July 02, 2024
The Mizzou tractor pulling team, the Torq’N Tigers, continued its strong performance at the ASABE Student Design Competition.
At Mizzou, hands-on learning opportunities make our engineering education stand out. In the classroom and the lab, our students use their creativity and technical know-how to build a better world. For many Missourians, this includes designing better agricultural equipment.
Mizzou’s Torq’N Tigers Quarter-Scale Tractor Pulling Team continued its strong performance at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) International Student Design Competition last month. Both the A-Team and X-Team took home multiple awards at the event.
“The competition this year was great,” said Jonathan Ebbesmeyer, senior in mechanical engineering. “Every member contributed to building the tractor and ensuring everything was up to our standards. We spent many hours designing, building, rebuilding and finishing the tractor. It was nice seeing everything come together for the competition.”
The competition is set up so more experienced members from each school make up an A-Team that builds a new tractor each year. The X-Team is made up of less experienced members who redesign at least 30% of the previous year’s design.
Mizzou’s A-Team finished in fifth place overall in the contest. They also placed first in the durability competition and were the overall performance event winners out of 21 teams. The X-Team was named the Performance Event Winner, finishing first in both pulls out of nine teams.
“It means a lot to me that the competition went so well this year,” Ebbesmeyer said. “Once we got the individual scores, we realized how close we were to winning. Overall, we had 2,159 points and the first-place team got 2,166. Knowing how close we were from winning and that the top five teams were all within seven points, we are lifting our heads up high for the incoming year.”
In addition to the impressive performance on the awards stage, Ebbesmeyer says his favorite part of the competition was watching the team’s dominance in the durability contest.
“Senior Ethan Gutz crushed the durability course,” he said. “Ethan had to drive in laps over parking barriers and with a load behind the tractor for 20 minutes. He completed the 21 laps in 20 minutes. The next best team only finished 12 laps.”
While this year’s competition season is over, the team’s next step is to prepare for substantial changes in next year’s competition. Rule changes for next year require teams to work with a new brand of engine, and the switch means the team must design for a vertical shaft engine output as opposed to a horizontal shaft output as they have in the past.
Students thinking about joining the team can meet with members at the New Student BBQ on Aug. 22, 2024. All students are welcome to join, and Ebbesmeyer recommends it for learning leadership and communication skills in addition to getting hands-on experience designing and building.
“We are an open club where you will learn more about the mechanical side of a tractor as well as the engineering behind it,” he said. “We also teach the basic skills and how to use common tools in the shop. We have amazing club members who are willing to work long hours to finish reports or assembly. We also try to plan cookouts and team bonding events throughout the year.”
Whether or not Torq’N Tigers is the right fit, Ebbesmeyer also stressed the importance of getting involved in a club on campus for the Mizzou experience.
“Once you go to a few meetings for any club, you will realize how important and fun getting involved is,” he said. “Mizzou is full of various clubs and it is important to put yourself out in the community to start building those relationships that will last a lifetime.”
Attend college where you can get hands-on experiences in the field with student organizations before you graduate. Choose Mizzou Engineering!