He drove to the quarry to see it, had a play with the controls for 10 minutes, liked what he saw, and the deal was done (price undisclosed).
Mr Heyer’s son Kenneth, who is gradually taking over the reins of the family business together with Ralf Pomp, asked his father why he needed a Cat 994 when they already had a WA800?
His answer was ‘because it is bigger’! His son also wanted to know the price of Le Barbare, to which his father replied, ‘it is not important’.
It was then suggested that his father could not operate the two large wheeled loaders at the same time, to which he replied, “I am old and want more horsepower, so I’ll drive the 994.”
Crossing Belgium and the Netherlands, it took five trucks and two nights to transport Le Barbare to its new home in Germany. Special permission was required to move the 110-tonne main structure at the weekend.
Seven mechanics, three mobile cranes (two x 110-capacity and a 40 tonner), and a 20-tonne forklift where ready to start reassembling the wheels and cab first thing on the Monday morning.
Five mechanics returned the next day to fit the lift arms, bucket and accessories, and exactly one week after mechanics began pulling Le Barbare apart in Belgium, its 1,336hp Cat 3516 engine roared into life at its new home in Germany.
Following a length chat in the office, it was time to visit the big cat. Sitting next to Mr Heyer in an electric golf buggy, we passed both the PC1100 and WA900 before arriving at Le Barbare.
Mr Heyer is not concerned with the battle scars on the outside, which he says can be patched up quickly in the workshop, which incidentally is plenty large enough to accommodate a 994.
The technically minded man is very pleased with his latest purchase. “The brand new engine has only just been run in. It is crazy.” The cab was revised during the second rebuild, when the steering wheel swapped for joysticks.
The fastest speed he ever recorded behind the wheel of a racing car was 407km/hr in June 1984 at Le Mans. Mr Heyer appears to have replaced this need for speed with the thrill of piloting the controls of one of the world’s largest wheeled loaders.
The in-house-modified bucket on their WA800 holds around 29 tonnes. Mr Meyer was expecting the 18-cube bucket and 18t heavy bucket on the 994 to lift 20% more than the Komatsu. The first test scoops confirm it lifts much more, and he reckons the 994 easily lifts 50% more than the WA800 and at least 40 tonnes at a time.
“It has a huge appetite and is not only faster than the WA800 but also stronger with a lot more power to lift a fully loaded bucket.”
Openly proud and clearly excited to own the 994, he certainly enjoyed the first few hours behind the controls in what he describes as his playground.
He concedes that having a 200-tonne wheeled loader is a bit of fun. “However, on a serious note it gives us additional capacity to move our heavy materials more efficiently.”
Once loosened, the company’s smaller Hyundai wheeled loaders will shift the material, simply because Le Barbare’s bucket is way too large to fill the skips of the company’s 25-30t capacity road trucks!
A quick pit stop 
Office window view 
Little and Large
Work in progress
Le Barbare runs like a dream but will not go to work in earnest until it has received a bit of attention. The first job will be a thorough clean and all the dents will be knocked out.
The big change with the 994, other than the fact that it is double the weight of the WA800, is rear visibility, or rather the lack of it.
“I want to see rear-view images in front of me and not on a small screen in the top right-hand corner of the cab. We will almost certainly update this for a couple of larges CCTVs and we will also add reversing sensors to stop the machine should it detect an obstacle, which to my mind should be standard on all earthmoving machines – new and old.”
The bucket will also be re-worked to provide it with an even higher capacity, and the engine and transmission oil/filters will be changed.
They are toying with fitting an electric starter mechanism and the final job will be to add new 994 and Le Barbare stickers to the sides, in exactly the same place as they are now. All told he reckons it will be in the workshop for about eight days, plus another two to paint it. “We want her to look as good as new.”
The four-tonne chains on each wheel prolonged front tyre life to 15,000 hours and in excess of 20,000 at the rear at the Belgian quarry. Without them, the sharp limestone would have wrecked the rubber on the front ones in after a few thousand hours. Matthias Heyer has none of these jagged dangers but will continue to use the chains until they wear out.
There are never enough hours in the day for Mr Heyer, who at one time had two 12-hour jobs. His son now pilots the racing cars, and his father accompanied him to no fewer than 32 races all over the world last year!
When he is at home, in between stints on Le Barbare, he hopes to have more time to pursue his other hobby; making racing cars.
Looking ahead, it depends on the workload, but Le Barbare is expected to work a few hours a day for 2-3 days a week, clocking up somewhere from 500 to 1,000 hours a year. “This is nothing for a machine of this size,” he said.
It is easy to find spare parts and engines and transmissions on the internet and he is confident the 994 can continue to work for many years.
With several mobile cranes at their disposal, one of which can lift 120 tonnes, they certainly have the lift capacity to handle the large parts. “Our company works in a similar fashion to a pit stop in a race,” he said. “If one of our wheeled loaders is out of action then we repair it as quickly as possible.”
Of one thing he is adamant. “We will never sell Le Barbare,” he said. Before I left, the friendly and energetic 76-year-old showed me his amazing collection of racing cars. I couldn’t help but wonder whether Le Barbare might join them 20-30 years from now.
