Mud brothers
For some farmers in Devon a muddy field is simply a missed opportunity, but just outside Tiverton off the A38, a quagmire has been transformed into a playground for a group of petrolheads, the Devon Hillbillies.
Led by “King Hillbilly” Josh, the Hillbilly Nation meet most weekends to race vintage motorbikes, off road in 4x4’s and celebrate their daredevil adventures, occasionally accompanied by a lukewarm welly of Somerset cider.
“Well, we’re all a little bit different, tapped in the head,” said Josh to laugher from the other Hillbillies.
“I am the leader of a culture of mud legends.”
The idea for Josh’s Hillbilly Nation came from a lad who didn’t always fit in and the desire to create a safe space for people to come together with no judgement to enjoy sport and a good time in the countryside.
The motorsports events are known as Mudbillys.
One hillbilly spectator said they did it “for the love of bikes, and beer”. Another member of the group said: “It’s like a festival, but with even more mud.”
As well as meeting for the racing and comradery, Josh also gets the group to help him create incredibly inventive stunts. If readers are familiar with the TV show Jackass, you are on the right track.
Josh’s ideas often come to him in dreams and then his motley crew of farmers, builders and mechanics help him bring them to life.
These wild ideas have brought the group a huge following from all over the country; they post much of their activity to Tiktok where they now have 236k followers.
On Sunday, 5 th November, Josh performed his latest daredevil trick, along with fellow hillbillies Jonno and Bill. Done, he believes for the first time in history, it involved him firing a speedboat off the top of a Landrover into a body of water.
We were on the scene to witness this special event.
After ten minutes of warming up the boat engine, the Landrover accelerated towards a mud bank where it dramatically braked, causing the boat atop the roof to sail forward splashing into the man made pond beyond to calls of “send it!” from the gathered crowd, a phrase of encouragement used among the group.
As they landed safely Josh accelerated away, much like David Beckham heading down the Thames to the 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony. The hillbillies in attendance cheered, some with joy, some with relief, some with a bit of both. It may not have been an official world first but it was a sight to behold.
If anyone thought this kind of idea would only come once in a blue moon, they would be wrong as Josh has performed similar stunts in the past. He recalled one in which they converted the back of a wrecked limo into a hot tub and then crashed it at full speed into a row of caravans.
They ended the day by building a bonfire and raising a glass of scrumpy to the fact none of them had died. There is no better hillbilly tradition than that.