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Chris Fincham2 Oct 2014
NEWS

Unleashing the Monster

On the eve of the inaugural Aussie tour we take a behind-the-scenes look at a Monster Jam truck show, and drive one of the 1500hp beasts
Did you know a Monster Jam truck uses more fuel during an 80 metre run than many cars do over 100km? Or that its tyres are taller than the average woman, not to mention much wider, and can weigh five times as much?
Neither did I, before taking a behind-the-scenes look at the Monster Jam juggernaut, prior to the first leg of the inaugural Monster Jam Australian tour in Brisbane last week.
According to Marc McDonald, one of the 10 American drivers taking part in the five Australian shows, Monster Jam is the "NASCAR of monster truck series". 
It's also one of the most popular and widely appealing forms of motorsport, with a reputed four million people attending 350 shows in 135 cities, across north and central America as well as Europe, in the last year alone.
The Monster Jam formula is a simple one: turn a large arena or stadium into a giant claypit, with hills and mounds as obstacles, and get a bunch of custom-built, high-horsepower, jacked-up dune-style buggies to jump and crash into them, awarding points for the best stunts and general mayhem caused.
With plenty of old cars and caravans crushed in the process, it's wholesome fun for the whole family, but especially those who like their entertainment served up in a 'fast and furious' manner.
Monster Jam is also one of the more egalitarian, crowd-pleasing forms of motorsport around, with drivers mingling with fans at 'pit parties' prior to shows, including signing autographs and posing for photos.
There are two different categories in which the trucks compete: side-by-side bracket races on a tight, twisty circuit that take around 20 seconds, and the 'anything goes' Freestyle competition where drivers get 90 seconds to complete as many tricks, with names like 'slap wheelie', 'pogo', 'nose plant', 'cyclone' or 't-bone' on the open course.
"The main thing you want to do is what they call the wow factor, anything from a sky wheelie, big air, saves on two wheels, cyclone donut, there are all kinds  of different wow moments," explained McDonald, who's been a Monster Jam driver since 2006.
"You've basically got to let your imagination run wild and do the biggest, craziest stuff you can do ... (but) if you fall over and crash you're pretty much not going to win, unless you do it at the end and have a big wow moment!"
Like many Monster Jam drivers, McDonald has an off-road racing background, and worked his way up from pit crew mechanic to one of the stars of the show.
When he's not at home herding cattle at the family ranch, he competes up to 20 week-ends a year in Monster Jam events for the four-truck El Toro Loco team.
Rather than just sponsors' billboards, each truck has its own 'personality', thanks to different themed, lightweight fibreglass bodies that decorate the heavy-duty steel tube chassis. Many trucks have supernatural animal themes, with names like Grave Digger, Monster Destruction and Madusa, the only pink, all-girls team.
For the down under tour McDonald's normally black truck has a distinct Aussie flavour, sporting the logo of the T20 Big Bash cricket series, although McDonald admits he's never watched a game.
Monster Jam has come a long way since humble beginnings as a sideshow attraction at US tractor pulling events in the 1980s. Today, it's a highly professional, multi-million dollar business, run by the same company behind the Disney on Ice spectacular.
It's also much safer than it used to be, for drivers as well as the crowd. Drivers benefit from NASCAR-style fire suits and the latest protective equipment, while crowd safety is equally important with engine restraints, drivetrain 'tethers' and remote controlled kill switches implemented in recent years.
Just putting on the Australian shows, in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, is a logistical extravaganza. 
It took less than 24 hours for 3200 plywood sheets, about 25 Australian-built car wrecks and 4000 cubic metres, or 125 truckloads of dirt, that converted Queensland's 48,500 capacity QSAC stadium into a Monster Jam playground.
The bulldozers were applying the finishing touches when we arrived to survey the transformation, and don our own race suits for the opportunity to 'test drive' a Monster Jam truck.
Just getting into the cosy cockpit of a Monster Jam truck is a feat in itself. At 3.6m tall, it's a bit like climbing a tree; you duck under the fibreglass shell and take two large steps up into the cabin, trying not to bump your head on the way up or on the low roof once inside.
Tightly ensconced in the racing bucket seat and five-point harness and with the removable steering wheel back in place, it's a lot like any other race car 'office' with a bunch of switches, gauges and levers scattered around the driver.
The only difference is it feels like you're peering down from a third floor balcony through the windscreen onto the ground way, way below, although forward visibility is pretty good considering.
Pulling out a couple of 'chokes' and pressing a starter button fires up the 1500hp, supercharged and methanol-injected, big-block V8 engine, which roars into life before settling into a menacing rumble (it sits about a metre under your backside!).
With the go-ahead from the hand-waving official below, I gently apply some throttle and we're off, the revs rising along with the metallic din and supercharger whine. I slot the two-speed 'Monsterglide' transmission into top gear, before squeezing the right pedal a bit deeper as we head for a sharp left hand turn.
It's surprisingly smooth, almost civilised, and I risk some rear-end slide at about half throttle before the engine cuts out thanks to the over-anxious official.
A dab of the brakes (they clamp the 'third member' bolted to the front of the differential housing rather than the wheels) and the fun's over.
It's probably the shortest test drive of all time – about 200m in less than 20 seconds – but considering the potential chaos in inexperienced hands and insurance issues, I'm grateful for that. 
I barely reached 50km/h, well short of the 100km/h-plus top speed. I also failed to get any 'air' up a mound, or experience the long-travel, fully adjustable nitrogen shocks doing their thing at each corner to soften the impact. 
Also untried was the pistol grip 'toggle switch' that steers the rear wheels, and allows the driver to 'crab steer' the truck using the separate front and rear steering. 
However, I did develop a new-found respect for the Monster Jam drivers, who somehow balance all that power in a top-heavy 4500kg machine while doing the sort of flips and balancing acts you usually only see on a dirt bike. 
I'll look forward to seeing whether they can pull it off, from a less exciting position in the stands, at the upcoming Melbourne show on October 4.
For more on the Australian Monster Jam Tour, visit the website
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Written byChris Fincham
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