The world of Rockingham Dragway can yield just about anything and chances are we’ve witnessed it.

That changed on Saturday afternoon when Neil Smith piloted a JCB backhoe to a 17-second run at 85 miles per hour.

This freak of mechanical engineering is driven by Smith as well as John Haupton in venues around the world. Power comes from a 1300-horse, 572-inch big block Merlin and it has propelled the 6,000 beast to a world record 100-plus miles per hour.

Of course that show was overshadowed by a display in synchronized backhoe loaders doing various tricks at trackside.

SUBMIT FEEDBACK