U.K. Truckfest' 99
Showground, Peterborough.
2nd & 3rd May
On Sunday 2nd May I attended the UK Truckfest, at the showgrounds,
in Peterborough, England.
The show had hundreds of trucks, (or for my American readers, hundreds
of Haulers/Tractors/Rigs, as you call them), as well as pickup trucks,
& the Heavy Metal Monster truck, which was the main reason for me attending
the show.
Heavy Metal
I arrived at the show quite early on in the morning, & made
my straight to where the the Monster Truck was. The Truck had only arrived
in the country about a week before the show, so driver Steve Murty, who
also drives the World Record Breaking Jet Powered Pirelli Pro Jet Truck,
had only crushed cars in it once, before the show.
The truck was originally owned by Mark Bendler of Milwaukee, WI.
and was called Kodiak. It was bought by Terry Woodcock, who recently sold
it to Russ Harman of Live Promotions
Inc. who had it shipped over here, to the United Kingdom.
Russ had sent out e-mails on the net. looking for a Monster Truck
to come to the UK & Terry was one of the many people who replied.
So Russ & Steve visited the USA after also contacting Bob Chandler
of BIGFOOT, who was also of help to them. They stopped with Terry at his
Ranch in Missouri, & after deciding taking it for a test drive Russ
decided to buy the Heavy Metal truck. The truck was then loaded up, &
shipped over ready for the the first Truckfest of the year. Russ &
Steve, where then guests of Bob Chandler who helped them with the whole
process.
The truck is powered by a 454 cubic inch Chevy Engine, & has
a steel Chevy body on it.
Steve Murtey told me the reason why they bought the Heavy Metal
truck & not a newer fiberglass bodied truck.
" We could have gone for a newer fiberglass bodied truck, but
we needed a truck that was strong & durable. Majority of the fans here
in the UK haven't seen the newer type of Monster Trucks & just want
to see the truck crush the cars, rather rather than flying in the air,
missing the cars. We aren't racing any other trucks, so we don't need the
light weight body. Also the metal body looks better, I think"
Throughout the day, the infield was filled with a number of different
vehicles, & Steve bought the truck out for a quick spin & show
the crowd the four wheel steering capabilities of the truck.
Steve then bought the truck back out later on in the afternoon, for
some car crushing action.
They had two cars & two caravans, for him to crush. This was
his first car crush in front of a crowd, & he took it easy over the
cars the first time. And actually stalled the engine as the truck came crashing down. The crowd loved it though.The second pass was a bit faster & the third pass, Steve put the truck in the air.
Crushing caravans
Click here
to see some of the cool looking rigs
that where at the show.
Click here
to see some pick-up
trucks that where at the show.
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