists escaped, but officers were able to detain the farmer since, you know, he was driving a tractor.

Depending on which transmission is equipped, the 175-horsepower New Holland T6.175 has a stated top speed of around 30 mph and up to 24 forward gears (really 8 speeds spread across low, mid, and high ranges) for efficient acceleration. That's impressive for an 11,000-pound farm implement—less so in the high-stakes world of drag racing.

Since police didn't actually catch the tortoise-and-hares group in the act, Officers impounded the tractor when the unnamed driver failed to produce insurance paperwork for the vehicle. He was also given a ticket for the contents of the New Holland's fuel tank: red diesel, which is purchased at a lower tax rate in the UK for farming, construction, or certain marine purposes. Using it in a road vehicle, or for drag racing on a road in a farm vehicle, is akin to tax evasion.

That's a heap of trouble for what couldn't have been a very exciting time. We at The Drive fully endorse unconventional drag races—provided they're taking place in a legal environment.

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