How did it start?
MONSTER TRUCKS were born in the late 70s. The first cars to ever participate in such an event were pickup trucks whose wheels and suspensions were enlarged twofold. Simultaneously, an apocalypse movie hit Mad Max was made in Australia, creating room for dieselpunk culture and letting out into the world the massive “Interceptor” – the very first monster truck. MONSTER TRUCKS began to air officially in 1981. Bob Chandler, who was originally from the US, was at the gear of Bigfoot, the very first monster car. He shot a few frames of him smashing two light-weight vehicles in the field with his huge-wheeled monster car. In this way, he was aiming to advertise his car parts shop and lure more clients into his business. However, fate had other plans. A producer saw the video and came up with an idea to make a show out of it. Since then, Monster Trucks have gained a massive following in every country of the world, gathering stadiums to see Bigfoot “perform” live.
Monster trucks nowadays
The show has adopted several names since then and has been successfully touring the world. It’s currently called “Monster Jam” in America, Canada and Holland, “Monster Events” in Australia, and “Monster Truck Show” in GB, among other examples. Some programs have grown in volume and feature stunts, races, and different types of live entertainment.
What the future holds?
The movement of monster cars and custom smashing vehicles is on the rise. Across the globe, custom technicians develop and design various monster cars to fit the fans’ interests, from Mad Max to other themes. Ukraine is no exception. Several daredevil monster trucks were exhibited at BestRoboFest, the biggest Ukrainian festival dedicated to robotics. The so-called MonsterCarsUA event premiered in 2017 and hosted 17 designers from big Ukrainian cities. Customized “home-made” vehicles, all types from jeeps to bicycles, were part of the monster exhibition. Both the audience and the judicial commission were astounded by the variety. Association Noosphere, founded by Max Polyakov, Managing Partner of Noosphere Ventures, was this year’s event organizer and assigned substantial prizes to the winners of the contest to allow them to create new monsters for the next year’s event. Max Polyakov commented that it was an immense pleasure to reinstate that the number of people participating in the biggest Robofest of Ukraine – BestRoboFest – had grown twofold since the previous year. He firmly believed that those young engineers who dared to come and show what great ideas they had at Noosphere’s event would be leading the scientific progress of Ukraine in the future. 2018 show promises to be even more eye-catching. Everyone who has a passion for mechanics and has developed their idea of the project of a monster car is encouraged to participate. Indeed, such enormous toys allow us to feel free and excited again, as in childhood and live a life full of adrenaline and adventure. Thus, they must be created!
