European Tractor Pulling (ETPC)
North-West Tractor Pullers Club
Scottish Truck and Tractor Pulling Association
South West Tractor Pullers Association
Orllwyn Teifi Vintage Show Page
Orllwyn Teifi Vintage Show Site
Three Okefords Preservation Society
Of Diesels, Boats, Steam and Beer
Nuffield & Leyland Tractor Club
UKTP News Updates
RIP Dave Cox
Posted Tuesday 6th December, 2011
IN MEMORIAM
With great sadness I find myself having to write that the original 'driving force', great friend & co-owner of 'Hoof Hearted' lost his long fought battle with cancer on the morning of 5th December 2011.
Having known him for over 20 years, his passion and quiet competitive spirit has left us all. His initial interest in sled pulling was with his much loved team of Alaskan Malamutes and dog power led to horsepower. I thank the Malpas crew for putting on the final event of the season where Dave was able to drive the tractor for the final time so close to the end of his life.
Thoughts go to Julie (his wife) and his family who have remained so strong and positive throughout his battle. He will be missed by the many people whose lives he touched. RIP
Richard Hutton - 6th December, 2011
Dave's funeral will be at Swindon Crematorium on Monday 19th December at 1pm.
A new Association of Fordson and Ford owners
Posted Friday 19th August, 2011
On the 9th April this year a new Tractor owners association was born specifically to cater for Ford, Fordson, New Holland and all the derivatives like County and Muir-Hill, under the name of Blue Force.
The Ford Motor Company of America has officially sanctioned the use of the wheat sheaf as the basis of the logo. Blue Force is not linked to any commercial or other enterprise and is being run for the members by the members, and as funds allow, with membership approval, Blue Force will support various charities as well as offering a number of benefits for members.
Blue Force will encompass Fordson, Ford, New Holland tractors and machines, and any of the skid units that were converted by such famous companies as County, Doe, Muir-Hill, Roadless, etc. Tractors covering agricultural, amenity and industrial will form part of Blue Force as will commercial lorries such as the Ford Thames Trader which also carried the Fordson name as well as the famous wheat sheaf logo.
Every type of Ford / New Holland-related tractor will be accepted, from fully-restored through working, to all-original. Whether it is a UK or Irish-built unit, or one that was built in America or any other part of the world, all are and will be welcome. Each related tractor and every person is as important as the next, and Blue Force will not discriminate or operate in a partisan fashion. At the time of writing it is not clear if Pulling Tractors are eligible because strictly speaking the engine / back-end combination is not original although in Pulling circles it has become a de-facto standard.
Another of the aims of the group is to provide a full service, from tractor registrations to technical assistance and advice. Tractor and cosmetic repair plus restoration advice are also very much on the agenda, with guidance and general help pertaining to the preservation of anything blue.
A leading team of recognised technical experts has been assembled and will be on hand to give the advice that is needed to run Blue Force and look after the ‘Friends of Fordson – Ford – New Holland & Derivatives’.
Click here to visit the Blue Force web site.
A.W.Blake Ltd found guilty of H&S failing
Posted Tuesday 7th June, 2011
AW Blake Ltd, of Ivegill near Carlisle, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by putting lives at risk. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £15,000 in prosecution costs.
On Sunday 26th August, 2007 Jan van Alphen was competing in the Euro Challenge Cup in Great Eccleston when his tractor was crushed. A 12 tonne box of weights, attached to the Sledge he was pulling, hit the back of his tractor.
Mr van Alphen, who had been involved in the tractor pulling motor sport since its introduction in the Netherlands in 1979, had won dozens of national and European championship titles. He was married with three children.
Preston Crown Court heard the 58-year-old had been pulling the Sledge at approximately 60 miles an hour when the control mechanism failed. The weight box on the back on the trailer crashed through safety buffers and into Mr van Alphen's tractor as he tried to slow down.
It took fire and ambulance services an hour to free him from the wreckage before he could be airlifted to hospital, where he died from severe crush injuries
On August 25, the day before Mr van Alphen was killed, the sledge carrying a weight began “free-wheeling” and crashed into the back of the vehicle on two occasions.An employee of A W Blake saw these collisions but did not bring them to the attention of company director Andrew Blake or act upon them, the court heard.
