Tyre maker Mitas have given us a glimpse of the new design tyre that they will be launching at next week’s Agritechnica Show in Hanover, Germany. The tyre is called the Mitas PneuTrac and it aims to bring together the advantages of a traditional pneumatic tyre with those of rubber tracks.

The tyre appears to be run as a normal circular tyre at higher pressures. When you reduce the air pressure in the tyre it behaves as rubber track with a bigger footprint on the ground to give lower ground pressure and less compaction.

Mitas claim that the PneuTrac system, which is still undergoing testing, provides better traction efficiency with lower slippage, leading to lower tractor operational costs. The improved contact area will give potential for less soil compaction which, Mitas claim, will give farmers the potential to achieve higher crop yields compared with standard tyres.

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The PneuTrac system claims to provide stable driving at low inflation pressures.

This will give the tractor driver some degree of comfort and safety. Using this new type of tyre means that there is no need to adjust inflation pressure.

The Czech-based company accept that they have still have some way to go to bring the concept into a commercial product but the initial results look very promising, challenging the design of the conventional tyre and cost of tracks.