Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i NZ4WD

Raptor is the new name in super tough durable protective coatings which protects against rust, corrosion, damp, and extreme temperatures. Raptor has high coverage up to 12m² per kit and provides excellent UV protection. It is highly water resistant as it provides a tight seal, keeping water and fluids out and is resistant against fuels, hydraulic oils, animal urine, salt water and more. Resistant to mechanical damage and stains as well as being flexible, and helping to deaden sound and vibrations, Raptor can be applied with excellent adhesion across many substrates with no need for after care post application. It is easy to apply with no spray booth required, and can be applied with: Schutz Gun, HVLP Gun, roller or brush. Benefits: • Scratch and stain resistant. • Chemical and…

Mercedes-Benz New Zealand has announced that the G-Professional Cab Chassis is now available here, as well as across the Tasman. Built at the same facility as the iconic G-Class off-roader and leveraging the decades of continuous improvement of the mighty G-wagen’s off-road capability, the new G-Professional Cab Chassis has a 2,085kg payload (4,490 kg GVM) without a tray, 245 mm of ground clearance; three differential locks that can be shifted to low-range on the move, a 650 mm fording depth capability and adjustable engine speed control. External features fitted as standard include a snorkel; bull bar, headlight and indicator protection painted in black, radiator and sump shields, 16-inch alloy wheels and all-terrain tyres. A walk-on bonnet featuring reinforcement (load limit 100kg) and a non-slip coating is available, as is a…

Three teams from the club entered all five rounds of the 2016 Challenge with all returning home with top placings throughout the rounds and series overall. To get them back into the swing of things before the long summer break we thought we would put on an interesting (some might use the word ‘challenging’) weekend trip to the West Coast, Westport, being our starting point with the trip leader none other than Mr Scotty Newport with me (Vicky) in the passenger seat this time. Most headed to Westport from Nelson on Friday November 4th. We had booked a house plus a few rooms at the McManus Hotel. This is a great place to base as it can accommodate a large number of people and has everything needed (great food, beverages…

Where some other diesel companies compromise your 4WD’s durability by pushing your 4WD too hard to meet the power gains they promised you, Steinbauer can get you those gains without compromising safety. How? Steinbauer uses technology to get results, not just tuning. The company’s Power Modules are engineered in Europe and tested in Australian conditions to deliver up to 20 percent more power and torque, and improve drivability. Rather than increase pressure at the fuel rail like traditional tunes do, Steinbauer’s Power Modules develop power by changing injection duration to only the main injection signal, not pilot or post injection signals. There is no change to the ECU programming and the Power Modules don’t simply jam more pressurised fuel into your fuel system. This means the system isn’t put under…

The 4WD club I belong to has had an emergency relief team since the early ‘70s. I’ve been in it for 40 years. We’ve been involved with every major local disaster in that time. Floods, forest fires, SAR, earthquakes, storms, snow-raking, forest and beach searches, vehicle recovery – anytime we can be of help with serious 4WD experience, capable vehicles and a vast knowledge of local roads, rivers, bridges, alternative routes and DOC and farm tracks. Many of our drivers are also skilled tradies. We have much disaster experience. We’ve had excellent rapport with agencies through much of that time and had many plaudits from them and citizens we’ve helped. During the Christchurch ‘quakes our teams transported USAR and others workers about the city and CBD and did recce and…

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…

One of the fastest growing classes in the sport is actually also the one pumping fresh new life into off-road racing. The Kiwitruck category has been a fast-growing success story ever since Richard Crabb first kicked the idea around on his farmlet at Albany. He started with a tiny wee kart but quickly got onto the current trucks, establishing a two-tier category with trucks featuring smaller engines with ‘soft’ transmissions and a step-up version with a bigger engine and clutch-type gear transmission. That’s similar to the world of karting, which has produced every Formula One world champion in the past 20 years. And the Kiwitruck category is important to off-road racing for the same reasons. It is bringing in kids at a very tender age, giving them racing experience in…

Recreational 4WD owners in the 09 calling area got an early Christmas present with the news on December 21 that DOC has agreed to open the Maratoto Track for summer use. The iconic track in the southwestern Coromandel foothills has been off-limits for 4WD (and motorcycle) use for some time now thanks to various issues but has now been re-opened. In a letter to fellow four wheelers, John Hickey the Northern Zone President of the NZ Four Wheel Drive Association Inc. explained that “after discussing matters with DOC Hauraki Operations Manager Ms Leanna Irvine, the Senior Ranger – Supervisor Community, and Mr Avi Holzapfel, the DOC Hauraki Operations Manager, DOC has agreed that the Maratoto Track may be opening this summer season and is now open.” There are some conditions,…

