Fendt will be using this year's Cereals Event to showcase one of its flagship tractors, the 943MT, from its first factory-built tracked range.

This comes as a result of exhaustive development work, which is aimed at making the Fendt's 900 Vario MT series tractors handle as well on the road as they do in the field. There are four mains reasons for this – its air-sprung operator's seat, two-point cab suspension, new SmartRide primary suspension and a re-worked drive with ConstantGrip suspension.

A large ground area contact keeps it working under difficult conditions, as well as reducing soil compaction.

The 900 Vario and 1100 MT models range from 380hp to 646hp at Agritechnica 2017 and these replace parent company, Agco’s tracked range in Europe.

One of four 900 MTs, the 943 Vario has 431hp available to it and it shares the ConstantGrip feature with them all. This means the tracked system's three middle track rollers can be adjusted to follow ground contours in the field, with more even weight distribution over the tread.

The SmartRide suspension has helical springs with integrated pressure surge dampers, additional hydraulic shock absorbers to control 'bounce', and a torque rod stabiliser bar for lateral chassis stability.

It is also the first conventional tracked tractor with a two-point cab suspension – two dampers and rubber buffers on the front and helical springs and their integrated shock absorbers at the rear.

The 900 Vario MT has quite a tight turning circle for such a large machine and it also uses Fendt's iD low engine speed concept, as used on 1000 Vario series. This gives it a high torque, low engine speed capability synchronising the engine, VarioDrive drive train, radiator and hydraulics to suit.

Power comes from a 9.8-litre Agco Power engine and its rated horse power is achieved at just 1700 rpm, with effective power from 1200 up to that mark. Also keeping fuel use to a minimum is an idler reduction to 800 rpm when the tractor is parked.

The Vario transmission on the MT models has evolved from the 1000-series conventional tractors and has an on the road maximum speed of 40km/hr.

In this high pressure work machine, it's imperative that the operator is at maximum comfort to make the most of what is quiet and expensive vehicle. The Fendt does this in some style, with air suspension seat – more of a chair, really – providing all-round vision as well as operating comfort. All essential controls and features are the same as in the 1000 Vario cab.

Working parameters are set and monitored from the Varioterminal, a 10.4-inch touch screen set-up, plus the familiar Fendt multi-function armrest and joystick.

As you would expect, the hydraulics are fairly beefy and there's the option of having twin load-sensing pumps (220 litre/min each) which can supply two separate circuits. The valves allow a flow rate of 140 lit/min as standard, but heavy duty valves with a flow rate of 170 lit/min are an option.

Fendt's larger 1100 series of four models ranges from 492hp to 646hp and are almost identical to the Challenger tracked tractors.