There have been some unusual rides throughout rally raid’s history, ranging from Rolls-Royces and Ferraris to Vespas and how-the-hell-is-this-a-Lada?

Cédric Goumaz can throw his hat into that ring now as he plans to run the Morocco Desert Challenge in a Massey Ferguson 8S.205. Yes, a tractor.

Goumaz is a farmer and mixed crop grower from Switzerland who previously did . He made his Dakar Rally debut in 2024, where he finished 35th in Ultimate with an MD Optimus. He didn’t return to the race in January due to a lack of budget, and was following it from home as he pondered options for a future start.

After he and his friend Gilles Küffer had some conversations, they came up with an insane idea: what if they raced a tractor like the ones they use on their farms? It’s ridiculous and Dakar is definitely not viable in the immediate future, but something like the MDC might be doable to start off.

“It will be a great source of pride to do a rally with a tractor, and I imagine it’ll generate quite a bit of excitement,” Goumaz told the Tribune de Genève. “I can already imagine my colleagues working in their fields while following our adventures on our Instagram account.”

With that settled, Küffer and his team at Küfferagri Sarl got to work. They reached out to Massey Ferguson and acquired an MF 8S, which is obviously designed for farming, before making a litany of upgrades.

The engine has been upgraded to produce 400 horsepower from its original 205 hp. The Dyna E-Power transmission, a dual-clutch CVT semi-powershift system, has been modified to handle higher speeds; not wanting to get too crazy, however, the team opted for a top speed of 80 km/h.

Since the tractor is only meant to seat a single person, the cockpit was completely redesigned to accommodate navigator Frédéric Drault. The driver’s seat and steering column had to be moved from the center to the left side. A roll cage was built along with an escape mechanism in the event of fire.

Tractors obviously have much larger wheels than the average rally raider, while MDC rules stipulate the vehicle must be able to carry two spares. To solve this, the team built a special hydraulic and winch-and-pulley system. For tires, the tractor uses the Michelin EvoBib.

Other features include a central tire inflation system (which the EvoBib is designed to be used with), locking differentials, and being able to operate in four- and two-wheel drives.

The project took over 2,500 hours of work over 40 days.

While it’s not exactly an IVECO Torpedo or a MAN TGA like the others in their class, Goumaz and Drault will race the #508 in the Truck category. The Morocco Desert Challenge will run from April 5 to 12.

Featured image credit: STA Competition