A King amongst Champions

Looking back at one of my articles which appeared previously in Earthmovers Magazine and bringing it to life on the internet.

Based at Par near St Austell Courtney King was another one of those early starters in the plant game. Having started working for his father’s groundworks business when he was still at school, Courtney had already dug his first house footing at the tender age of 13 and from that age going forward most weekends and holidays would more often than not, be spent operating his dad’s Ford 655C backhoe loader on jobs across Cornwall.

It will come as no surprise then to learn that on leaving school Courtney took a job working full time with his dad, initially on the ground but also operating machines, working on a wide variety of jobs ranging from one off builds and farm work to hedging, ponds and track formation & maintenance. At the age of 20 Courtney decided he wanted a challenge and having received a good offer from Liskeard based Champion Groundworks he thought it would be a great way to make a name for himself in the industry on his own away from his dad’s business. Courtney started out on Champions behind the controls of a Case CX130 and later on a Daewoo 130 before quickly progressing onto a 20 tonne class Case CX210, his connection with 21 tonners continued over the coming years with spells operating a couple of Doosan DX225 models.

It was around this time that he started thinking about going solo with his own machine, Courtney takes up the story, “Having been brought up around my dad’s plant and machinery during my formative years, I had always had a hankering  to purchase and run my own machine and at Champions I was offered a great opportunity to do that, I had been operating machines and been a ganger man for Champions for over 10 years and so I figured it would be a good time to take the leap of faith into machine ownership”.  

Courtney continued, “The first machine I bought was a Caterpillar 312E model, I could not fault it to be honest as it never gave me a day’s trouble and was very reliable and comfortable to operate even though the cab interior is a little on the bland side in them. However a deal was put to me by our local Doosan dealer Kellands Plant Sales, which would allow me to purchase a 13 tonne class excavator with a tilt-rotator and a Bobcat E17 mini excavator too”. Like many in the UK in recent years Courtney had been interested in tilt-rotators for a long time, Courtney said, “I had been looking at the concept for quite some time, my interest was really ignited by reading the Digger Man Blog and also the fact that my good friend Kirk Hough had invested in an Engcon unit, which I had a play with over one Christmas break and I instantly caught the “tilty” bug, I was so impressed with what the machine is capable of with a tilt-rotator fitted I just knew I had to have one!”  

“I had only looked at changing the machine because of my interest in tilt-rotators and was keen to do a deal for a complete package. I decided to take up the Kellands offer for a new Doosan DX140LC which would be fitted with a Rototilt R4 supplied by Tim Wood at Tilt-rotators UK which was to be the first one supplied in Cornwall, I also bought the Bobcat E17 mini excavator for some smaller projects I had lined up. Unfortunately I had quite a bit of trouble with the larger machine breaking down and some issues with the software compatibility between the machine and the hitch. On reflection now I also wish I had gone for the S60 type set up as opposed to the 65mm PUP style hitch because of the increased build height which does affect break out force, but it was all a learning curve back then”.

Courtney had recently traded in the Doosan machine and taken delivery of what was one of the first Hyundai HX140 L models to be delivered in Cornwall, the machine was one of the star exhibits on the Molson stand at the 2016 Royal Cornwall Show and was delivered straight to site afterwards. Courtney had been assured of the quality of the Hyundai kit by his friend Kirk Hough, who is now running 3 models including a new HX220 L and from spells on the controls of his Dash-9A models at the time. It was still early days for Courtney and his HX140 L when Earthmovers visited the new Wainhomes housing development site close to the Cornish seaside town of Newquay, but it was clear to see from the beaming grin on his face that he was delighted with his new machine which this time featured an EC219 tilt-rotator from Swedish manufacturer Engcon.

Talking about his latest investment Courtney said, “I’m really pleased with the Hyundai and Engcon combination so far, the machine is really comfortable and the capabilities of the Engcon are amazing. The set up on the HX140 L is the Engcon EC219 “tilty” with Q-Safe S60 hitches above and below and features the DC2 system including MIG2 proportional joysticks. The machine overall operates a lot better than my previous one. With the Doosan it felt like the weight of the tilt-rotator was dragging the machine down and making the movements more jarring, whereas with the Hyundai it is completely smooth with whatever I am trying to do with it. It’s also great having opted for the EC-Oil quick coupler set up on the Engcon which allows me to drop off the tilt-rotator unit and opt for a direct mounted bucket for when digging in the hard ground we often encounter down here in Cornwall or solid concrete so it’s not putting any unnecessary pressure on the unit”.

The 14 tonne class Hyundai HX140 L takes its power from a Tier 4 Final emissions compliant Perkins 1204F engine rated at 116hp (87kw) and like most modern excavators today is extremely quiet in operation, according to Hyundai this model will offer a 10% improvement in fuel consumption compared to the previous Dash-9A models whilst offering a 5% boost in productivity, quite how they measure such things remains to be seen, but from what I saw on the day it’s a very smooth but lively piece of kit that simply purrs away as it goes about its business.

Like all the Hyundai products the cab is a great place for any operator to spend their days, packed with gadgets and creature comforts and perhaps more importantly in this day and age improved safety features like the Hyundai-exclusive AAVM – or All-Around View Monitoring system that provides a 360-degree virtual operating view. Included in AAVM is the IMOD (Intelligent Moving Object Detection) system that senses and warns the operator when objects come within 16.5 feet (5 metres) of the machine. The AAVM system helps make the Hyundai HX models one of the safest excavators on the market and offers the operator unnparalled all round visibility on any jobsite. All this is viewable to the operator via the machines full colour 8” monitor which also doubles up as the main screen for viewing the machines critical information like fuel level, oil pressure, water temperature and attachment pressure settings to name a few.

The cab interior space is said to be 13% larger than on the previous models but Courtney wasn’t sure quite where the extra space is to be found. As a tall guy Courtney said he would like to see more rearward travel on the seat adjustment and will be looking into it to see if this can be altered.

When Courtney is not working on hire to Champions at the weekends he is often out doing private work, such as driveways, extensions and service connections with his 1.7 tonne Bobcat E17 mini excavator which is ideal for transportation on his Ifor Williams plant trailer. This machine has been invaluable to his business and features a whole host of attachments including a breaker, post hole auger, post driver and ripper tooth. The nice thing about Fred Champion the founder and owner of Champion Groundworks is that he recognises local talented operators and has got a reputation for encouraging people to have a go on their own and it’s this approach which has helped a number of operators like Courtney to establish themselves independently.

Courtney said, “Champions have been fantastic for me and have helped me all the way, in return I like to think we offer a great service too. Molson’s and Tom Wilson our regional salesman have also been brilliant, I have even rang Tom at 10pm at night with a question and had an answer back straight away and in my book you really cannot ask for a better service than that, they are always willing to go the extra mile to help out.”