Tractor Pulling News - Pulling-World.com: 3/1/23

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The new Never Giving Up # Stronger Than Ever

It was the biggest surprise and the biggest topic of the NFMS Pull in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday the 17th of February 2023. On that Friday, a new pro stock tractor rolled out of the trailer of the Never Giving Up Pulling Team from Cascade in Wisconsin, USA. After many years with a Case IH Puma 210 tractor in the Pro Stock class, the team around Craig Ladwig switched to a Fendt 942 Vario for the 2023 season. With the Fendt 942 Vario sheet metal hood on the chassis, the new pro stock tractor called ''Never Giving Up # Stronger Than Ever'' is the first Fendt pro stock tractor in the USA.
But before we are going into the details of the newly built pro stock, first we have some background information about the Team for you in the article.

Craig Ladwig, owner and driver of the ''Never Giving Up # Stronger Than Ever'' started with tractor pulling 25 years ago in 1998. His first pulling tractor was an IH 1066 pro stock tractor named ''Madness''. That IH 1066 had still a cast rearend, a stock transmission case, and a stock bell housing. With his pro stock called ''Madness'', Craig competed in the Badger State Tractor Pullers championship for around 8 years. In 2006 came Craig Ladwig's time in the tractor pulling sport to an abrupt end due to a tragedy in his own family. Because of this tragedy, Craig was to put his activities in the sport of tractor pulling on hold for the next few years.

The reason for that was, his oldest son Bryce was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer called Ewings Sarcoma at the age of 6 years. It was a huge shock for the whole family and also a really hard time with some setbacks. After the cancer diagnosis of his son Bryce, Craig sold his Madness pro stock tractor and all the rest of the tractor pulling related stuff to devote everything to his fight to battle cancer at the time. The next setback for Craig and his family came only 2 years later after Bryce was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma. On the day of his diagnosis date 2 years later, Bryce had a grand mal seizure in Craig's arms. Bryce was transported to the hospital and the doctors diagnosed a viral encephalitis and viral meningitis at the same time. The grand mal seizure was so huge that, Craig's son was in intensive care in a coma in the hospital.

After a few days in the coma, he woke up without any memories of the event in the hospital. After those tough years in his young life and his never giving up approach, he won the fight against the life-threatening illness Ewings Sarcoma. Bryce is today 22 years old, cancer free, just graduated from college, and the team's biggest hero!!

After Bryce was again in a good condition, Craig Ladwig already thought about a return to the pulling sport. That plan was then implemented in the winter of 2009. Craig went to K&K Specialties LLC from Edgerton, Wisconsin. He asked Kurt and Kraig Wileman if they can help him with his new component pro stock tractor.

After some talks with the Wileman's, Kurt and Kraig made Craig Ladwig an offer to build him the complete pro stock tractor in their workshop of K&K Specialties in Edgerton. Kraig Wileman ordered a complete rolling chassis from Engler Machine & Tool in Princeton, Indiana. The new tractor should not receive an IH 1066 sheet metal hood like the old Madness tractor. Craig decided to use a Case IH Puma 210 sheet metal hood for the new component machine. The new 6 cylinder IH DT engine for the tractor was built by Hypermax Engineering in Gilberts, Illinois. When the new Engler chassis arrived in the workshop of the Wileman's, Kurt and Kraig started to build up the tractor for Craig, which took a few weeks but when the tractor was on his wheels the result, in the end, was very nice.

Also, the paint job on the chassis and the new Case IH Puma hood was done by K&K Specialties. The new Case IH component pro stock machine received the name ''Never Giving Up''. But why has Craig Ladwig decided to give the tractor the name ''Never Giving Up''?
He dedicated the name to his son Bryce because of his bad illness in the past and his attitude to fight against the disease and never give up.

The new component tractor debuted at the National Farm Machinery Pull in Louisville, Kentucky 2010.
Craig and his crew not only competed on the BSTP pulls in Wisconsin and Illinois, but they also competed on some national rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League, like Freeport, Illinois and Hillsboro, Wisconsin, or on some rounds of the NTPA like Tomah, Wisconsin.

