European Super Pull 2016 Action Photos: The Coolest Rigs, Awesome Photos From Rotterdam!


European Super Pull 2016 Action Photos: The Coolest Rigs, Awesome Photos From Rotterdam!

(Words and photos by Dennis Voss) – After the winter it sure to say spring is closeby, certainly if you combine this with the wonderful noise of Methanol and Diesel engines chomping away to gain some heat. These sights and sounds mend that the NTTO (Dutch Truck and Tractor Pulling) was slowly awaking again and thousands of men, women accompanied by an equal number of horsepower gathered during the European Superpull 2016 that was being held in AHOY Rotterdam. There was quite some crowd during the afternoon and evening session of this event, which was held at the beginning of March. The star attraction this year was the Green Streak Pullingteam from the USA who shipped both of their tractors across the sea. It was a real sight to see these tractors run against the more established European order. It was also good to see that they were quite a force to recon with didn’t back down, which resulted in quite a show. Because this was an indoor event the track was shortened to around 60 meters (around 200 ft) with a floating finish.

Tractorpulling is quite popular here now-a-days, and gaining popularity even more and more. The bigger events that are being held here, take place on courses with not more than 3 tracks beside each other. Also the technology involved in these behemoths grew exponentially in the last decade, including engine shapes and sizes. What started with V8’s, V12’s, and Russian build Isotov Turbine engines, there is now a rise of 6 cilinder straights. This to keep the running costs lower, but can generate a lot of power thanks to two or sometimes three turbo’s. Luckily the older generation still exists and still can throw some punches and generate a lot of noise. Although the economic downfall has took a toll on the teams they still compete intense and seek ways to stay on top of the game.

From the start it clearly showed that the winter period brought new inspiration to the teams and the competition was on full throttle. A lot of Full Pulls and Pull Offs resulted into an event that lasted almost 9 hours, which is exceptionally long but was worth every minute. For me as a drag race fanatic this was also a welcome break to slow down, relax and enjoy the show. As a spectator you didn’t had time to get bored very easily, as “unfortunately” a couple of tractors ended up with some serious (sometimes catastrophic) engine failure. This resulted in some big bangs accompanied with a decent dose of flames. As you will see in the video there was a wide variety of tractors present, so you didn’t  get the same thing twice a day.

Because this was one of only 2 indoor editions the NTTO organises, there were some modifications made to the sledge. Main reason for this is the extraction of the Diesel fumes that are generated by the Prostocks, Trucks and Supersports. The system performed flawlessly until this edition when it suddenly broke down due to the intense heat generated by some tractors. This resulted in some delays and changes but every class was able to drive and impress us with the amount of raw power these things can produce. NTTO and AHOY once again delivered a great event and a welcome start of the tractor pulling season, which will be shown for the USA during the remainder of the year !!!EXCLUSIVELY!!! via Bangshift.com!

Click on the images below to expand them and then scroll through to see ’em all!


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