“Hey, Pete, I can you sell you my truck…” – Indian Pete interview

Indian Pete was the star at the Night of the Horsepowers, who dazzled the spectators with his 12000 HP truck. Before starting his show, we asked him an interview and he was very kind to answer our questions.

We met him as a very likeable man, who was very familiar and cheerful. Pete is a cool truck driver, who is driving around the world with the King of the Roads.

Welcome to Hungary, how do you feel in our country?

Very good, the weather is very good and yeah, nice land. Nice country.

Could you please introduce your truck in a few words for our readers?

It’s a Kenworth W900, in the inside we have a Caterpillar engine, six cylinders, 19 litre, 750 PS and from the other side, 2 engines from a Jet, from a Phantom F4, twin turbines, 8000 pounds of trust, It’s about 12000 HP with afterburner; we use in a show for 4 or 5 minutes with a consumption of 500-550 litres kerosene, and we do a quarter mile on full power. Normally we drive with this truck on airports for 30 seconds and we reach about 200 km/h, this is the fastest speed we can reach at this time.

Where was the first event, you debut and which countries have you been so far with your show?

We did it first in Estonia, but during the years we were in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, England.

That’s a lot of country. And when did you start it, what year?

We had first a Peterbilt, we had that for 20 years. After we had it for 5 years, we make it fire to entertain the people who are living around us, but we had no more money for another truck for the show. And a man in Holland said: “Hey, Pete, I can you sell you my truck, you can pay it, when you will have money, even if it will 20 years.”. And since then (about 15 years ago) we have a new truck.

How many people are working in your show and how many have worked on rebuilding your truck?

In the show I’m working alone in the truck and my wife helps me by starting with the turbines, when it started, she helps me makes place the truck.

A friend of me, who is living 100 kms away in Holland from me, but when we met, haven’t seen each other for 15 years.  He had a Jetcar, a Toyota, with a helicopter engine and we made a city sight show where we are local turbines. We were beginning so, he made it by me, two big turbines for a truck about 10000 kg’s and we can drive with this truck with bi-turbines. My friend made it, I couldn’t do it.

That’s impressive. How many shows do you have in a year?

In a year 15-20 shows. In whole Europe?  In whole Europe, yes, we must go to Finland in September and over 6 weeks we have to be in Switzerland. And now we are the first time here, in Hungary.

What were the biggest events you have been invited?

One of the biggest events was in Estonia, it was on an airport; in Hockenheim, Germany at a drag race…it was very nice to drive on a drag race track and we also made a big show in Sweden, at an airport.

Are you a real road wanderer? How many kilometers do you drive in a year travelling with the show?

In a year? About 25.000 kms. That’s a lot! Yes, it’s a hobby (laughs).

It’s risky, what you are doing. Have you ever been in a dangerous situation during your show?

We are looking good during the show and the people can’t come close to us…it’s dangerous, we are filled with fuel and we make it look the whole thing beautiful. Do you have to wear fireproof clothes? Yes I have to, we have to be very careful.

If one time there is a problem with the turbines, it’s closed for me. It looks looks looks good, but we have to control, control, control, everything needs to be under control. Safety first, right? Yeah, safety first! So there were no incidents or accidents yet? If one time there will be an incident, it’s done, over! One incident, over! We had no incidents yet. In America, I saw it in films, when dragracers sitting in their cars waiting for the start and fire occurs, they burn inside. Well that’s America, not Europe. In our case, when there is no problem at the beginning of the show, by the end the tanks will be empty, so no one can get hurt.

At least, but not last, what message do you have for the hungarian motorsport fans?

We will make a nice show here and we hope to coming more times to Hungary. And greets from Holland from Indian Pete!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUdd643Cirw

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