CAST LIST
Easy Rider Monster Truck
Easyrider is a 12 foot high, 800 pound hulk of fiberglass, metal and rubber. Owner Kevin Koszala built it from scratch for $175,000. Owning and building a monster isn't just all glam and torque. It's hard work, with high costs and a precious, vulnerable investment.
Doing one show alone can cost $250 in fuel! Sitting on top of enormous rig tires, with an engine built for a hippodrome of horse-power at your feet and fingers. If you get it wrong, this truck - and you - could get into some serious trouble very fast.
High Tower Crane
The SK415 Hammerhead Crane. A crane is affectionately known as the Bicep of a jobsite. It is a world of geometry and physics... skyhigh and without a washroom!
And a few pounds over the lifting limit a crane could tip right over!! Hoisting, swinging, dropping and counterswinging are what the operator concerns himself with. All the while on windy days you sway a lot, and on rainy days you are the closest thing to a bolt of lightning. And if there is a problem on the jib arm, guess who crawls out to fix it??!
Great Lakes Freighter "MV Algowood"
The MV ALGOWOOD is a grande dame of Great Lake vessels. At 740 feet in length and a 75 foot beam, she is larger than even her ocean-going cousins. Wheeling the MV ALGOWOOD puts our contestant in charge of 36,000 tons of cargo in one of the few freighters that can navigate the entire length of the world's largest waterway - the St Lawrence Seaway System.
The locks at St Catharines are the tightest squeeze in the system, and MV Algowood needs a firm helmsman to help the Captain get her behemoth frame through. With only 6 feet of space around her for berthing, the risks are high that she could bump...and that could lead to bust! Either of the boat, or worse...if a problem happens in the locks, they would have to shut right down for repairs!
Rock Quarry Vehicles
Welcome to the biggest machines doing the hardest work...the world of big trucks, crushing rocks, cement powder and loud dumping!
Rock quarries are the stuff of boyhood dreams with REAL yellow trucks bigger than anything you see on any road repair crew. The rocks quarried here are used in the making of cement...and the noise, power and load capacity you see here is a trip into big, loud and heavy. What's more, our lucky participant gets to work not just ONE truck...but up to THREE - TWO LOADERS and a HAUL TRUCK!
Steel Slab Carrier
A steel slab carrier is perhaps the largest hulking machine on four wheels based on traveling weight.
When fully loaded and in motion this beast can weigh upwards of 130 tons. It does the backbreaking job of moving enormous slabs of unrefined steel slabs within a steel mill...from plant to holding yards. And what's more, these slabs are scalding HOT. A carrier driver sits atop nearly 500 degrees of freshly poured steel! Our hottest, heaviest, hugest machine on four wheels!
Locomotive GP9 (General Purpose) Diesel Train Engine
What boy, big or small, doesn't have a thing for trains? Something about rails, haulage, and the long long rails is the stuff of dreams.
Our lucky participant gets to choo choo through the eternal boyhood dream. As our expert says it, "A train is the longest, heaviest machine moving on the face of the Earth." Upwards of a kilometre long and loads of any measure, that is NOT untrue! Being in charge of an "Iron Horse" puts you at the helm of cargo that can range from sandy aggregate to corrosive chemicals.
Vanguard 18 Hovercraft
Part boat, part plane, part nothing else, the Hovercraft is the platypus of the machine world! It is an amphibious oddity and while to the eye it never leaves earth, operators of hovercrafts are called 'pilots'.
The reason? Air. This beast flies on wind principles more than land traction or aquatic bouyancy and navigation. Scientifically, an Air Cushion Vehicle can move over smooth surfaces by gliding on a cushion of air. It can travel on water, ice and land including rough terrain. The engine powers the lifting fan blowing air between the vehicle's platform and the ground, an area that is enclosed by a skirt. The trapped air creates a plenum chamber (a chamber intended to contain air, gas, or liquid at positive pressure) and produces the hovercraft's lift. It does not have brakes, instead reversing its propeller to slow/stop. The Vanair 18 carries 18 passengers and runs on 350 HP Cummins diesel engine. It is controlled by a conventional steering wheel operating a hydraulically-assisted power steering system and fully reversing propeller. Twin individually-controlled lift fans.
Scooptram
Perhaps the single most dangerous instrument in our series. The death and injury toll in adit caves clocks in at a higher rate than any other equipment.
Death and injury lurk everywhere in an adit rock cave. As big as an elephant, the scoop tram is the technological genus that allows for rock to be extracted from a hill. The tires of a scoop tram have NO TREAD in order to avoid being hacked to pieces. The confined spaces mean a wrong move could ram the tram into the rockface with no way to move it out. At every step and inch of drive there is the dark. Dangers here are added to with darkness, and death appears often in real mines.
M60 Army Tank
This is the M60 A1 Army Tank. The US Army's heavy ground gunner during Desert Storm. A legend among tanks...32 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 12 feet high. It weighs 55 tons without the crew of 4.
It travels at a top clip of 30 mph. The operator must use a t-bar to steer it, and to cut back on mid-manouevres hassle it's...automatic. No clutch. The gun is 105mm turret mounted machine and anti-aircraft gun. Inside the hull is a cramped and bumpy world. The driver must operate blind, follow commands from the tank commander, and keep clear of the gun as it swings around. He can have his head out the turret for visibility, or his eye on a periscope. It's the single most uncomfortable and dangerous vehicle you can stuff 4 men into.
Construction Grader
The grader is the finisher on a construction site. Once all the grunt work on the site is done, the grader is brought in to sculpt the dirt like a fine piece of art.
Patience is the key with this machine, and it's not unusual for the operator to make several passes before the surface is perfectly smoothed out. And it's multi-tasking at its best. In addition to a steering wheel, the operator has individual levers for left lift and drop; right lift and drop; circle left and right; and blade rotate. If that's not enough, the front wheels actually tilt to allow the long grader to make relatively tight turns. It's a machine that can take years to master.
Big Rig
It's the most visible vehicle on the road today. With ten gears, 18 wheels and a 53-foot trailer, the big rig demands complete concentration and a surprising amount of co-ordination.
It's tough enough finding the right gear for the right speed, and gets even more difficult when you're asked to double clutch. Unlike your five-speed family car, the driver of a big rig has to actually press in his clutch twice when changing gears, and keep his RPM's up at the same time. It's a tricky dance that involves timing and pace. Now add a 53-foot trailer, and the driving experience takes on a whole new dynamic...not to mention trying to steer one of these monsters through rush hour traffic.