11 BRITAIN'S TRUCK FESTIVAL 5
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illiGiffEST
Entries flood in.
Five hundred trucks from home and aboard and may celebrities are expected at this premium transport show at Peterborough over Easter
ENTRIES for the concours d'elegance competitions at Truckfest this Easter weekend have been flooding in. The organisers confidently predict that there will be well over 500 trucks lining up for judging on the Easter Sunday — entries will be allowed on the day.
There are four major classes; best-kept working truck (sponsored by Commercial Motor); custom truck of the year (sponsored by Eminox); best-kept fleet (sponsored by Bandag); and the best-kept international truck (sponsored by Shell).
By sheer weight of numbers Volvo, Scania and Daf units dominate the entry list. Maybe the Leylands, ERFs and Seddon Atkinsons will emerge on the day.
Other competitions for smart vehicles include an award for the best paintwork (sponsored by the Wilcox Group), the best custom van (sponsored by PM Trucks), the cab of the year (sponsored by Lucas Service UK) and the best vintage truck. Truckfest aims to be a unique combination of trade show, truck festival and entertainment for the family. There is no truck racing. Like most of the road freight industry, the Truckfest organisers and sponsor Commercial Motor do not believe that truck racing promotes the best image for the industry.
But there will be some fun events that are against the clock. For example, Octagon Recovery is staging a competition to find the speediest recovery operator. Contestants will have to raise and move a casualty vehicle along a measured course. There will be eliminators and finals held in the main arena during the two days of Truckfest.
There is more trade support than ever at this, the third Truckfest. Ford, one of the later trade bookings, will be bringing its celebrity sports roadshow with David Coleman and Bernie Winters (on Sunday) and Ron Pickering and George Best on Easter Monday.
Scania is really pushing the boat out for Truckfest. The star of its line-up will be a (bonneted) T142 6x4 tractive unit brought over from the Dutch Scania factory. This unit has every conceivable extra and is complete with murals depicting the first Scania and the first Vabis from around the turn of the century.
There will be a British operator's R142 with an equally stunning paint job and together with others from Europe and Scandinavia they will form the finest collection of special Scanias ever seen. Visitors will be able to examine the new P92 unit fitted with computer aided gearshifting and can drive an R112.
There will be plenty of famous faces in the expected 100,000 plus crowds at Truckfest. Geoff Capes, Emlyn Hughes, John H. Stracey, Barry Sheene, Noel Edmonds, Bob Harris, Linda Lusardi, David Wilkie and Jim Bowen are just some of the personalities who will be there.
There will be plenty of demonstration vehicles on hand for test drives so bring your hgv driving licence if you want to take advantage of this; you will be driving on public roads around the showground.
Although the UK is a relative newcomer to the world of truck meets, Truckfest has already attracted the attention of the foreign press. Swedish, Dutch and American trade and truck magazines will be there reporting on the event.