The 1999 Quarter-Scale Tractor Team from Iowa State’s agriculture and biosystems engineering (ABE) department competed in the second annual Quarter-Scale Tractor National Student Design Competition last week in Moline, Ill.

The team spent two days competing in tractor design and tractor pulling.

They received first place for the written design report of their tractor and awards in serviceability, manufacturability and craftsmanship.

“The competition is meant to provide a real engineering problem to student teams so that they can design and build a tractor to meet strict design rules and to compete in the design performance competition,” said Stewart Melvin, head of the ABE department.

Twenty-nine university teams from across the nation and Canada competed in this year’s rain-soaked competition.

“The competition was tough this year,” said Brian Hollatz, team member and senior in agricultural engineering.

“The track was a lot different. That is what threw us the most,” he said.

As a result of the wet track, six teams had transmission problems, and the ISU team ranked in the bottom half of the pulling competition.

“The Iowa State team’s transmission held up because of modifications, but for a variety of reasons, they lost the pulling competition,” said ABE professor Graeme Quick, who is the team’s advisor.

However, Quick said the team had a similar overall standing last year.

“Our team in 1998 came close to winning the National Tractor Pulling Cup because they won the pulling part of the competition,” he said.

“This year, we again came [close] to winning the cup by winning the written report part of the competition,” Quick said.

Four members of the six-member team have worked since November to prepare the tractor.

Each year, the teams can spend up to $3,000 to build their tractor from scratch using a standard engine, tires and wheels.

This year’s team made several new advances to their tractor, including an extra gear and an independent front suspension.

The team now is looking to next year’s competition in hopes of winning the cup.

“We will have some different plans for next year,” Hollatz said. “I don’t know what those plans will be, [but] I am sure we will come up with some new ideas.”

The competition is sponsored by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and several agricultural equipment manufacturers.