Judge Stuart Baker said these collisions could have led to a weakening of the end stop on the vehicle and said: “The fact of free-wheeling and collisions giving rise to the risk was something that had occurred on the day before the accident.”
The HSE investigation found engineers had attempted to repair a fault in the trailer's control mechanism on three separate occasions during the previous day. The mechanism should have caused the weight box to move up the trailer rails slowly until it reached the buffers.
Despite the recurrent fault, the trailer was still put back into use on Sunday at the Great Eccleston Showground.
Dominic Kay, defending, told the court had Mr Blake been aware of the impacts he would have taken the Mighty Challenger out of the competition.
The investigation also concluded the trailer would not have met the rules of the European Tractor Pulling Committee or the British Tractor Pulling Association. Tests showed that the emergency brakes, although fitted, could not stop the weight box quickly enough.
Liz Evans, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:
"Mr van Alphen was an experienced tractor-pulling competitor but he lost his life because AW Blake Ltd didn't do enough to look after his safety. It was given three warnings the previous day that the control mechanism wasn't working properly, but did not take the trailer out of use at the event.
"The company also failed to follow the guidelines set down by the governing body for tractor-pulling. The motor sport is a potentially high-risk activity and so it's vital the rules are followed to the letter.
"It's tragic the excellent health and safety record of tractor pulling events has been tarnished by the failings of one company. I hope lessons will be learnt from this so that both the public and drivers can continue to enjoy tractor pulling events safely in the future."
Click here to see the HSE article...
Click here to see the report of the Court proceedings in the Lancashire Evening Post...
NTTO & ETPC
Quoted from the ETPC web site...
May 2nd 2011 - Mr. Gerrit Alting passed away at the age of 69. Tractor Pulling was a passion and a challenge for Gerrit.
Mr. Gerrit Alting brought the Tractor Pulling sport to Europe during the World Championships ploughing at the former Flevohof (NL) in 1977.
After being the Chairman of the NTTO, he became 'Member of Honour' of the NTTO in 2002.
He organised the indoor 'European Super Pull' in Ahoy stadium in Rotterdam for 33 years.
The Tractor Pulling World lost a great man. The European Tractor Pulling Committee is very grateful for everything Gerrit has done for our beautiful sport Truck and Tractor Pulling.
Thank You Gerrit.
STPC
Quoted from the STPC web site...
"The STPC can confirm that they will not be pulling at BA Stores vintage working weekend this year. The entire STPC are extremely disappointed to not have met the deadline to get the sledge finished in time, but would like to acknowledge all members, past and present, along with a number of volunteers who have put in an enormous effort to build the sledge. We still hope to try and host a farm tractor class as well as putting on a static display. Keep a look out for events later this year as well as updates from BTPA points pulls!"
You may remember the Scots decided to take a year out of Pulling with the intention of entirely re-building 'Eliminator' to ensure it conformed with all the ETPC requirements made in the wake of the Great Eccleston disaster... Despite all the hard work, the team felt that it was more prudent to ensure the new Sledge was fully tried and tested before being used in competition. Have a look at their site for more pictures of the Sledge... Does anyone know if they're going to call it 'Eliminator' again or select a new name reflecting the complete re-design and re-build?
Question answered. There is a report about the Static Display on the STPC web site (http://www.stpc.org.uk/) and it does give the Sledge name as 'Eliminator'.
SWTPA
The new SWTPA web site has now been launched in its new permanent location...
STTPA & STPA
A large section of the Scottish Pulling contingent seems to have broken away from the STPA and formed the STTPA (Scottish Truck and Tractor Pulling Association) which is affiliated to the SWTPA and the IOPD. I wonder if this means we'll be seeing Scottish Pullers at Bristol in May? It would seem that the legacy of the bad old days of the BTPA still lingers on...
The STTPA will be running their inaugural Pull at Keith Country Show Park on the 18th & 19th of June. We all wish them well.