Stunning stunts and tricks

MONSTER trucks, supercars, drifting, superbikes, new models and plenty of horsepower can mean only one thing … a motor show!

There is always a certain energy in the air at shows like this, it’s almost electrifying as the rapturous applause of the crowd struggles to be heard over the roar of the engines.

All of the kingdom’s best-loved motoring brands were in attendance, displaying their latest mean machines and offering test-drives around the track to delighted spectators.

In the show area, Team Maximum Lock, the number one drift team in the Maltese islands, treated crowds to a stunning display of drifting prowess. The team, made up of stunt drivers Mark Galea, Christian Bezzina and Clint Abela, literally ran circles around each other, showing their skill and precision to a delighted audience who were, at times, engulfed by plumes of smoke from the tyres.

Team Maximum Lock is to drifting what the Red Arrows team is to flying, precision of the highest calibre. Often the drivers are mere inches away from collision during their carefully choreographed routines, which, at times, sees them get out of their vehicles and perform Jean Claude Van Damme-style stunts on the bonnets as the cars spin round in circles.

Next up was Lee Bowers, one of the UK’s premier professional stunt bike riders, a reputation crowds will attest is well deserved after watching him in action.

During his show he performed a range of high and low speed manoeuvres, with names almost as impressive as the stunts themselves. Some of the more impressive tricks in his arsenal included Scorpion Circle, Ralph Louie, High Chair Circles, Boston Strangler and Frogger Foot On Cage.
 
The show’s compere, local funny man Baraa Abdulla, told the crowd: ‘the louder you cheer, the higher Lee will jump’. This was no empty promise. As the crowd got louder, Lee took his bike higher and higher, at times doing handstands while cruising along.

As the afternoon’s entertainment continued, stunt driver Terry Grant picked up the pace.

Grant is an international legend when it comes to stunt driving and has created a brand of show unlike any other. He throws his car from side-to-side, sliding around obstacles and people, standing on the roof of his moving vehicle doing mind-boggling donuts and even drifting around an unmanned moving vehicle.

He is also Guinness World Records’ most successful stunt driver with a staggering 19 records to his name, including making the most narrow J-turn on record. A J-turn is a driving manoeuvre in which a reversing vehicle is spun 180 degrees, and continues facing forward without changing direction of travel.

Rounding off the motoring entertainment was an emotional Slingshot Monster Truck performance.

Karl Swallow started Monster Truck adventures in 2003 when he decided to make his dream a reality and move forward from Street Legal Monster Trucks to the real deal.

Although Karl passed away in July 2012, eager to keep the family dream alive, his nephew Alan got behind the wheel and was on-hand to thrill the crowd at the BIC.

The truck itself is a sight to behold. It boasts a 2004 Chevy Silverado body, a Chevy 528 1,800 horsepower engine paired with a COAN 2-Speed transmission. It is 12 feet high, 12.5 feet wide and weighs a staggering five tonnes.

Karl laid waste to some strategically-placed old bangers in the arena, squashing them like tin cans, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.

Keeping with the motoring theme was Daniel Jovanov, a former contestant on Australia’s Got Talent. His talent is a car enthusiast’s version of beat boxing, whereby he makes car noises with nothing more than a microphone.
 
The highlight of the entertainment was a performance from US rapper and TV personality Xzibit who treated the audience to a string of hits.