Truckfest99

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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