Truckfest Peterborough 2014
by Gary Malkin, LincsMag Writer.
Date: 05 June 2014
The May bank holiday saw the traditional return to Peterborough Arena of Truckfest for the 32nd year in succession. A festival of all things trucking huge crowds turned out in the sunshine on both days to admire around 2,000 trucks in attendance and meet the celebrities who attended the show.
The showground was full of trucks ranging from everyday working trucks, classic trucks, custom trucks, American trucks and specialist trucks. While in the main area the crowds would be entertained by stunt riding from the Broke FMX Team, Monster truck racing, Recovery demonstrations and parades of trucks. The children were also entertained with appearances from The Angry Birds, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Eddie Stobart’s Steady Eddie.
With the everyday working trucks forming the backbone of the show a number of operators were being showcased which included some that are regularly seen on the roads of Lincolnshire. These included Knights of Old from Kettering, Peter Carter Haulage of Kings Lynn and from Scotland the Malcolm Group.
Flying The Flag
Flying the Lincolnshire flag in this section were Saxilby based SG Haulage Ltd who had a large display showcasing their vehicles. Celebrating their 21st anniversary the company was set up in 1993 by Steve Gaunt and has now grown to a fleet of 19 trucks with 23 staff employed.
They were not the only Lincolnshire Hauliers on display, as you walked amongst the rows of trucks on display I came across an area taken over by the Lincolnshire Truckers. Standing out amongst these with their easily recognisable pristine green, white and red trucks were Mason Bros Transport from Swineshead. Their display was headed by their brand new DAF XF joined by a pair of 2009 DAF XF’s a 2009 Scania and two 2014 Scania’s all well-polished and gleaming in the sun. Bradshaw Haulage of Digby had a pair of Renault Magnum’s while R.W.Collier Haulage of Sutterton displayed their Volvo’s. Another to show a large number from their fleet were Boston base Benton Brothers with no less than 15 trucks on display along with their old restored Bedford.
Custom Painted
In amongst the standard working trucks were a number of custom painted examples from both owner-drivers and companies while some were featured on manufacturer stands. These all tend to be painted to a theme ranging from the company history to film or TV programmes. Some of the best known and most detailed trucks in the country were on display around the site.
Coles & Sons had three of their Scania’s on show, two on the Scania stand. Their T series airbrushed with the ‘Boys Toys’ theme and two R series ‘American Iron’ featuring American hot rods and custom bikes and ‘Gladiator’ featuring the film characters. Feature haulier Stanian showed six Volvos each painted to a film theme, Sherlock Holmes, Twilight, Expendables, The Dark Knight, Gladiator and Top Gun. A host of owner drivers had theme trucks including Avatar, Jonny Cash, Loony Toons and British Comedy Legends.
Over from Ireland Maxwell Freight showed their impressive DAF that is a tribute to the Titanic and the shipyard that built it, an MAN that is attribute to the riders of the Isle of Man TT races another DAF showing Irish sports stars and a Volvo showing Spitfires and a Liberator bomber from the RAF in World War 2. Making the long trip from Finland was the rigid Scania that is a tribute to Madonna. In bright pink each side has a large airbrushed image of Madonna with smaller images around the truck. Under the heading of Supertrucks were the ever popular American trucks, this year saw the biggest gathering for a number of years.
All impressive sanding out amongst them were the Peterbilt used for filming on the X-Factor and the huge Peterbilt ‘The Dilligaff Express’. Lincolnshire was again represented here by two trucks from Clive Shaw Trucking, the first time two ‘supertrucks’ have appeared in the same livery at Truckfest. Based in Coningsby Clive bought his immaculate pair of Kenworth’s from 1995 and 2001. The trucks were due to parade in the main arena on both days but due to the high crowd this was unable to take place on health and safety grounds. The trucks were allowed in on Monday morning in a crowd pleasing parade with air-horns sounding.
