The Club Truck Challenge (CTC) kicked off for 2025 in Taihape with the welcome return of a few of our big guns; Dave Hintz, Brent Ward and Bruce Tustin. Dave and Bruce had sat out most of last year while Brent had freshened up his bling gold Nissan over winter. I looked at the weather for the two weeks preceding the event and calculated I could risk using a more road friendly set of tyres, more of which later.
The New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association (NZFWDA) is the parent body of affiliated 4WD clubs, and they are celebrating their 50th year of being in existence. NZFWDA links clubs together through communication channels, and provides insurance cover, advocacy, and land access to all affiliated clubs. They also oversee 4WD trials competition, teams’ recovery events and some of the winch events throughout the country. The CTC owes its existence to a lot of likeminded enthusiasts bought together by the NZFWDA who remember a type of organized event called Fun Trials open to any entrant, a real grass roots motorsport event of the past.
In the current cost-of-living crisis a number of competitors, myself included, thought that in the middle of a dry summer you could risk not using your best tyres to eke out the life of your aggressive tyres. So, we began the day with hard dry conditions that led to four debeaded tyres as trucks bounced across ruts and holes and then it poured with rain. That changed the whole complexion of the hazards and shook up the results table. The off-camber sections became undrivable giving a few climbs the potential for a roll-over.
Two Suzuki drivers aced the two different speed sections, Lee Hutchby in anSJ413 won the morning speed section by four seconds, and Chris Mason in a Jimny won the afternoon speed section by 0.62 seconds. No matter, a timed speed section is a lot of fun, sliding in opposite lock might be the slow way around the course but chucking dirt is always a laugh.
There were three generations of the Hintz family competing on the day. Judith and Dave are frequent competitors but today they were joined by their nephew Morgan who entered a serious Toyota Hilux bush truck in his first go at a trial. He learned a lot and was keen to try it all again. Dave Hintz has mooted a new award to be voted on at the end of the season which will encompass the spirit of the CTC. It will go to the person who contributes the most to the series rather than the outright performance in competition.
By Andrew Gee
