First pics and news of the new Oil Addict

From Skjern, in Denmark, the Oil Addict Pulling Team around Dennis, Preben and Sigurd Juhl are currently building a completely new radial engine powered 5500lbs / 2.5t light modified tractor. After the sale of their old light mod machine to Allan Arthur from Australia in 2016, the 2015 Danish Champions of the light mod division decided to build a new lighter and improved tractor for the light mod class. But why have the Danish team decided to build a new one?  
They were afraid because of the new rules of the ETPC weight compensation system, so they choose to sell the old tractor and build a new one which can fit into 2.5t light mod division. After some other projects, like their new radial engine powered mini modified tractor called "Black Blood", Preben, Dennis and Sigurd started with the parts sourcing and the building process of the new vehicle in the middle of February 2018.

The new Oil Addict got a new homemade Docol R8 tube frame with a homemade 3mm steel tube roll cage, a self built rack and pinion steering and a homemade sheet metal rear axle housing.
The driver's position on the completely new Docol frame is more forward and the center gravity is lower than on their old light mod ride. The team hopes to get a better balance with those changes in the future.
The new rear axle housing will have a Rockwell SQ 100 center section with a homemade aluminum diff, homemade half shafts, new machined aluminum planetaries carrier housing with new custom made MAN / Mercedes planetaries, billet aluminum brake calipers with Wilwood brake cylinder and new laser-cut aluminum brake discs. The differential cross and all the gears for the diff come from the Green Monster Pulling Team in Füchtorf, Germany.

Also completely new developed is the drivetrain of the new Light Mod.

The new drivetrain gets a newly built planetaries reverser with a new homemade steel driveshaft, a 11 inch Eagle centrifugal clutch with an aluminum flywheel by Christer Örn from Kunimek in Finland and a Brownell aluminum bell housing from the USA. The new reverser has a CNC-milled aluminum housing and custom build planetaries gears. All those driveline components will build so light as possible to save weight.

Dennis, Preben, and Sigurd will use on their new machine a set of new Northern Sheen aluminum rims with old Firestone double cut 10ply Puller tyres. The new Northern Sheen rims were bought from the John Deere Pulling Team in Thy, Denmark.

The new Oil Addict will have an 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright R3350-28 radial aircraft engine on av-gas with 3350cui / 54.9l capacity. The Curtiss Wright engine was built between 1941 and 1957, and around 33000 of those engines were built during that period. The power plants were used in the Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation airplanes or in the Boeing B-29-40-BW Superfortress bomber.

But the radial engine received some changes to save weight and to achieve more horsepower. The power plant has an original block with machined R3350-28 sleeves, revised Curtiss Wright cylinder heads with new Red Lion design valve springs and homemade valves, a stock crank with original rods and pistons, homemade 76mm steel exhaust pipes, a self built aluminium oil and fuel tank, a Curtiss Wright oil pump, a new homemade fuel system with a Waterman fuel pump, a original Curtiss Wright R3350 supercharger with a CGC carbon fiber intake scoop and a MSD 8 ignition with homemade distributors. For the new homemade fuel system, they'll have the support
from the Gators Pulling Team in Skjern, Denmark.

The Danish team also have planned to maybe convert the engine from av-gas to methanol fuel in the future. If they are doing that, the new Oil Addict would be the 3rd radial
powered modified tractor worldwide which runs on methanol. Currently the Curtiss Wright engine of the 7700lbs / 3.5t tractor called "Boomerang" of Ralf Woltering from Ahaus, in Germany and the 7500lbs mod called "Radial Reactor" of Len Brookhart from Bel Air, Maryland in the USA running on methanol. Each of the sleeves on the power plant was machined on the outside. They removed around 4kg of aluminum on each cylinder. With those changes, they saved around 68kg of weight on the engine, which is very important to bring the tractor later into the light mod class. With the new light mod, they hope and have the dream to make some good competition and nice runs in the Danish Championship. The team also have planned to compete in the Euro Cup in the nearby future. For the first season, the Oil Addict Pulling Team will compete in the Danish Championship to learn and understand the new tractor with the new fuel setup on the engine. The maiden voyage of the new Oil Addict is planned for the summer of 2019.