Main Arena
Aside from the parades there was plenty more going on in the main arena. The Broke FMX team performed spectacular airborne stunts on their motocross bikes twice a day. Back to trucks and Iveco demonstrated their powerful Trakker Rally-Raid truck built to compete on the famous and tough Dakar Rally.
The Stobart truckers joined in the recovery demonstration on both days as a practice for future Truckfest events where they will compete against the Lizard Licks Towers from America. The highlight for most was the monster truck battle between the British Bigfoot 17 and for the first time the American Bigfoot 10. Initially the crowd were behind the British truck, until the car crushing started. Going first Nigel Morris looked good getting airborne and crushing the cars with great support from the ‘home’ crowd.
American Bigfoot 10
Next along JR Adams in the American Bigfoot 10 had promised something special and he didn’t disappoint, hitting the first car the truck got high into the air clearing the cars and landing with an impressive bounce. A second chance for Morris was just as impressive as his first attempt but so was Adams second run and when it came time for the crowd to decide who was the best it was apparent that they had switched allegiance to the American Bigfoot.
The main arena also saw the arrival each day of the celebrity guests. On Sunday it was Joey Essex from The Only Way Is Essex and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Following an interview in the arena he done a signing session that proved very popular with the public as he also took selfies while meeting them.
Monday saw Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan visit the show and again proved popular. The actress, voted sexiest soap female for six years running, made her way around the show taking the time to meet the public and have photos taken with various trucks. There were also three of the Stobart drivers from the Channel Five TV series Eddie Stobart - Trucks & Trailers with their trucks on the Stobart stand proving very popular with the public.
The three drivers were Biomass driver Tim Fox, along with Welshman Ashley Maddocks and Mick Leech all attracting big queues of people to meet them and have photos taken. On the Truckfest merchandise stand truck driver Mark Dixon was available to meet the public.
In addition to the new and working trucks there were also a large number of classic trucks on display. Most were bought by companies along with their current vehicles with some making the journey down from Scotland. One of the biggest collections was from Derek Cooper Transport, Red Lodge in Suffolk who had no less than 23 vehicles on display. There were also a number from private individuals who have lovingly restored the vehicles to their former glory.
Professional Recovery Drivers Association
Another large part of the show is the recovery display by members of the Professional Recovery Drivers Association. Their specialist vehicles are on static display through both days along with a demonstration in the main arena. In the cattle-sheds there was also a display of model trucks, now in its 20th year the model Truckfest showed a variety of models. Taking centre stage were the radio controlled scale models that had their own layout to drive around, some of these models also ventured out around the showground amongst the public. There were also displays of static scale models built both from scratch and from plastic kits along with collections of die cast models.
Ending the show was the all-important prize giving where all the top trucks in the show assembled in the main arena to find out if they had won a trophy. Prize for the best fleet on display went to Shaun Burton Transport from Froome in Somerset with F.G.Bond & Sons who also won best rigid truck were runners up. Taking two trophies was Kings Lynn based Carter Haulage winning best company owned working truck and best kept senior working truck with their Volvo.
The best kept murals and paintwork working truck went to Slough International with their DAF XF painted to commemorate the Battle of Britain while Coles & Son took best new working truck with their Gladiator liveried Scania. The AEC Mandator from Ian Craig Haulage made the journey from Scotland worth wild by winning best vintage or classic vehicle.
The best recovery truck went to Manchetts of Burwell Cambridgeshire while best supertruck was won by John Coupland with his Peterbilt ‘The Dilligaff Express’. Taking centre stage with three trophies, best kept owner driver working truck, best kept custom working truck and the prestigious best working truck in show was John Templeton with his 2011 Scania R620, airbrushed with scenes and characters from the film Avatar.
Lincolnshire residents get a second chance to visit Truckfest when Truckfest Original is staged at Newark and Notts Showground on 30th/31st August. Further details may be found by visiting www.truckfest.co.uk.
Facebook Picture Album
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