Monster Trucks - Canberra, ACT Australia 2008

Monsters Tour of Destruction.
Canberra Greyhound Club
27th September 2008

Roll call: Outback Thunda, Batman, Scooby Doo, PS3 Motorstorm, The Boss, Undertaker USA, Mystery Machine Jet van, Firestorm Jet Van, Tranzilla

It was time again for the Tour of Destruction show to roll it's way into Canberra. This year was a return to the more monster truck friendly format, after last years disappointing program that was dominated by motorcross racing.

The bikes weren't completely forgotten this year though, with distance jumping over up to 14 cars and some flat track bike racing included for the bike fans. This year was about the trucks though, and with six trucks on hand, was the biggest field yet seen in Canberra.

Instead of the usual "hello" jumps from each truck at the beginning of the show, it was decided at literally the last minute to try a "time trial" format followed by some head to head racing. The size of the Greyhound track infield allowed this to occur safely. First, each truck laid down a single run on the J-turn style course (long flat straight into a U-turn then hit a car stack for the finish) to find the fastest time. Outback Thunda was awarded fastest time, followed by Batman. A surprisingly quick run from The Boss gave it the third fastest time, despite not having a 1800HP engine, and no rear steer!!

In the head-to-head racing, the two leafers (as they have old style leaf-sprung suspension), The Boss & Undertaker USA were first out with Undertaker snatching victory by the narrowest of margins as The Boss fell off the cars allowing the slower Undertaker to catch up and pass right on the finish line. Next up was Motorstorm & Scooby Doo. A closely fought race with Motorstorm emerging victorious. Finally, Outback Thunda lined up against Batman. In the fastest, closest race, Thunda just squeezed out Batman who almost missed the cars completely!!

The Sky Wheelie contest was next with Motorstorm to be first. A couple of good attempts were laid down, with the truck getting vertical, but the engine losing power. The Boss & Undertaker followed, but they mainly jumped off the dirt ramps so no sky wheelies from these trucks, but that was expected, as they lacked both the power and correct suspension to perform such things safely. Scooby was suffering from some major misfiring (later diagnosed as water in the distributor) and only jumped off the dirt ramps as well. Batman made some good wheelies as always and managed to rack up three good jumps. Outback thunda was out next and proceeded to rev the crowd up by hooning around the arena with Clive throwing the truck sideways and pulling off a 180 degree turn before hitting the cars. Thunda pulled out the best jumps of the night getting the truck right up in the air on each jump!

Other attractions during the show were two fireworks displays, with the second Aussie display pulling out all the stops to deliver a spectactular performance which saw the equivalent of $15,000 worth of fireworks let off in the final minute alone.

Also not seen in Canberra before were TWO jet vans, instead of just one, the Mystery Machine & Firestorm. One of the more incredible sights is to see the Jet Van crossover, where the two vans cross each other like passing on the street going in opposite directions with the afterburners on! Both vans then proceeded to opposite sides of the grounds and proceeded to each melt down a car to molten metal, or as Wade Aunger likes to call them "a crumpet".

Tranzilla also made his presence felt, and munched on one of the many cars littered on the field, and then a car was lifted high by a massive crane and promptly dropped from several stories in the air!!

The monster truck train, where all the trucks come out at the same time, provided some heart stopping moments, as first The Boss almost flipped onto its side due to getting a bad bounce off the cars, and on the next jump, Thunda stood right up on the tailgate, and for a spilt second looked as though he may fall backwards ontop of Batman, but some skilled driving kept Thunda moving forward.

The show was wrapped up with a demolition derby, which is always a crowd favourite.

A good show all round, and much better received than last year, judging by crowd reaction.

For more show results, and when the Monsters Tour of Destruction is rolling into your town, check out:

http://www.monstertrucksaustralia.com

http://www.downundermonsters.com

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• monster
• trucks
• tour
• destruction
• australia
• canberra
• outback
• thunda
• thunder
• scooby
• doo
• batman
• undertaker
• usa
• motorstorm
• ps3
• clive
• featherby
• boss
• tranzilla
• crash
• crush
• firestorm
• demolition
• derby
• aussie
• greyhound
• fireworks

[MrAvenger2]

What are they making fun of monster jam i mean making a batman and taz truck just like the ones here and also making fun of monster mutt and other trucks too

[southtech]

making fun of monster jam?? what? for a start they are not just like the US versions, ours are a lot more detailed, especially in the Taz truck. EMTA has a special agreement with Warner Bros to run these identities, got nothing to do with monster jam.

And how is it making fun of monster mutt? I assume you mean Scooby? Thats Warner Bros again.

Check out the videos of South Pacific World Finals 2 to see how far we have come since 2008! Or search for Extreme Monster Trucks Australia.

[BigTylerAustin]

Good lord, Australian monster trucks suck.

No offense though, I'm just used to attending only American shows.

[Gerald5000]

Agreed. I'd say here they're scared to break parts, but they look really stiff and awkward compared to the real thing.

[southtech]

True to a point, there isn't an endless supply of parts here in Australia like in the US, plus they cost probably 4 or 5 times as much here.

And I don't understand what you mean by "compared to the real thing". ALL of these trucks came from the USA, and are "real" monster trucks, not the European truck bodies on tractor chassis.

Plus, most of these trucks got worked on a couple of weeks after this show by Kreg Christensen & James Tigue and completely improved them 200%.

[southtech]

Good lord, what a constructive comment!

Actually, nevermind, not worth the trouble.....

[TehDrehstuhl]

I don't see what the big deal is. Monster trucks are monster trucks. All in all, they're fun to watch. So what if there are some repeats ? I bet if everyone here was invited to a special show just for them, they'd have a fun time.

Why complain and waste your time ? It's entertainment.

[gothic1157]

Maybe at the start you should not get the sun in the film? and tell the drivers to grow some balls and just jump the bloody trucks

[Gerald5000]

By 'real thing' I just mean actually giving them a proper thrashing, Launching, doing donuts, and putting on a proper monster truck show as apposed to just driving over cars a bit.

I can understand it though, There isn't the money behind it here like there is in the U.S.

But by not actually doing what they're intended for, they just look and sound the part.

[Hellafireleli]

i was there

Loved the fireworks