The first season was a learning year for the team to understand how the new Never Giving Up Case IH Puma component pro stock tractor works on the different track conditions. With the help of K&K Specialties and Lemke Motorsports, they understand the new tractor pretty quickly and the gremlins were sorted out through the 2010 season.
2013, was a year with up and downs and some problems with the turbocharged IH engine.
Already at the first BSTP round of the season, they had the first minor setback of the year. During the run, the power plant of the tractor lost oil. First, they thought the worst and hoped for the best. They discovered that they had a small incompatibility with some new engine parts, and it appears that no damage was done. But it turned out to be worse than expected. When they had taken apart the engine in the workshop the damage was more extensive than they thought and the next event in Mackville, Wisconsin was already a few days later. Craig and his team worked like crazy and fixed the damage to the engine within 2 days. The hard work was rewarded with a solid pull in Mackville.

Through the season, they also had some burned pistons in the engine, but all in all, it was a summer with a big learning curve. After the season, the tractor was completely taken apart and received some changes and upgrades.
2014 was a pretty good year for the Never Giving Up Pulling Team. The changes and upgrades to the Case IH Puma worked pretty well and also the first 3 victories were achieved that year.

The first win was achieved in Jefferson, Wisconsin on the 10th of July 2014. At that evening event, the tractor wasn't driven by Craig Ladwig himself, crew member Glenn Valenstein drove the Never Giving Up with a nice run to the victory. Only 10 days later in Dewitt, Iowa, Glenn was again the driver of the pro stock and won the second event for the team.

Win number 3 followed in Warren, Illinois in August 2014. 2014 was the best season so far for the team with a lot of great results alongside the 3 BSTP round victories. For the 2015 season, the Never Giving Up Team replaced the Hypermax built power plant by a new engine from Lemke Motorsports in Helenville, Wisconsin.
The strong passes of the tractor continue with the new Lemke built engine in 2015 and for 2016 the engine of the tractor went again to Lemke Motorsports for some more upgrades to find more power.

Those upgrades brought the power plant more power, but also had its price during the summer of 2016. At the beginning of August, the season came to an abrupt early end. The billet crankshaft of the engine could no longer withstand the performance and broke. The reason for that early season end was the difficult availability of spare parts for the engine.
For the 2017 season, the engine was repaired again, and the team returned to the track in the summer of 2017. Until 2019, the Never Giving Up Pulling Team ran most of the time the BSTP rounds, plus a couple of NTPA and PPL rounds. Except for 2018, they drove a limited schedule due to less time and a lot of work in their main job. 2020 was off-season due to COVID-19, and the tractor was parked in the workshop for the year. In 2021, the Never Giving Up Pulling Team returned to the pulling tracks and had some very nice passes with the Case IH Puma 210 in the BSTP pro stock class. After the 2021 season, the team had big and exciting plans for the 2022 season.

For 2022 were further improvements and upgrades planned on the tractor and on the engine.

But due to bad part availability, they couldn't make the tractor ready for the first BSTP round of the year in Baraboo, Wisconsin. They hoped to get the needed new parts soon to get the tractor ready for the first part of July. But these hopes were shattered too. In August 2022, Craig Ladwig and his Team decided to wave the white flag on this season. The needed parts for the engine were still not arrived, and it was better to write off the year.

At the time, the team already did some big changes to the whole tractor. And these big changes kept the team secret until the NFMS Pull in 2023. After the 2021 Pulling season, the tractor was brought to K&K Specialties in Edgerton for the big changes.
In the fall/winter of 2021, Kraig Wileman of K&K Specialties started to work on the Engler chassis to make the changes to it. First, the whole front end of the chassis was changed and improved.

The old front axle of the tractor was replaced by a new one with an air-ride front axle suspension. That air ride suspension should give the tractor a softer landing on the front axle if the front end should be very high and come down. A lot of teams using this system with positive results for many years.
Also, the weight bracket from the front end of the chassis was moved to the site of the front end of the chassis. The weights can be appended now on the left and the right side of the chassis in front of the front wheels. Also, the tow hook and the skid plates on the front end were renewed.

The engine brackets for the engine were chopped off in the chassis and a new custom-built subframe was fitted into the chassis.

With the subframe in the chassis, the tube frame is now more flexible and not so stiff anymore. With the subframe in the chassis, the frame should, can work better during a pull. Alongside all the changes on the front end of the chassis also the sheet metal on the frame rails was completely renewed because the old sheet metal on the rails no longer fit after the changes to the chassis. The rest of the chassis like the 3-bar roll cage, the rearend, and the wheelie bars were not changed and stayed the same as before.
The rearend in the chassis is a shortened Rockwell rear axle with a Humpco billet aluminum center section, a billet aluminum Humpco diff with a Rockwell SQHD ring and pinion gear, custom-built half shaft and couplers by Engler Machine & Tool, Engler Machine & Tool magnesium planetary carrier housing with Franklin planetaries and Engler Machine & Tool billet aluminum brake calipers with steel brake discs. In the planetaries of the rear axle were made some changes. The guys of K&K changed in the Engler planetary carrier housing to a 4 gear planetaries setup.

