July 06, 2006

Challenger’s Tracked Mammoth brings traffic to a stop in Hobart’s CBD

Traffic slowed to a crawl outside Hobart’s Grand Chancellor this week, due to an unusual commuter in the CBD. A Challenger MT865B rubber tracked tractor was parked on the hotel forecourt causing a traffic bottleneck as locals strained their necks for a look at the tracked mammoth. The Challenger MT865B is here for the International Antarctic Conference this week. At over 500 horsepower and with a maximum weight of 27 tonnes, this is no toy for your kid’s sandpit.

William Adams recently delivered an MT865B Challenger to the Australian Antarctic Division, which is being used for the construction of the Wilkins runway in Antarctica. The runway is being constructed for an air link between Hobart and Antarctica to improve access to Australia’s Antarctic stations allowing scientists to spend less time travelling and more time on their projects.

Following recent customer interest, William Adams decided the conference was a unique opportunity to present the Challenger tractor to Hobart’s international visitors. Peter Fewkes, William Adams Polar Manager, said “the new generation MT800B series Challenger tractors are much larger and more powerful than their predecessors, delivering new levels of performance with more than 50% more towing capacity in the extreme Antarctic conditions”.  

Peter noted that Challenger tractors have been working in Agriculture since 1986, in both Broad acre and row crop applications, “but William Adams saw a new opportunity for Challenger, delivering first ever Challenger tractor in Antarctica to the French Antarctic Program in 1990. Today there are over 20 Challenger tractors now working in Antarctica, 12 of those have been delivered by William Adams” Peter said.

Challenger Product Manager Anthony Ryan said the Challenger MT800B series offers the highest horsepower available today in any production tractor, topping out at a whopping 570 horsepower in the MT875B. “The Challenger MT800B series is the most advanced tractor available, combining power and technology to make it a clear market leader and a must have for today’s progressive farmers” Anthony said. “The cost of ownership of Challenger tractors is much lower than its competitors due to efficiencies gained throughout its lifetime”.

“Powered by ever reliable CAT ACERT engines, which are emissions standard tier 3 compliant, Challenger tracked tractors will deliver fuel savings as well as get more work done per day”, says Anthony. This is due to the efficient delivery of more horsepower to the ground, allowing less fuel to be used and covering more area in a working day. The power is delivered to the ground through the market leading Mobil-Trac System™ (MTS), the industries most advanced undercarriage.

“But we shouldn’t forget the smaller brother of these powerhouses, the Challenger MT700B series” Anthony pointed out. “The MT700B is excellent for broad acre and row crop applications with its high hitch lift capacity of 7260kg and infinite track gauge adjustment between 2.0 – 3.0 meters to suit any row spacing’s. The MT700B series horsepower ranges between 270 and 320 horsepower” Anthony Said.

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