History
Our interest in tractor pulling first began back in 1985 when the late Jim Forrest senior saw an article in the Power Farming magazine and also saw tractor pulling at The Royal Show, Stoneleigh. We heard of a Scottish club starting and we visited a demonstration pull at the Transport Museum, Alford and from that point we decided we wanted to build a puller.
A 1956 scrap Major was bought and after five months of weekend building and many a discussion our puller finally trundled from the shed and saw daylight.
Big Smoke at its 1st ever event
With expectations high we attended our first pull in Alford in 1986. After all that time and effort during the past few months all we managed to achieve was a burnt out clutch! We had the fuel pump set to maximum, we fully expected lots of smoke, (we got a big disappointment) but hence the name ''Big Smoke''. It was back to the drawing board and after consulting our friend Alistair Robertson, (who has proved invaluable with his technical expertise over the years), that winter saw a complete rebuild. The following season saw a big improvement in performance but it left a lot of scope to make the tractor even better.
Jim Forrest Jnr at Alford in 1987.
Over the following years Big Smoke enjoyed much success and heartache, with no fewer than 4 back ends and numerous engine blocks having to be replaced.
Knockhill '89
The following photos are from Knockhill racing circuit 1989. On the Sunday, fully weighed up for 4.4 ton class, just as Big Smoke left the line there was an almighty bang and the tractor split in half.
but comes to an early stop as he see's the bull gears between his legs!
Sandy Simpson leaves the line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jim Forrest Snr looks on in disbelief
Big Smoke is carefully towed from the track
The damage . . .
and the long road home.
Big Smoke then underwent further improvements (far too many to mention) but included a steel flywheel and clutch. This enabled us to compete at The Royal Show and Great Eccleston.
Sandy Simpson and Big Smoke in action at the Royal Show in 1989
Unfortunately the team suffered a major blow in 1996 when Jim Forrest senior died. He was the driving force behind the team and things just didnt seem the same without him.
The late Jim Forrest Snr on Big Smoke at Keith Show
This was probably a major factor in why we decided to stop competitive pulling and sold Big Smoke in 1999.
Our final pull was at the first pull in Northern Ireland in October of that year.
Our final pull with Big Smoke in Northern Ireland in 1999.
Big Smoke is the most successful Scottish prostock tractor to date having won a total of 16 championships!!
True Blue
After a break of nearly 3 years we decided to get back into competitive pulling and purchased a 1973 Ford 8600 which had been retired from farm work for 14 years. This tractor was actually driven by Sandy on the farm back in the early 1980s so has sentimental links.
We are all Ford fans through and through hence the name True Blue. (Mind you if there were a surplus of American IH 1066 in Scotland, the name might have been True Red)!!!! The tractor made its first pull on the 11th of May 2003 at Edzell Air Base. The drivers being Jim Forrest junior in the 3.5 Superfarm class and Sandys eldest son Ewan Simpson in the 4.0 class.
True Blue at its very 1st event.
True Blue and Big Smoke pictured together at New Deer 2003
2006 was the 1st season as a prostock and proved challenging! Minor problems at seperate events meant it wasnt until the second last event of the season until True Blue ran as we wanted, only to end up going out of bounds! With the last event of 2006 being a rain out we had to wait until 2007 to finally see True Blue run strong.
After 3 years pulling Super Farm the decision was made to move up to the pro-stock class, also with a change of driver with Sandy and Jim back in the driving seat again!
True Blue as a prostock with a new coat of paint
2007 ended with True Blue winning the Scottish 3.5tonne under 4.1cui championship. The most memorable moment of the season being achieved at the BTPA finals at Great Eccleston, where True Blue managed to achieve 1st place! This also helped to put us 2nd overall in the BTPA points standing for the season.
2008 managed to surpass the year before with our most successful year yet. Winning the Scottish under 401 cui prostock class, but also winning the British championship for the first time ever, after taking 1st place at the final round of the championship at Kirkbride, making us overall points champion. Also another year without any breakages at all!
For 2009 it was decided that the old ERF lorry that has been used for the last few years was to be replaced in favour of a new more powerful DAF. The DAF was an ex furniture removal lorry with plenty of space for the tractor, and also room for a living accomodation for when we are away competing.
During the winter before the start of the season, inbetween building a new living accomodation, the tractor was completely stripped down for inspection, where (almost) everything was found to be in perfect order. The crankshaft and flywheel were balanced and the conrods and pistons were balanced by us. A new throttle to operate the automatic water injection system was also fitted.
True Blue ran well throughout the season, but an out of bounds disqualification at Great Eccleston show stopped any chances of winning the British championship, where we finished in 3rd place.
For the 2010 season, after doing a lot of research on intercoolers, the decision was made to purchase the intercooler from the Bear Essentials team. The intercooler had been used on Ice Bear and before that on Sigma Power from Finland, so we knew it would certainly be more than sufficient for our needs. This meant redesigning the chassis to accomodate the intercooler. After many hours of trial and error we finished the chassis with the intercooler fitted. The results were superb! The power gained was beyond what we had expected, and it also allowed us to remove the water injection system as the tractor was running cool enough without it. True Blue won 3 out of 4 events to win our 2nd British Championship. The season ended with the team being asked to take True Blue to Sweden to represent the UK at the European Championships, but work commitments and costs meant that we had to sadly decline.
True Blue at Great Eccleston Show 2010
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