The transmission and all the other drive line components in the new tractor were taken over from the old Case IH Puma 210 tractor. The drive line in the component pro stock consists of a Profab 3-speed transmission with a custom-built Profab steel driveshaft between the transmission and the clutch and a Roush centrifugal clutch. The centrifugal clutch is covered by an SFI proved Probell aluminum bell housing.
The new Fendt tractor got a set of new cut 24.5x32 14ply Pro Puller tires on new polished Keizer aluminum rims. The new set of Pro Puller tires was cut by Bob Nichols of Nichols Precision Tire Cutting from Lore City, Ohio. Bob Nichols also cut, for many other Badger State Pullers in the past, the pulling tires.

The new ''Never Giving Up # Stronger Than Ever'' is powered by a new built-up 6-cylinder Lemke Motorsports engine with one turbo and a displacement of 680 cui on diesel fuel.
The Lemke Motorsports built engine hasn't very much to do with a stock engine under the Fendt sheet metal hood. The Lemke built engine based on a John Deere small block engine. The engine was replicated and improved.

The block of the engine is a billet block which was CNC machined out of a block of cast iron. The billet John Deere small block of Lemke Motorsports is more reliable and more stable compared to an original John Deere small block.
So the power plant in the component pro stock has a Lemke Motorsports billet John Deere small block with billet steel sleeves, Lemke Motorsports billet aluminum rods and pistons, a billet steel crankshaft, a Lemke Motorsports billet steel cylinder head, a Lemke Motorsports camshaft, a Lemke Motorsport built intake and exhaust manifold, a billet Wimer turbocharger, a Wimer billet fuel pump, a Lemke Motorsports intercooler, and a data logger.
The whole engine was built together by Lemke Motorsports from Hellenville in Wisconsin.

By the note, Lemke Motorsports also owns the John Deere 4010 component pro stock tractor called ''New Generation Plus''. With that John Deere pro stock machine, the brothers Dan and Robbie Lemke the owners of Lemke Motorsports compete very successfully in the NTPA Grand National Championship and sometimes on BSTP Pulls. And why Craig has decided to use a power plant from Lemke Motorsports and not a MAN or AGCO power plant for the tractor?
The workshop of Lemke Motorsports in Hellenville is only 1.5h away from Cascade, and Craig Ladwig worked with them for years. Lemke is close, convenient, and great to work with.

The reason for not using a MAN or AGCO Power engine in the Fendt pro stock was, that nobody runs a MAN or AGCO Power engine in the pro stock class in the US and the engines are far from stock in the USA. That means the MAN/Agco Power engines are only in less numbers available and currently difficult to get one in the USA.

And now to the most exciting stuff on the new component pro stock, the Fendt sheet metal. After many years with a Case IH Puma 210 hood on the chassis, the team switched during the rebuild to the Fendt 942 Vario hood. The reason for the switch was simple, but Craig Ladwig had many more possibilities to use not only a Fendt hood.

One reason for the switch was, the old Case IH Puma 210 sheet metal hood doesn't fit anymore to the new turbo and intercooler on the new engine, simply it was too small. The first plan was to use a bigger hood of the Case IH brand. Craig also looked at a Deutz-Fahr Agrotron hood, but he liked more the current Fendt 942 Vario hood with the design and the lines. The suggestion for the new Fendt 942 hood came from Kraig Wileman and Lucien Keulers. Lucien Keulers?

Yes, the Lucien Keulers from Beek in the Netherlands who has driven and owned the John Deere 7930 component pro stock tractor called ''Turn Me Loose'' in the Netherlands and the USA between 2008 and 2012. Lucien Keulers ''Turn Me Loose'' was also built by K&K Specialties.

