By Handsome James.
I had my first experience of Terra Trac in September 2004. We had suffered a very wet August and July wasn’t much better.
A lot of winter wheat was still standing mid September and the farm
was I was living on needed some extra capacity to support its three New Holland TX68's
Enter the Class Lexion 580 on demo to help chew up some acreage.
I was riding in the cab of my mate’s tractor who was on corn cart at the time.
Camera phones had just come out and I wanted to get some snaps of this high
capacity corn cruncher in action!
I noticed the tracs on the Lexion 580 and thought they were a
little pointless, and due to the fact it was a Class machine, I new they would
be an expensive option.
The combine performed valiantly however, turning on a sixpence and looking
quite dashing as it wizzed through the wheat with some serious hunger!
My little Nokia got some very low resolution snaps but I remember
thinking that machine was the future…
Turns out I was a little too judgemental about the Claas’ Terra
Trac system.
The main philosophy behind it is to prevent excessive soil
compaction.
Combines are heavy beasts and research shows that wheels on
combines dent the land more intensively than tracks!
Class are currently on the second generation of their Terra Trac
system. Most modifications over the first incarnation are designed to increase road
speed and keep transport widths to a minimum!
To me though, I think they look like they mean business in the
field! The tracked systems give me visual connotations of tanks treading effortlessly
through the rugged terrain that is the british cornfield; literally going hell for
leather!
Here come ten examples for your viewing pleasure....
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2nd gen: Increased road speeds
What a handsome photo ;-)
Some very handsome combines! check out the Terra Trac close up!
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