These videos define ‘unbelievable’, at least until the first twenty times we played these videos over and over. One video led to another until we picked up a trail of videos that highlight the culture of ‘tractor enthusiasts’ in the country.
YouTube featured this video in its recommended section yesterday and since then, we can shamelessly admit, we haven’t taken our eyes off the screen!
This is the video that set it all off, with a Swaraj 855 that makes 55-60 HP popping a wheelie using methods we bet haven’t been employed anywhere else.
Here’s the Swaraj 855 in a tug of war against a New Holland 3630. Both have almost equal specificiations and it shows.
Here the Swaraj 855 pounds a TAFE 5900 DI without mercy!
Now we delve into the world of tractor drag races. Brazen, ballsy, phenomenally risky, dismally unsafe for the spectators and .. entertaining.
The tractor racing scene isn’t entirely underground. Tractor races are also part of the Indian Rural Olympics held at Kila Raipur in Ludhiana.
While we have of course spotted random videos with people doing random things with whatever form of motorized transport they can lay their hands on, this happens to the first time we are witnessing a sporadic occurrence evolving into a culture. The Swaraj 855 FE, a much loved product of the erstwhile Punjab Tractors Limited (before it was acquired by Mahindra to become Mahindra Swaraj) seems to be the hero in most videos with staggering performance.
There are a lot more tractor stunt videos on YouTube, do drop a link in the comments if you find any that are as interesting.