Monster Jam monster truck 2015 review

Driving a monster truck is easy. There is power steering, an automatic gearbox, plush suspension and a view that means you can see clear over any SUV traffic snarl.

Tickle the gas and you’ve got 1200kW of supercharged power to get you going.

But driving one properly? Not me.

There is no way I’m going to launch one of these monsters into the air, or headbutt a 5m dirt wall, or crush a couple of runaway cars from a local wrecking yard. Instead, I’m happy to trickle around the outside of a Monster Jam course at a converted athletics stadium in Brisbane and leave the heroics to the professionals.

I kick the gas a couple of times, and I’m rewarded with a dinosaur-grade bellow and a massive thump from the power, but mostly it’s about ticking an item off my bucket list.

My time with a truck called Hot Wheels and its driver Scott Buetow comes as Monster Jam lands in Australia for its annual summer tour. All the toughest trucks, from Grave Digger and Monster Mutt to Metal Mulisha and Zombie have been freighted from America for the events.

It’s hard to get things into perspective with these outrageous beasts, but the numbers run from 300 truckloads of dirt for the monster truck course to 150,000 prepaid ticks to four local shows, as well as the 12 trucks themselves and 65 American crew members to build and run the courses and keep the trucks going.

Tickle the gas and you’ve got 1200kW of supercharged power to get you going

“I call myself an entertainer. That’s what I do,” Buetow told me.

“Monster Jam is chaos in a ring. It’s controlled carnage. It’s like modern-day gladiators.”

That’s not what I want to hear as he gives me a pre-drive check over his truck, the iconic Hot Wheels that he drives for more than 80 nights a year.

We start with the oversized tyres that cost $10,000 each, move through oversized suspension with four shock absorbers at each corner, then on to the drag racing-style supercharged V8 that makes 1200kW on methanol fuel, and the fibreglass body that costs more than $10,000 and is regularly trashed.

I climb up into the cabin, a trip more like mounting a helicopter than jumping into a car, to be confronted by a single wraparound competition bucket seat, a bank of switches, two pedals and the shift lever.

“Don’t worry too much. Once you get going it’s all about the gas,” he said.

“Besides, the officials have a radio kill switch. If you get into trouble, or get ahead of yourself, they’ll shut you down.”

Hot Wheels is idled out to the track and, after a couple of super-slow laps by radio hosts, it’s my turn for a drive. I know that Aussie stunt star Matt Mingay, a Gold Coaster who makes his living by doing outrageous things with motorcycles and off-road trucks, is having the final run and set to destroy a battered old Ford Falcon.

One destroys an engine in a fireball, and the crowd of nearly 40,000 cheers and whoops and loves it all

So I strap in tight. I cannot see much, even through the perspex panels that give a view down to the front wheels, but I get through the start-up procedure without a hitch and soon have control.

As I get going, the truck feels big and soft and wobbly. The steering feel is vague, the pedals take a hefty stomp, and I cannot see much. In some ways it’s like driving a sprintcar at the speedway.

But then I give it full gas, shift to second gear, and feel the kick from the fearsome V8. And then I do it again, just because I can.

The officials decide I’ve earned a bonus lap so I go harder, even though the acceleration effect is like sitting in the back of a high-powered speedboat. The nose lifts and I cannot see much, but it’s fun and I know I don’t have to worry about jumps or bumps or trying for a backflip.

Once Mingay has done his jump — nailing it in a way that impresses even Buetow and the other hard-marking drivers — I return for a show that’s two hours of mayhem and madness.

Three trucks tear wheels off, two complete successful backflips, one destroys an engine in a fireball, and the crowd of nearly 40,000 cheers and whoops and loves it all.