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They finally came back! Monster trucks were feature attractions in a touring show spectacular put on by owner-promoter Clive Featherby's KC's Fireworks Displays show group, that performed at Bathurst Showgrounds on the night of Saturday 17th September. Aussie monster truck Outback Thunda and USA's Monster Patrol headlined the show, alongside other attractions that included motorcycle stunt riders, a flame-throwing jet van, demolition derby race... and as you might expect, an intense fireworks display.
On this page you can view some of the stack of photos that I took, some during the actual show on Saturday, but most on the Thursday prior while the trucks and supporting vehicles were on display or being set up at the showgrounds and making appearances at locations around town (at one stage they had Monster Patrol parked in the McDonalds carpark!). Unfortunately I didn't have access to our whiz-bang digital camera during this time, so had to make do with the old 35mm film, but I think I got some very good results - helped by the fact that I expressly bought high-quality film (Kodak 400-speed 'MAX Versatility'... I can vouch it truly is), even most of the pics I took at night (which was what failed me at the '99 Motor Mayhem show) produced something to look at.
Click on the little pictures to bring up a big picture.
The star attractions were of course the big trucks, a lot more modern-looking and sturdy than the trucks we saw here six years ago. Outback Thunda is an Aussie monster truck with a 3D sculpted horse's head body (it was originally a mascot to the Brisbane Broncos football team). The KC's Fireworks group have also been importing American monster trucks, firstly Bear Foot and more recently Monster Patrol, which was the other truck making an appearance.
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Here I've included pics of some of the supporting acts that performed with the show.
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Snippets and articles from the local newspaper, the Western Advocate (Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th September issues); the show seemed to get quite a bit of coverage.
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These pictures were taken during the show itself. The crowd turnout was massive, despite the typically freezing Bathurstian weather, which threatened to delay proceedings more than once.
The first picture shows the end of a parade lap where the announcer introduced the drivers at the very beginning of the show (Clive, in the centre of frame, drove Outback Thunda - and also drove the Jet Van and fire stunt car, lit and narrated the fireworks displays and waved the starter's flag over the mini-monster truck race and demolition derby... well it's his show!). About a minute after taking this photo, Monster Patrol promptly broke down as it tried to drive off - the automatic transmission had failed! This meant that for most of the show only Outback Thunda was able to perform, although the crew worked hard behind the scenes to replace the gearbox(!) and Monster Patrol was able to roll out for the late and closing parts of the show.
You can also see pics of the Jet Van in action, which was a real crowd-pleaser as it shot jets of flame at least 5 or 6 metres in length. This was put to good use when they parked the thing by an old car and incinerated it with the jet (muahahaha).
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Visit ShadowPrincess' website for her own gallery of the show, when it appeared in Dapto on the previous weekend.