Says Andy; “I regularly passed the Duxford facility taking vehicles for MOT testing at Royston and noticed the white tractor parked in the yard. It was there for quite a while until one day it had gone. A friend of mine, who knew I was interested in it, told me that it had been sold to a character living in another village close to Duxford. Apparently, it had been parked in an orchard just gathering moss, but my friend knew the guy well enough to persuade him to part with the tractor, and I ended up paying him £3,500 for it.
I brought the tractor back to my yard on a cold, dark night. It would have been around February time in 1987. I set about stripping the whole thing down and spent a lot of time (and money) on it. I installed the larger D70 engine with bigger injectors and a larger turbocharger on an extended chassis, introduced a slipper type clutch, changed the front steering axle and significantly reduced the size of the bell ends on the rear axle to get the weight down”.
The original roll bar was removed and still sits in a corner
of Andy’s workshop today, whilst the original front axle sits outside in his yard!
“With all these changes, I decided to give the tractor its new crimson livery and renamed it “The Viking”, with the respray being done here at West Wratting. I competed with it up until 1998 when
I sold it on to Bob Snelgrove, who hailed from Wiltshire, parting with it for the sum of £10,000. It sounds a lot, but I had spent quite a bit on it whilst it was in my possession.” Fast forward, back to Darren Trower, who picks up the story. “I’m not quite sure how long Bob Snelgrove kept The Viking, but he continued competing with it for some time until he sold it on to Alun Mason in South Wales before I acquired it ten years ago. We have competed with it, but it has lain dormant for the last four years. In its current state, The Viking will achieve 1000hp, revving out at 5000rpm. I would reckon if you were to take it out on a flat road, you would achieve around 100 mph in it – no danger! The aluminium chassis is now one single piece, and the front steering axle is fabricated. Other mods have been done to comply with regulations, such as the driver’s cage, three-piece harness, and preventions against side blow-outs from the engine and gearbox.” What next? Well, according to Darren, he is hoping to take The
Viking out of retirement to race once again, and THE VOICE wishes him well.
Who knows, when The Viking is raging once again at full RPM, it wouldn’t be impossible to imagine the ghostly whinnying of the legendry Vit Häst... ■
EXTENDED PHOTO GALLERY OVERLEAF
a
Vit Häst in action – this time with Brian White in the saddle sporting the wheels and tyres from a Volvo 740 on the front axle
Kevin Perry (left) and Brian White with Vit Häst on display on the Anglo Swedish stand at The Royal Show 1986
More trophies – from left to right, Ian Moxon – Duxford’s mobile welder (and a handy person to have around!), Kevin Perry, principle driver on top of the tractor, Roy Bright centre and Byron Robinson from Duxford workshops
THE VOICE MAGAZINE No38 2020 29
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