Recently the two Rotary Clubs of Gawler the Rotary Club of Gawler and The Rotary Club of Gawler Light joined forces to run the town’s most successful fund raising event ever. It was only by sharing that this was possible as the project was too big for each club individually.

So:

• Is earsplitting noise your thing ?
• Does the sound of three supercharged unsilenced engines running at full power on one chassis turn you on ?
• Being issued with ear plugs with your entry ticket an excitement not a turn off ?
• Does the sight and sound of raw power and the thunder of pistons excite you ?

Then a tractor pull is for you! Tractor pulling is an international sport with major competitions in England, Europe and America as well as Australia.

A huge crowd of gathered at the Gawler Paceway on a beautiful day to enjoy the unmatched power of the Modified Tractors. The Rotary Clubs of Gawler and Gawler Light put a tremendous effort into making this inaugural event a terrific basis for future events close to Adelaide. This tremendous event under the auspices of the Australian Tractor Pullers Association, one of ten such annual events, attracted nearly five thousand spectators which was in excess of the numbers the clubs hoped for in their wildest dreams in this a first effort. Altogether takings from the day from the gate and bars was in excess of $94,000.00 which with the sponsorship the Rotary Clubs had arranged produced a profit of very close to $70,000.00; the biggest one day Rotary fund raiser ever in the town of about twenty thousand.

It was not however an easy job as though the venue provided a grandstand, car parking and an enclosing fence the clubs were starting from scratch otherwise. The normal crowd to a trotting meet was far from the numbers this day generated so all the extended facilities for food, drink and waste disposal had to be provided. The track had to be manufactured in the centre of the circuit and all safety fencing, pit lane and entertainment provided for. So it was all hands on deck to set up public address systems, fencing, lighting for spectator access, manning the gates and the bars, feeding the competitors and keeping the sponsors happy together with the thousand and one other jobs which had to be done. A lot of Rotarians learnt a lot of new skills that weekend! The Equine Flu epidemic caused an unexpected complication with areas where horses had been before the event having to be quarantined to prevent anyone tracking home an infection to their farms and live stock.

The crowds started flocking through the gates at around eleven in the morning and it was non stop ticket sales until the action started at two in the afternoon. The throngs were entertained in the meantime with side shows, children’s rides, helicopter rides, a Ute muster, vintage tractor and stationary engine display, skydivers and the action in the pits. The threat of a 20 tonne deadweight Case tractor owned by Lyndoch Motors, the major sponsor, literally hanging over their heads suspended forty feet in the air from a crane did nothing to deter them. The drivers were unstoppable and went long beyond the scheduled finishing time of eight thirty concluding under lights at around nine thirty followed by live band music on a flatbed truck in true Aussie country and western style. Plenty of food and drink was provided, mainly by the towns other service clubs who too turned a handsome profit, to keep everyone happy.

The competition consists of (much) modified tractors pulling a specially designed sled along a dirt track. Tractors vary in size from modified ride-on mowers for beginners to 2000 horsepower monsters with names such as “Enforcer”, “Outlaw” and “Rough Justice.” We apply the word ‘tractor’ loosely as, apart from the standard farm classes and the vintage (traditional) machines, the only other similarity between what you see and hear on the track and what is working on the farm, are the rear tyres. Most of today’s modified tractors are more than awesome.

Not satisfied with the power and noise generated by big engines like Chevrolet 454 or 600 cubic inch motors, which can produce in excess of 1000 horse power, tractors pullers have devised methods of coupling two or even three of these engines together. Others have gone for a more exotic flavour and sourced their power from a Chieftain tank, WW2 Fighter Aircraft and even Jet Aircraft. Then there are the ‘mini’ tractors that utilise their own special sled. These machines compete in classes defined by maximum weight limits of 760kg up to 950kg, which includes the driver. It is not surprising that every opportunity for reducing the overall weight of the tractor is taken. These incredible machines do not run radiators or water pumps to keep the engines cool, or alternators to charge the battery. Imagine, if you can, an assortment of Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler V8’s, two screaming Mazda Rotary engines coupled together, a Jaguar V12, two Leyland P76 V8’s and even, at one stage a turbo charged Holden 6 cylinder and Mamba Jet Turbine Engine.

The sled is designed so that drag brakes are progressively applied as it moves forward increasing the power needed to keep it moving. Thus the object is to get as much power as possible out of your engine and the skill in translating that to traction on the ground. The very earth shakes!

The non stop tractor action included many fantastic pulls and the battle for points and placings throughout the field of modified vehicles was very close all day. As the points gained count towards the overall annual championship competition was fierce and two outstanding performances came from:

• Riverina Screamer: Joe and Ray Cottam had the Rolls Royce V12 running well and cleaned up the Open Modified class,
• 2-Tuff: Dave Clancy ended a 15 year drought with a first place in the Mini Modified, causing the current front runners to grab the tools and start tinkering.

Local driver Barry Ward, who was responsible for bringing the idea of the event to Rotary, also did well with his tractor “Rumpus” despite the last minute rush to get the vehicle competitive.

Presentations were held after the event in the sponsors area, the dining room overlooking the track in the spacious Paceway grandstand. All in all a great venue for the competition which we hope will be come and annual event. This will involve a small problem for the two clubs as the state government has scheduled it for demolition to make way for a new freeway. However the clubs are confident that no state government can possibly stand up to the determined efforts of two Rotary Clubs together!

For the environmentally conscious the track was returned to a better condition than before the day by mid afternoon the following day and the Rotary Club of Gawler Light are growing from scratch and will plant between seven hundred and fifty and eight hundred trees to gain the necessary carbon credits as penance for the exhaust emissions generated by the event.

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