After much anticipation Volkswagen’s new Amarok V6 arrived in the country in December last year with the first four months’ worth of models sold out. The new Amarok V6 3.0L TDI 4Motion (full-time) all-wheel drive model delivers 165kWs of peak power and a new best-in-class torque figure of 550Nm plus an overboost function which can increase the engine power up to 180kW. The function is available at full throttle for 10 seconds in duration between 50 and 120 km/h. With the new, more muscular V6 turbo-diesel engine has come an increase in maximum braked towing capacity to 3500kg. The new model also heralds a minor facelift, new alloy wheel and upholstery options, an all-new dashboard and 12 Way electrically-adjustable ‘ergoComfort’ heated front seats. Driveability and road handling are also improved…

To a victim of Attention Deficit Disorder like myself, SEMA is every bit a nightmare as it is automotive seduction. The constant bombardment of bright shiny objects and big-wheeled creations assaults the mind with detailed information overload. Match this with trying to work my way through 190,000 like-minded auto fanatics in a similar drooling zombie-like state for ten hours a day and the brain takes a savage beating. Regardless, the 2016 SEMA Show is now in the books and I’ve staggered onto the first flight home, loaded down with business cards, product catalogues and memory sticks jammed full of fantastic new parts I one day dream of bolting to my off-roaders. My knees are screaming after 14 hours of hiking a day, my feet are numb, but I arrived home…

Satisfied existing owners might have grumbled into their ‘milk-and-two-sugars’ Nescafe, but there was nothing for it; looming safety requirements meant Toyota’s 70-series Land Cruiser needed work, plenty of work. So much work, in fact, that for several months last year you couldn’t buy one for love nor money, despite Toyota New Zealand ordering up large before the old model went offline. The good news is that the wait has been worthwhile, the new’un not only now thoroughly uprated and (the single-cab model anyway) five-star ANCAP compliant, but also, on the strength of the launch drive on and off road, a far more practical not to mention (believe it or not) compliant and comfortable proposition. As the first significant round of changes the Land Cruiser 70 Series has seen in two…

Imagine a humble run-of-the-mill turbo-diesel ute with the power, torque and driveability of a sophisticated $100K+Euro SUV. Jason and Guy of Auckland-based performance tuning operation ECU Chips did and came up with a Rotrexsupercharger-based twin-charge induction system which offers Kiwi vehicle owners the holy trinity of significantly more power, quantifiably more torque and driveability you – literally – have to experience to believe. The idea of using a crankshaft-driven supercharger and in-house built intercooler to compress and cool the charge being fed into a diesel-engine’s exhaust-driven turbo is not exactly new, but is still not particularly common, here or anywhere else for that matter. Certainly, no one else is doing exactly what Jason and Guy are doing – offering a drive-in/drive-out fitting service for popular turbo-diesel utes and SUVs using…

With registrations for the latest Moawhango School 4WD Safari starting at 8:00 the best option for me was to drive up (from Wellington) to Taihape and stay overnight. Given the run of bad weather before Christmas I chose to have an easy drive up SH1, stopping at the Mangaweka domain for lunch by the Rangitikei River before an evening chilling out at the backpackers in Taihape. Arriving at the school the next morning, I was pleased to see that there were plenty of vehicles already lined up for this, the thirteenth Moawhango School fundraiser. Most vehicles were newish and shiny, with many on mud tyres, and I was beginning to think that my Prado Purple was the oldest vehicle there before I spotted a 1943 Jeep Willys. Someone was doing…

For 2016, the Manukau Winch Challenge was held a little later in the year, and this allowed them access to new venues for the night and day stages. Competitor numbers were certainly down this year for reasons unknown. It may have been the later timing or it could have been that many thought it would be the ‘same old, same old’ at the previous Onewhero property. Seventeen competitors over three classes entered, with the largest class being the ‘modified’ class which is for anything goes type vehicles whereas the Challenge class requires vehicles to be roadworthy with registration, WoF and certification for modifications. Unfortunately 2016 also saw the previously popular entry level “Manukau Class” dropped due to lack of entries and as extra work is required to set up special…

