Truckfest South West and Wales 6/07/13
Posted on: 7/07/13
Updated on: 7/07/13 For the first time Truckfest South West and Wales was held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern after 26 years at the Bath and West showground. With this change of venue, a bit closer to home, I paid my first visit to the show. And I'm sure it won't be my last! The event exceeded my expectations considerably, being much more than just a line up of shiny trucks great as they were to see, with a variety activities going on in the main ring all day. |
Related LinksKey informationTicket prices:
Adult - £15 Child (5-15yrs) - £7 Family (2a,2c) - £35 Verdict |
Attention to detail
Truckfest South West and Wales was much, much more than I had expected it to be - a line up of trucks in a field. But even this was superb. Some of the vehicles on display were absolutely stunning, especially those with eye catching graphics like the DAF and Scania tractor units opposite. The cleanliness and attention to detail paid by the owners of the trucks on display was almost unbelievable; from stencilled lettering on tyres to painted engines and mile upon mile of highly polished chrome gleaming in the glorious summer weather. A good variety of operators were represented, in fact from all over the country with several from Sheffield, at least one from Truro and numerous Welsh hauliers too. Perhaps the best known operator of all was present too; Eddie Stobart. Unsurprisingly their stand was the busiest part of the showground, no doubt partly because visitors were able to meet some of the stars of the Channel 5 TV programme 'Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers'.
Vehicles of all shapes, sizes and ages were on display. From tractor units to rigid tanker trucks; from the gigantic American rigs in the photo at the top right down to a diminutive Bedford Rascal hay truck; beautifully restored classics like William Gilder's pair of Leyland Octopus 8 wheelers, through some older ERF, Seddon Atkison and Scania trucks which, in showroom condition, provided a sharp contrast to similar aged machines seen out on the road in 'careworn' condition, to the very latest EURO 6 emission compliant vehicles proudly displayed on DAF, Renault, Mercedes-Benz and IVECO's own stands. The latter were showcasing their new Stralis Hi-Way tractor unit which is International Truck of the Year 2013. So although many visitors appeared to be families, there was much at the show for those there in a trade capacity looking for new vehicles or accessories.
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Main ring madness
Perhaps the part of the event that made Truckfest exceed my expectations was the almost non-stop activity in the main ring.
Particularly impressive was the appearance of monster trucks Bigfoot 17 and Slingshot in the ring which rounded off activities there with a
spot of spectacular car crushing. Just outside the main ring in a special section there was the very rare opportunity to ride on a modified 10 seater monster truck as well. More high octane thrills were provided twice in the day by the Broke FMX stunt bike riders (left) who performed some breath taking moves using the ramps, one of which was, of course, was based on a Mercedes Benz Atego truck!
Alongside these daredevil crowd pleasers was a competition requiring great skill and intellect which pitted a team of Stobart drivers against two stars from another Channel 5 programme, 'Ice Road Truckers'; Lisa Kelly and Alex Debogorski.
Particularly impressive was the appearance of monster trucks Bigfoot 17 and Slingshot in the ring which rounded off activities there with a
spot of spectacular car crushing. Just outside the main ring in a special section there was the very rare opportunity to ride on a modified 10 seater monster truck as well. More high octane thrills were provided twice in the day by the Broke FMX stunt bike riders (left) who performed some breath taking moves using the ramps, one of which was, of course, was based on a Mercedes Benz Atego truck!
Alongside these daredevil crowd pleasers was a competition requiring great skill and intellect which pitted a team of Stobart drivers against two stars from another Channel 5 programme, 'Ice Road Truckers'; Lisa Kelly and Alex Debogorski.
There were two parts to the challenge, first taking a Freightliner tow truck pulling a Mercedes tow truck round a slalom and reversing the unit into a 'garage' of cones and knocking the cones at the back down.
Penalty points were added for other cones knocked down and each time the driver had to 'shunt' - move forward then back again - to get into position. That was the easy part. The second part of the challenge used the same course and a different combination of tow truck and casualty vehicle - a massive DAF XF tow vehicle pulling an ERF artic and trailer! The competition took quite a while but it was fascinating to see the skill involved, especially in the second part of the challenge where the drivers had to get their heads round the pivot points of the different vehicles and avoid jack-knifing the casualty vehicle when reversing it into the garage. |
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Only Alex Debogorski managed to successfully complete the second part of the challenge, using all his 37 years of driving experience to get the unit round the slalom and into the 'garage' and so securing victory for the Ice Road Truckers over the Stobart drivers!
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Later in the day the Professional Recovery Drivers Club (PRDC), who had organised the Ice Road truckers vs Stobart challenge, returned to the main ring with a variety of recovery vehicles to demonstrate a little of the impressive range of operations they can undertake. The slideshow on the right shows the biggest 'recovery' - using two tow trucks to right a Ford tipper truck, which we imagine is in a deep gully, and lift it up, swing it round and set it up to be towed away by one of the trucks. This kind of operation can also be used in recovering accidents where the Police need as little on the vehicle to move as possible. There were a range of other staged 'accidents' which were recovered, including an articulated lorry tipped over onto a 'bank', a car which had landed on the other side of a 'hedge', a collision where a car and a van had rolled over and the
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rescue of a 4x4 so that its drivetrain wasn't damaged by a front wheel lift. The displays were most impressive and everything was explained by the commentators (recovery drivers themselves) very well. A big thank you to the recovery teams and the companies that supplied the vehicles who worked for free to put on a really interesting show.
Conclusions
Overall Truckfest South West and Wales was a fantastic event, offering something for everyone - families, enthusiasts, drivers trade people- and a great variety of displays and activities. It seemed to be very well attended. Thanks to everyone involved in making a great day out. I'm sure I'll be back next year!