But the 900 series hood wasn't the only Fendt hood that was on the radar for the new project. Another plan was to use a Fendt 1050 Vario hood for the component pro stock, but the hood was just too big in their opinion. So the decision was made by Craig to use a new Fendt 942 Vario hood. Lucien Keulers arranged the hood from a Fendt dealer somewhere in Europe, and the Fendt 942 sheet metal hood was shipped to the US. When the hood was arrived in the workshop of K&K Specialties, the hood was fitted to the redone Engler chassis with some small changes. A hole was cut into the top of the hood for the exhaust pipe of the turbocharger and the side panels on the down end of the chassis were newly built of aluminum sheet metal, but the rest of the 900 series hood stayed the same as it is on the stock tractor.

The changes on the hood were done by Kraig Wileman, but the result, in the end, looked very nice.

The fenders on the tractor are also coming from the new Fendt 900 Vario series but were modified by K&K Specialties for the pro stock tractor. The back end of the fenders are still original, plus the lights and the holes for the control knobs. The control knobs are usually there to control the hitch, the top link, or the PTO outside of the tractor cab. After all the work was done on the chassis and the Fendt sheet metal, the tractor got a new paint job. The team didn't decide to use the original Fendt green for the tractor. The team decided to give the tractor a black paint job, like the original Fendt black beauty paint job.

Also, the paint job work was done by the Wileman's in Edgerton. After all the parts were painted and the paint was dried, the guys at K&K Specialties started to build up the tractor.

The plan was to get the new pro stock ready for the NFMS pull in Louisville, Kentucky. Also, during the build-up of the pro stock tractor at the workshop of K&K Specialties, Craig Ladwig and his team came to help to build up their new tractor. They worked very hard to get the tractor ready in time, and finally, they did it. On Monday, 5 days before the planned maiden run at the NFMS Pull on Saturday afternoon, the new Fendt 942 Vario component pro stock was ready for the first rollout in front of the workshop. The new engine was fired up for the first time in the tractor and everything worked and ran very well. After that, the tractor was loaded into the trailer and the new component pro stock was ready for the journey to Louisville.

The around 450-mile trip to Louisville started for the Never Giving Up Pulling Team together with the Wileman's and the Elsing Family to Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday morning. When they arrived with the semi in Louisville, the new Fendt component pro stock was held in the trailer until Friday morning. When they opened the loading ramp of the trailer and pulled out the new Fendt 942 Vario pro stock component tractor with a John Deere Gator, the trailer, and the tractor were literally surrounded by spectators, insiders, and fans. Another reason for the big interest by the people was for sure the long secret about the new tractor. Also, the interest over Friday and Saturday was huge among the spectators, and the guys were asked a lot of technical questions.

The team has been overwhelmed with such positive support by the people and pulling fans.

They knew early during the build that not everyone would like the Fendt hood and a JD engine. Craig Ladwig knew it would be talked about, good and negative. But the team respects everyone's opinion.
And how was the maiden voyage of the new Fendt 942 Vario component pro stock?
It was a pretty well maiden voyage of the new tractor. With the support of the Wileman's and Lemke Motorsports at the NFMS pull, the new ''Never Giving Up # Stronger Than Ever'' ran pretty well and owner Craig Ladwig did a very nice pass in front of the Ironman sled on Saturday afternoon. With the 226.620 feet was Craig Ladwig and his team very pleased. The distance wasn't enough to qualify the new pro stock for the finals on Saturday night.

They missed the runner-up spot on Saturday afternoon by just 4 feet (1.22 m). That positive first outing of the newly rebuilt machine gives a lot of hope for the upcoming summer and the near future. The hopes and the plans with the new Fendt 942 Vario component pro stock are already quite clear. The team from Wisconsin hopes to have a lot of fun with the new Fendt pro stock, and they hope can share the joy with the fans with the new machine. The Never Giving Up pulling team has planned to compete with the new component pro stock on National (NTPA and PPL) and on state-level events (Badger State Tractor Pullers) this year and in the future.
For the US pulling sport, it is great to have another brand in the pro stock class, and it will be sure not the last Fendt pulling tractor in the USA in the future.

Craig Ladwig wants to thank his wife and family first and foremost for all the support during this time. Also, he wants to thank Lemke Motorsports for the power plant, K&K Specialties for the body and chassis work, and Bob Nichols for the tires.

For further information, check here: https://www.facebook.com/NeverGivingUpPullingTeam/

This Weekend: MAC Trailer Winter Nationals

From ntpapull.com:

Coming to the Kentucky Expo Center's historic Freedom Hall on Saturday, April 1: The MAC Trailer NTPA Winter Nationals. Action is set to begin at 5 p.m.

