Truck yeah! Monster Jam is coming back to SA in 2023

Gargantuan news motorsport fans — Monster Jam is returning to SA in 2023 with a three-city tour, starting in Cape Town at the DHL Stadium on April 22, followed by FNB Stadium Johannesburg on April 29 and ending at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on May 6.

The line-up of monster trucks — each weighing 4.5 tonnes and making in excess of 1,120kW courtesy their methanol-chugging supercharged V8 engines — is provisionally set to feature Grave Digger, Max-D, Megalodon, El Toro Loco, Monster Mutt Dalmatian and Earth Shaker. The star drivers competing in SA will be announced at a later date.  

US-based Feld Entertainment's Monster Jam first visited SA in 2019 when it proved to be a resounding success, selling out at all three stadiums and setting a new international sales record with 63,000 tickets sold in Johannesburg alone.

Part of this series' mass appeal is that it allows fans to get up close and personal with their favourite trucks and drivers via the Monster Jam pit party held on the track a few hours before the main event kicks off. Each Monster Jam course takes about 20 hours to put together, using about 40 tonnes of clay/sand mix (samples of which are first sent to the US for approval) compressed onto the stadium field. 

The competition part of Monster Jam is split into two formats. The first is side-by-side racing which sees two trucks out at the same time. Lasting more or less 20 seconds this is traditional bracket racing where the first truck to cross the finish line with the least amount of penalties is declared the winner. In the freestyle section each driver gets two minutes to bump, jump, doughnut and backflip their way across the course in an attempt to extract the most points from the fans — those present and watching online. 

Now while it might not sound particularly sophisticated (especially compared to other forms of motorsport), I can assure you it's hella entertaining. I found the Johannesburg leg of Monster Jam 100 times more exciting than the Spanish F1 Grand Prix I attended in 2014. The noise, spectacle and pantomime is simply unmatched.

So how much will it cost you? Ticket prices range between R150 to R750 per person depending on where you want to sit and whether you want to attend the pit party. For more information click on www.showtime.co.za or www.ticketmaster.co.za. To learn more about the Monster Jam trucks and series visit MonsterJam.com.

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