It was a wet, wild and exciting day out at Karakariki Road, Whatawhata, for the opening round of the Porter Group NZ National 4x4 Trials Series organised by the Waikato Four Wheel Drive Club on Saturday November 12. With 41 trucks entered and plenty of rain the day was set to be a success. Taking out the overall win was Scott Biggs and brother Jarred from the Counties club in their Nitrous-Oxide-sniffing Class D 6.0litre/600hp Chevrolet LS2–powered truck. A great afternoon “The first round of the season is always hard,” said Scott. “It took us the morning to get back into form then we had a great afternoon in the truck. The conditions were very harsh and slippery which suited horsepower.” Second on the day was former national champion Hamish Auret…

Building an all-new, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle is itself a daunting task. Engineering one that is off-road capable presented a new level of challenges for the team of engineers and stylists who unveiled Chevrolet’s Colorado ZH2 concept truck at the SEMA show last year. “The ZH2 integrates the strong foundation of the Colorado midsize pickup architecture with GM’s advanced hydrogen fuel cell propulsion technology,” said Jim Campbell, vice president, Chevrolet Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “It combines the lessons Chevrolet has learned during 3.1 million real-world miles of testing hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles. It also reflects our commitment to expanding Chevrolet’s performance envelope off-road.” The Colorado ZH2 is no show pony, a demonstration version set to be tested by the US Army later this year to evaluate the effectiveness of…

1. Five Star Safety Land Cruiser 70’s safety upgrades include Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Active Traction Control (A-TRC), Hill-start Assist Control (HAC) and a reversing camera across the range. Single Cab models have achieved a maximum five-Star ANCAP safety rating and gain five airbags; driver’s knee and front curtain shield in addition to the existing driver and front passenger airbags. Front seats in the single cab models are newly designed with new frames and mounting points to enhance the safety, comfort and ergonomics. They also receive adjustable front seatbelts anchors with pre-tensioners and a passenger seatbelt warning light and buzzer. 2. Suspension To complement the updates to the chassis in the single cabs, the springs and shock absorbers have been retuned to make for a smoother ride on the road…

You can’t miss speedway ace Craig Cardwell’s trick 2013 Toyota Hilux ute. It sits high, wide and handsome on both a body and suspension lift and with its large diameter alloy wheels, wide aftermarket flares, cut-down snorkel and eye-catching matte-finish silver/grey wrap it is the perfect mobile billboard for his business, Cardwell Construction. What you can’t see from the outside, but what is immediately obvious when you climb up and slip behind the steering wheel, is the way a little Jason Frost ‘twincharge’ magic has completely transformed the driving experience. Toyota’s 3.0 litre turbo-diesel is a worthy if a little underwhelming performer in standard form but feels more like a 1UZ V8 petrol in Craig’s ute. Power and torque are prodigious, throttle response is instantaneous and when you put your…

In late November 2016 I had the opportunity to attend the Walking Access Commission (WAC) and NZ Recreation Association (NZRA) organised ‘Trail Leaders Workshop’. Auckland 4WD Club covered my travel cost to Hamilton in the interest of finding out what plans are being made to establish or extend trails for recreation in the north. You’ll probably realise that this workshop on trails was not aimed at 4x4 recreation, but targeted the areas of cycling and walking. The aim of the workshop was to share strategies on how to establish new trails and identify how WAC and NZRA could assist. Activity by trail groups is at a high level, with a wide array of projects, especially around cycleways. The money is a little eye-watering too, with government funding for construction and…

On November 12 last year I went along to the Southern Trail Blazers 4WD Club’s annual Landslip 4x4 rally at Pukerau in Southland to marshal for the day. Having always competed for many years it was definitely a change for me. After the usual scrutineering checks and drivers’ briefing the action started. The course I was marshalling started with an off-camber drop into a boggy ditch with a short run down the ditch which competitors had to climb back out to the finish. Great entertainment This course turned out to be surprisingly easy in the morning but was starting to change by lunch time. Other courses like the speed course provided great entertainment for the crowd of spectators with drivers encouraging each other to push that little more resulting in…

When the general public dislike a particular idea but the spin doctors want to push that barrow, it’s interesting how they change the terminology to make it sound better and hopefully more acceptable. I am referring to ‘Driverless’ vehicles which seem to be pushed upon us under the guise of road safety. It seems that people didn’t take too kindly to the idea of driverless vehicles so they now call them ‘Autonomous’ vehicles which doesn’t sound as bad or risky. I am pretty sure most of us drive off road for the enjoyment and satisfaction of enhancing our own driving skills over varying terrain and don’t relish the thought that technology is going to take the enjoyment away from us. Also I bet that you also like ‘driving’ on road…