CENTRAL ZONE CTC RND 3
Wellington’s Capital Cruisers Club hosted the third round of this season’s CZCTC at Whiteman’s Valley on Saturday Nov 26.
A cracking season of the Club Truck Challenge ( CTC) is underway with three events being held before Christmas, the latest was held in Wellington at the site of the Deadwood Safari National Trials round in Whiteman’s Valley.
There was a good turnout of helpers the week before to peg out the hazards, including the presidents of Capital Cruisers, Windy City Offroaders and Wellington Jeep Club. You can see who supports the NZFWDA ( and who does all the work), thanks to Marty, Amelia, Vince, Gareth, Dave, Marcus, Thomas, Skid and Tara.
Jeff and Noeline Berkett are great supporters of 4WD trials and their farm has been used by many different clubs in recent years, our thanks to them as well.
Marty and Amelia are long time competitors in the series, and for this round they did all the heavy lif ting for the Capital Cruisers Club. If I’ve done 20
rounds of the CTC Marty would have done more, and he has won multiple rounds and overall season championships.
He runs a very basic machine that just works well, a classic Toyota FJ 40 Land Cruiser SWB repowered with a 350 Chev motor, a manual gearbox and sitting on leaf springs. At this round we had a couple of guys from the internet-based Kiwi 4x4 club, Reece and Mike, who chose to enter four door, long-wheelbase vehicles.
Best effort
Reece must have thought there was a prize for size because his GQ Patrol wasn’t just a four door but it was the high top version as well. He should have won a prize for best effort as he punted the Patrol around the hazards.
Hazard 1 was a tricky run into a drain and then up its length to an exit at right angles, and without diff locks a lot of people couldn’t get into the drain without becoming cross axled.
Dave McGinnity and Ross Gregory showed the commitment you needed to get out of the drain without traction aids while Alan Stone tipped over in the same place.
Early in the day Brendan Watchorn blew a front CV joint and then chose to do the rest of the day in 2WD, surprisingly he did manage to complete a few hazards without drive from his front axle.
There was a very wet session before lunch which didn’t stay into the afternoon thankfully. Vince headed back half an hour early to start cooking sausages and found the gazebo in tatters. Nothing a good tradesman couldn’t fix, he had it resurrected in no time and was just looking for someone to send an invoice to.
Ideal truck
Matthew Laing came over from the Wairarapa in what is arguably the ideal Club Truck, a Nissan GQ Patrol SWB. That is not just for Trials type events but for all 4WD runs and big enough for a bit of
touring as well. The carrying of luggage is the biggest shortcoming of my Jeep Wrangler. Matthew and his Dad, Bill, have entered a few rounds of CTC, both of them running Nissans.
After lunch Hazard 9 was a tricky affair with an climb up followed by an unsighted drop into a tight turn to finish with a hill climb. The angle you presented your wagon to the last hill was the secret to whether you could get up it or not. Very few had lined it up well enough to start into the hill.
We ended at a Hazard my 11-year-old son pegged out and it probably cost Marty the win as he didn’t turn tight enough and hit the bank. At the Taranaki round Marty beat Dave by four points, at this round Dave turned the tables to win by 66 points.
As we finished and drove back to the pits we passed the gazebo and the wind had taken it out again!