Located in Louisville, Kentucky, the MAC Trailer NTPA Winter Nationals will run concurrently with the final day of the 2023 Mid-American Trucking Show. Vehicles will be pitted in the Expo Center's Broadbent Arena.

Tickets will not be available to the general public until the week of the show. But this link will take you directly to a ticket purchase site only for NTPA fans! FYI: Pull direction will be the opposite of the 2022 MAC Trailer WN and the same as the NFMS Championship Tractor Pull also held in Freedom Hall.

As of March 9, the following competitors are scheduled to appear:

Super Stock Open

Josh Blackbourn / Considered Armed & Dangerous HD
Terry Blackbourn / Extremely Armed & Dangerous
Jeff Hirt / Runin Bare
Brandon Hunt / Liv'n a Dream
Brent Payne / Get a Load of That
Kent Payne / Super Rooster
Colin Ross / Triple Bypass
John Strickland / Get a Load of That II

Modified Mini

Adam Bauer / Iron Toy
Bret Berg / North American Trailer
Dillon Bunnage / Phoenix
Hali Carrender / Hurricane Hali
C.J. Graczyk / Pile Driver
Jeff Hirt / Baby Bear
Jordan Nelson / Loud and Mini
Adam Koester / Koester Racing
Chase Richardson / Vibrator
Grayson Shelton / Sawed Off
Bruce Slagh / Show No Mercy 1/4 Scale
Tyler Slagh / Have No Mercy
Grant Theobald / Li'l Wicked
Ken Veney / Funny Lil' Farmall

Pro Stock

Tim Cain / The Red Gambler
Mike Conny / MAC Nasty
Carlton Cope / Warpath
Darryl Folz / Tinker Toy
Jack Maize / Billet Binder
Kevin Masterson / River Rat
Julia Ray / MAC Daddy
Danny Schmucker / Rampage
Kevin Schmucker / Git-Er-Dun Deere
Brandon Simon / Loud and Heavy
Brandon Simon / Loud and Heavy X
Justin Wagler / Real Deere

Super Semi

Ryan DeBroux / Playin' with Fire
Pat Eilen / Just Passin' Thru in Class
Tom Eilen / Keep on Truckin'
T.J. Lake / Rat Race
Jeff Lautanen / Moody Blue
Mike & Spencer Rook / Hillbilly Delux
Fred Sanders / Silver Bullet 2
Chris Wood / Class Act

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Monday, March 27, 2023

Indoor Riesa (D) by pullingpics.de

With many thanks to my apprentice Biggi! ;)

Riesa Indoor 2023

Follow @pullingpics on Twitter

Green Monster IV Dynorun by Scheepers-Motorsport

Friday, March 24, 2023

Erklärung von Notaus,Antrib usw. 👍

Trecker Treck Grasberg auf Sonntag verschoben

Das Trecker Treck wird aufgrund des angemeldeten Regen vom 25.03. auf Sonntag den 26.03. verschoben! Bitte fleißig teilen und weitersagen!

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Green Dragon sold

The pro stock tractor called ''Green Dragon'' of the Dragon Pulling Team from Jamjö in Sweden is sold. The Swedish team around Roger Svensson has recently confirmed this on their Facebook page last month. The Dragon Team had purchased this John Deere 8520 pro stock tractor from the John Deere Pulling Team in Thy, Denmark at the end of 2014. The tractor also was before better known under the name ''John Deere 1''. Originally, the tractor was built during the winter of 2004 / 2005 by the John Deere Team around Rasmus Hoyen and Michael Galsgaard. From 2005 until 2014, the John Deere Pulling Team had a lot of success with the John Deere 8520 pro stock machine.

They won many times the Danish Championship and the Euro Cup title in 2012, but never the European Championship title with the tractor. They missed the EC title very close in Füchtorf 2012 by just few cm to Barend Huybregts and Rocky. In 2015, the tractor became Green Dragon and ran now under the Swedish flag. But the Swedish team was still supported by the John Deere Team from Denmark with the tractor during the seasons. The Danes also still did the maintenance on the tractor during the winter for the Dragon Pulling Team. The Dragon Pulling Team competed with the pro stock in their first season in 2015 in the Euro Cup and in the Swedish Championship.

Over the years, the Swedish Team learned a lot about the John Deere tractor, but the tractor became more and more uncompetitive in the Euro Cup. The John Deere engine in the Green Dragon tractor had almost the same stuff under the hood like the John Deere Team used on their component pro stock tractor called John Deere 2 and had a lot of horsepower to fight for top places, but the main problem was the balance and the weight distribution of the pro stock. When the tractor was built in 2004/2005 by the John Deere Team, there were no component tractors are allowed in the pro stock class.

