Monster Jam to thrill capacity crowd in Joburg this weekend

Held on custom courses that take over 20 hours to build from a very specific grade of dirt, Monster Jam consists of two race formats. The first is side-by-side racing, which sees two trucks out at the same time. Lasting roughly 20 seconds, this is traditional bracket racing where the first truck to cross the finish line with the least amount of penalties is declared the winner. In the freestyle section, each driver gets two minutes to jump, doughnut and backflip their way across the track in an attempt to accrue the most points from the fans. Indeed, those sitting in the stands can use their smartphones to score each competitor. 

Though each one of the eight competing monster trucks has a unique fibreglass body and an identity all their own, mechanically speaking they are all more or less the same. This means a custom-made steel chassis and an ultra heavy-duty suspension system specially designed to deal with their immense curb weight (a staggering 4,500kg). Power comes courtesy of 8.8l supercharged V8 engines that run on pure methanol and can develop over 1,100kW — enough to help these megaliths jump as far as 40 metres. Don't expect stellar fuel economy though as these motors use 17 litres of juice to go a single kilometre.