Goodwood Tractorpool – David Coulthard

The first decision was to do it on the Circuit’s perimeter road in a Series II Land Rover. That then quickly morphed into actually providing a service: ferrying visitors around in a tractor and trailer. I have driven a tractor many times before, but never anything as modern, or large, as the New Hollands here at Goodwood. A small refresher session helped sort that, but matters were made slightly more complicated when New Holland brought in an even larger, and newer, example especially for the interview. This thing was enormous and the (£2500) rear tyre was nearly the same height as me.

The massive machine that greeted me on the morning of the interview was extraordinary. It had 1282Nm of torque, weighed 10.5 tonnes and could lift 11 tonnes. What’s more, with optional extras, it cost close to £200,000 and was supposed to be delivered to a customer straight after the weekend. With paying public in the trailer behind, to say that there was no pressure, is the understatement of the century.

Weirdly, the New Holland T7.315 (I only know that because a fellow tractor driver came bounding over after the interview and demanded to know why I had the ‘T7.315’) was the easiest tractor to drive I have ever tried. It’s all automatic and, if you ignore the many switches for things I didn’t need, you only had to steer, accelerate and brake. That’s not to say David didn’t press various things he shouldn’t have and brought many warning lights upon us.

David was the perfect guest and, despite all the distractions, very easy to interview. Should I be worried that, when asked whether it was the weirdest interview he had ever done, he replied: “Yes, without a shadow of a doubt?” Probably. Well, at least it was memorable. 

I don’t think I have laughed so much during an interview before, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did recording it. Apologies to those in the trailer – it looked absolutely freezing from the very warm cab…