Over the years the ETPC allowed component tractors in the pro stock class and most of the top teams switched from the old school cast rearend tractor to component tractors in the pro stock class. On the top tracks with a lot of traction, the Green Dragon was way too light on the front end, because they couldn't add enough weight on the front end, due to the heavy stock cast rearend and gearbox housing in the tractor. After the 2019 season, the team decided not to run in the Euro Cup anymore due to the less chances to fight for top places with the tractor. In 2022, the Swedish Team competed with the pro stock in the Danish Championship and in some events in Sweden.

Maybe the biggest surprise in the 2022 season for the team with the old John Deere pro stock tractor was the result at the Danish Championship/Euro Cup round in Brande, Denmark in July 2022. On this Friday evening, the old Green Dragon showed that he was not yet part of the scrap heap. Roger Svensson had one of his best runs in the finals of the season. With a picture-perfect pass and 103.84 m, he beat almost all Euro Cup competitors and component pro stock tractors that day. That nice pass was enough for a nice runner-up place behind Michael Galsgaard and John Deere 2 from Thy in Denmark.

Already at the time, Roger Svensson and his team have decided to set the tractor for sale at the end of the season. Last month, the 18 years old John Deere 8520 pro stock tractor was sold without the 8.3l 6 cylinder turbocharged engine to a new owner in Denmark. When asked who bought the tractor, the team didn't want to comment further, but confirmed that the tractor should continue to compete in the pro stock class in Denmark.
After the sale of the Green Dragon to Denmark, the team still has the engine of the old tractor and that power plant should also find its way into the new project.

Currently, the Swedish is planning the new tractor for the future, but which John Deere hood of which series the new tractor will receive is currently not sure yet. Also, not decided yet is who will be building the new tractor or if the team building the new tractor himself. But one thing is sure, the new one will be a component tractor with a better weight distribution and lighter compared to the old Green Dragon tractor.
The Dragon Pulling Team already told us, the new component pulling tractor will be not ready before autumn 2023 and the main focus with the new tractor is already on 2024.

For further information, check here: https://www.facebook.com/TeamDragonTractorPulling/

or check here: https://www.pullingteamdragon.se/

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Der stärkste Motorsport der Welt - Floating Finish

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Le Redoutable switches into Light Modified class in France 2023

The CDH Pulling Team from Bernay in France are switching with their Klimov Isotov TV3-powered modified tractor called ''Le Redoutable'' to the 2.5t / 5500lbs light modifed class in 2023. The reason for this switch to the light modified class was that there were not anymore enough competitors in the heavy modified class in France. Since the sale of the French twin Griffon V12 powered modified tractor called ''Ouragan 3'' of Christophe and Freedy Launey to the Netherlands at the end of 2015, the Le Redoutable with his 4 Isotov turbines is the only heavy modified tractor in France.

Due to no heavy modified competitions in France, except the Euro Cup round in Bernay, the French CDH Team around Belgian Guy de Hoef has decided to switch into the light modified class in the French Championship. The light modified class is currently the only modified class in the French Championship of the tractor pulling sport. Many French pulling teams have switched from the 3.5t modified class into the 2.5t light modified class in the last years. This also caused the temporary death of the 3.5t class in France.

For the start in the 2.5t light modified class, the CDH Team has to take off 2 of the 4 Klimov turbines on the Le Redoutable tractor to stay within the ETPC engine point limits for the light mod class. Also in terms of weight, the team has some things to do to get the tractor down to the max weight of 2.5t. But that isn't a problem for them.

Already about 10 years ago, the guys competed with the tractor in the light modified class for one season in the Euro Cup and on some French Pulling events in 2013. So they already knew where they can save more weight on the tractor.

That switch to the light modified class means not the end for the Le Redoutable with 4 turbines in the 4t heavy modified class. The CDH Pulling Team has signed the Le Redoutable for the Euro Cup series in the heavy modified class this year. The plan of the team is to compete with the turbine-powered machine in the heavy mod class of the Euro Cup and in the light mod class of the French Championship, plus some further invitation pulls outside of France. The CDH Pulling Team will compete with the tractor for the first time at the Indoor Pull in Riesa, Germany at the end of this month this year.