Off for a ride
Our mate Jacob is a member of Team Quality Supertruck Racing, who recently took part at a Thunder Down Under racing event in Timaru. Jacob takes people on trips in his own little truck – and donates the money he receives to help animals!
On the Friday of the racing at Timaru, I cleaned my truck to get it ready for rides. I take kids for rides in my truck and all the money I get, I get to give it to the SPCA because I like to help animals.
I have 21 chickens and four sheep and a dog called Carly.
When I was doing rides, there was a policeman. He pulled me over and asked me for my drivers licence. Sorry Mr Policeman, I don’t have a licence but I am a really good driver – and I don’t drive my little truck on the road! He said I am a fantastic driver.
When my dad comes in off the truck, I get him a drink and give it to him when the truck is parked. I also love helping my grandad clean the BBQ and get it ready for making dinner.
The racing was at the Levels International Raceway in Timaru. My dad came third in the race – I am so proud of him.
Our whole team raced for Carl Gibson, who recently passed away. He drove the L&P truck that towed the race truck, the Panther, to all of the meetings. I miss him, he was my friend.
When all the racing was finished, my friend Payton asked all the super trucking drivers to get in my little truck and I took them all for a ride. I think the truck was a bit overloaded!
Come along to a meeting sometime and I’ll take you for a ride!
The amazing Bombay Truck Show
Isabella was lucky enough to head along to the Bombay Truck Show, where she got up close to some pretty amazing trucks!
My mum and I made our way Saturday morning 21 January to the Bombay Truck Show. With a bit of traffic to get through, we made it onto the Bombay turnoff to be greeted by the impressive sight of trucks lined up the hill. On arrival we could see the number of parked cars outnumbered the trucks, so I knew already there had to be hundreds of people in attendance.
What caught my eye was clearly it was a family event, with children of all ages, some proudly sporting their trucking T-shirts. There was a band playing from the end of a curtain side trailer, bouncy castles, a dedicated area for children with a choice of food options.
Rows of trucks, similar shapes and sizes, some old, some new, some restored so beautifully you wouldn’t know they were made in the 1960s and 1980s. I was impressed with the size, power and ability of some of these trucks. It was amazing to learn what these trucks can do!
I was excited to come across a truck that is manufactured in New Zealand, the rigid eight- wheeler International RH, built in Tauranga by Intertruck Distributors. It’s American style, proudly on display by Stephenson Transport Ltd from Waipawa.
The Kenworth Legend SAR 50th Anniversary Edition was impressive! With its Cummins X15 engine, this green machine has some of the latest technology that promotes safer and cleaner usage.
The mini Kenworth W900 hotrod – don’t be fooled by its size – this one packs a punch and was custom built by EDS truck shop. You can clearly see a lot of time and effort was put into this beauty.
Another Kenworth truck for Burnetts Transport and Earthmoving Ltd was manufactured in Bayswater Melbourne. Although the cab and chassis was built and imported from Australia, you’ll be surprised to know that the trailer was built in New Zealand.
Also making an appearance at the truck show was Hawke’s Bay R & L Beale Log Transport, with their Kenworth T659. They went home with two prizes, the best logger award and also first place in the people’s choice award.
We came across the 2022 Mack Anthem, with its tilt- assisted hood. What was interesting to learn is that Mack is part of the Volvo Group, so you’ll find that both Mack and Volvo truck parts were used to build this truck.
Another truck that seemed to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue was the impressive new Kenworth K220. Based in Tapanui near Invercargill, Dynes Transport Ltd trucks travel all over the country. It has the ability to haul bigger loads with ease and efficiency, and has more safety equipment now. The new model also has a digital dashboard.
Amongst all the newer model trucks were also some amazingly restored beauties; the 1964 Canadian Kenworth 848 ´Old Yeller´ was the first Kenworth to land in New Zealand; and the 1984 Mack Superliner owned by Kaitaia Timber. Both trucks come with interesting histories.
The brains behind this amazing event, Marieka Morcombe of N & J Wood Ltd, was extremely happy with the successful turnout – admitting at one point she was worried they would need to turn people away as they had nearly reached full capacity! Thankfully it didn’t come to that.
If you’ve never been to a truck show, I strongly recommend you attend the next one in your town. There is so much to learn about the trucking industry and I can’t wait to see you all at the next one.
When you think about the clothes you wear, the food you eat and even the things in your home, you can guarantee that they have spent time on the back of some of these amazing trucks. Remember trucks play a vital role in New Zealand as well as those that work in this field.
See you at the next show, Isabella.
Wheels at Wairarapa
Clareville Showgrounds Carterton held the first-ever Wheels at Wairarapa event over Waitangi Weekend. A three-day show consisting of Day 1: Cars, Day 2: Trucks, and Day 3: Machinery. I attended the Truck Show and Shine – with more than 40 trucks on display, it was a great turn out with loads of people coming to see them and a piping hot day for all to enjoy! Here are some photos I got of the trucks, drivers and/or owners.
