Getting unloaded – the team would ‘borrow’ one of the company’s low loaders to transport the stallion to events


More events and yet more development took place. “We competed at the Town & Country festival at Stoneleigh, events in Somerset, Wiltshire and Norfolk, using the company low loader to trundle the stallion about. In 1986 we were crowned British champions in the 8000lb pro stock class and achieved second place in the 10000lb pro stock class. It was all done in our spare time and any money we won we gave to charities. We took pride in our appearance at these events too, wearing Volvo BM overalls. We had to get the T-shirts made as well and our then marketing lady, Bev, came up with a unique design. Well, it wasn’t that unique, to be truthful, because it was the Lloyds bank prancing horse with its head turned 180 degrees and of course in white!” (Roy still has his.) “We continued to tinker with the engine and installed an electric fuel pump working at 100psi, besides introducing a mix of water and methanol combined with the diesel to further increase compression and to prevent the cylinders from melting. As it was, the manifold would glow white when the tractor was at full chat. With this application, we had managed to increase the engine horsepower from its humble 105hp up to a stonking 540hp!”


“We tinkered with other parts of the tractor too,” recalls Brian. “It was Roy who ‘purloined’ a pair of wheels and tyres from a Volvo 740 which had allegedly been written off.” With the White Horse and the team gathering some notable successes and plans to upsize the tractor and develop it further, the dream, unfortunately, was going to be short lived. The volunteers had been warned that if they were caught working on the tractor in company time it would be curtains. And so it was towards the end of 1986, coming back from a weekend event, that Roy was caught inadvertently carrying one of the engine side panels across the yard – and that was that; the threat had become a promise, and the White Horse was put up for sale. Wanting to know what happened to the tractor next, THE VOICE was put in touch with Andy Waygood by our good friend Geoff Ashcroft, who regularly writes for the magazine. Geoff, as with Andy, is into his tractor pulling and competes in the UK, Ireland and the near continent. Andy has a commercial vehicle servicing and repair business in West Wratting, Cambridgeshire and helped us to fill in some of the gaps about the fate of the Vit Häst.


CONTINUED OVERLEAF a


THE VOICE MAGAZINE No38 2020 27


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