Monster Truck racing has become even more exciting with the arrival of the JCBDIGatron, Nick Johnson reports
THE iconic JCB brand has been given a big boost by the arrival of a new JCB monster truck called DIGatron at events run by the American organisation Monster Jam. Inspired by the legendary JCB backhoe loader, DIGatron made its European debut last month in front of a large crowd at the London Stadium in Stratford.
JCB has partnered with Monster Jam and the company’s equipment is now being used to create the special monster racing circuits when they are installed at famous stadiums around the world. Two distinctive DIGatron trucks have been produced to the standard Monster Jam specification with one based in America and the other in Europe.
The instigator of the DIGatron project has been eight-year-old Otis Bamford – the grandson of JCB chairman Lord Bamford. He was inspired by a model monster truck and his enthusiasm spread to his mother Alice and then on to Lord Bamford.
The JCB industrial design team lead by Ben Watson worked with Monster Jam engineers to produce the DIGatron. It weighs 5,443kg and is approximately 3.2m-high, 3.8m-wide and 5.2m-long.
Power is supplied by a 1,100kW (1,500hp) purpose-built, methanol-fuelled and supercharged Monster Jam engine. Complete with nitrogen-charged shock absorbers, the truck rides on four specially designed BKT tyres that are each 1.7m tall by 1.1m wide and are inflated to an optimal tyre pressure of 23psi.
The driver of DIGatron, which has a ‘symbolic’ loader at the front and a backhoe arm at the rear, is Tristan England from Paris, Texas. He first arrived in Monster Jam working on his dad’s truck, Big Kahuna. Tristan England attended the Monster Jam University and subsequently won his first tour championship in 2018. Now he is the 2023 Monster Jam World Finals Racing champion.
JCB is now the official heavy equipment partner of Monster Jam and a number of its excavators, backhoe loaders, wheel loaders and compact tracked loaders were used to create the dirt track with all its exciting jumps at the London Stadium. A JCB Fastrac 8330 iCON high speed tractor with a towed LGP2000 Major water bowser from TRU Plant was used during the event for dust suppression.
As well as the monster trucks, the big audience at the London Monster Jam also saw a display of the famous JCB Dancing Diggers. This show utilised not only four 3CX backhoe loaders but also two 531-70 Loadall telehandlers and two 270T compact tracked loaders.
There were three separate heats in the London Stadium for the drivers of the DIGatron, Grave Digger, Megalodon, Black Panther, The Amazing Spider-Man, El Toro Loco, Iron Man and Thor monster trucks. Tristan England in DIGatron won the Racing and Skills heats. But during the final Freestyle heat DIGatron, like several other trucks in the competition, toppled onto its side.
Tristan was unhurt and subsequent righting of DIGatron saw more conventional JCB kit in action. This was because the event’s recovery squad utilised one of their two JCB wheel loaders – a 437 and a 457 – each equipped with special lifting arms.
The London Stadum Monster Jam event saw the start of a special long-term partnership between JCB and the musician Joe Walsh’s charity VetsAid (which helps American military veterans). His song ‘Dig It’ (with brother-in-law Ringo Starr on drums) was played loudly as the JCB DIGatron dramatically entered the arena in Stratford for the first time.