AWARDS
The show also included some exciting awards. Here are the winners of each category.
| New to 100,000kms | Brausch Contracting |
| 100,000 to 500,000km | Martinborough Transport |
| 500,000 to 1 mil | K.D Contracting |
| Over 1 mil kms | Temple Haulage |
| Best Isuzu | Brausch Contracting |
| Best Scania | Martinborough Transport |
| Best Mercedes-Benz | CR Grace |
| Best Hino | Kieran Oliver |
| Best Kenworth | Kieran Oliver |
| Best Volvo | Ellison Cartage |
| Best Western Star | Ellison Cartage |
| Best Mack | Kieran Oliver |
| Best Other Make | Robin Wildbore |
| Best Linehaul | Shannon Bulk Haulage |
| Best Logger | Brausch Contracing |
| Best Bulk truck | Kieran Oliver |
| Best Curtainsider | Shannon Bulk Haulage |
| Best Stock truck | Martinborough Transport |
| Best Tractor Unit | Robin Wildbore |
| Best Paint Job | Martinborough Transport |
| Best Lights | Martinborough Transport |
| Best Oldest working truck | Brian Gattsche |
| Furthest distance travelled | Christopher Bell – Edgecombe |
| Best Vintage | Christopher Bell |
| Best Refurbished | Robin Wildbore |
| Best Fleet | Ellison Cartage |
| Truck of the Show | HP Transport |
| People’s Choice | Martinborough Transport |
Big Kaitoa is efficient log tower
Plenty of power is the answer to getting logs out of the bush, and our Little Trucker Down Under Top Truck for Autumn 2023 certainly does not disappoint.
The big Scania V8 en- gine is popular with many drivers and operators across all areas of the transport industry, and this R730 that is driven by Steve Miles of Mamaku near Rotorua is no exception.
When Steve was ordering the new Scania for his employer Kaitoa Logging Ltd of Whakatane, he was looking for a truck that would have plenty of comfort on the rough bush roads, as well as ample amounts of horsepower and torque to get out of skid sites with a heavy load of logs on board, especially in the mud on rainy days.
So to tick the box on big horsepower and plenty of torque, Steve specified the Scania with the DC16 Euro-6 V8, this one delivering 730hp and 3500Nm of torque. Behind this is the 12-speed Opticruise automatic transmission, complete with 4100D retarder to assist with slowing the big Scania down on steep hills. Jumping into the cab you will find big comfy leather Scania V8 seats, as well as overnight air conditioning, microwave oven and fridge making trips away a breeze.
Fitted to the chassis of the Scania to hold the logs in place there is Evans logging equipment and matching Evans 5-axle trailer, and when the sun goes down the entire combination is lit up with an impressive package of quality Hella LED marker lights.
Talking to Steve, we asked him, how did you get into trucks?
“Well, my Dad was a truckie and he would take me for rides on the weekends and school holidays so that got me hooked for sure,” he says.
“But it was funny at school though, my teachers would tell me off for looking out the windows instead of doing my school work! They would say things like ‘you will never get paid to look out a window’.
“Well, all I can say is, they got that one wrong! I get paid very well thanks for doing just that every day, looking out the window of my big Scania and loving every minute of it.”
Technology is moo-ving us forward!
Hey, Little Truckers! For this trip with Dad, I was able to learn all about how advances in technology are making a difference in the transport and agricultural industries.
I hope your Christmas and New Year went well and you are enjoying your school holidays. The holidays for me mean plenty of time to head out with Dad. I got to do just that as I went and visited a very cool dairy farm in Golden Bay.
We left home in the Scania with a load of dairy meal pallets (breakfast cereal for cows), which Dad had bought up from Ashburton the day prior and travelled ‘over-the-hill’ to Upper Takaka.
A farm there was the day’s first delivery; Dad backed the trailer up to the famer’s auger, (a long steel tube with a spiral inside it, which is turned either by an electric motor or by a tractor) and once the tractor was started up, the meal began to flow out the small door at the rear of the trailer.
I operated the trailer tipping controls each time the bin needed lifting, and when the bin was right up in the air and the meal stopped flowing, Dad climbed into the bin and coaxed the last of the stock food out with a shovel.
Once the trailer was empty, we left Upper Takaka and travelled about 10 minutes towards the Takaka township, until we reached Uruwhenua Farms, operated by the Sowman family.
Dad unhooked the trailer and backed the truck up to the Sowman’s auger, while he was augering the load, I looked at some cows in a nearby paddock that had interesting collars around their necks.
Corrigan Sowman came over to see how we were getting on and I asked him about the collars the cows were wearing.
He explained to me that every cow wears an electronic collar that is basically like a Fitbit (or smart watch) for cows. It measures their activities, what goes on inside their stomachs, how often they ruminate (how cows digest food – did you know that cows have four stomachs?), any animal health issues that may be happening for them, and what percentage of the day the cow eats and rests. These are all very important details for a dairy farm owner to know: with this system Corrigan is able to see if there is potential illness or irregularities within his herd, he can then deal with it immediately.
Prioritising the health of their animals and trying to produce a consistent quality of milk is very important to dairy farmers .
The information the collars supply is transmitted wirelessly to the milking shed and it can be viewed either on a computer or smartphone.
Through this technology, if a cow had nutritional issues, the automatic feeders would know what to feed her, how much to feed her and ensure this food only went to her.
Corrigan then led us into his office to show us how he keeps informed of the progress on his farm and how he allocates jobs. He uses an online programme where important information, notes and instructions are imputed.
Corrigan then showed me how to draw a map of a fence where he wanted it set up then it was sent off as a job to one of his employees, through the smartphone app.
The use of innovative technology has revolutionised Corrigan’s farm and also shows just how quickly the world of agriculture is advancing due to new technology and just how helpful it is.
On the way back to Motueka, Dad and I discussed the way technology has made Corrigan’s farming so efficient and allowed him to be able to care for and monitor his cows in the best possible way. This led us to talk about how technology has advanced effectively also for trucks. For example, his Scania truck uses adaptive cruise control, where the truck’s onboard system not only keeps the truck going at a set speed, but monitors any vehicle ahead, and automatically slows the truck down if the vehicle brakes for any reason, making any travel safer for both the truck driver and other road users.
Dad has a tablet for work. It has the loads he is doing on it and as they are picked up and delivered the tablet is updated, in turn sending the completed details straight back to the transport office’s computer.
Technology is enhancing all industries, including transport and farming. For people like Corrigan and Dad, they appreciate the difference these technologies make to their jobs and they can’t wait to see what comes next.
