Day 0  - Sunday 14 January 2001 - Scrutineering and drivers briefing

After about 12 months planning, Day 0 of the NZMD tyres North Island 4WD Challenge 2001 finally arrives with great haste.  Everything seems to plod along until about two weeks out then all hell breaks loose with a million things to do and not a million minutes to do it in – let alone Christmas holidays, full time jobs and doing our own personal packing and vehicle preparation.  But we get there in the end.

The organising committee of Alan Donaldson, David Jones, Phil Lewton, Grant Purdie, Ron Wadham and John Walls have all worked extremely well together to get the trip planned.  As well as monthly meetings (thanks for all the superb suppers, Audrey) we all went on recee trips to find and investigate the tracks and farms we are passing through – all together we estimate that in excess of 4000km have been clocked up.

Scrutineering is from 1030 to 1530 at Harcourt Holiday Park in Upper Hutt on Sunday afternoon.  A big vote of thanks must go to the camp proprietors for their hospitality and the facilities provided.  All vehicles must be scrutineered to ensure that they all meet the rigorous safety requirements of the trip – the safety of all participants is our biggest concern!

 Then it’s off on the provided buses to our welcome / get together dinner at the Petone Workingman’s Club.  Along with a fine meal are welcome messages from the Mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr John Terris, and our NZMD tyres sponsor representative, Mr Barry Gray.  To wrap the evening up David Jones outlines how the trip will run overall, and gives us the drivers briefing for the first day.

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Some Trip Statistics

People: 150 including 24 kids 4WD Club Members: 80% On Email: 51% Home Region: Northland - 2 Auckland - 10 Waikato - 3 Taranaki - 1 Manawatu - 1 Wairarapa - 2 Wellington - 26 Marlborough - 1 Nelson - 3 Canterbury - 5 West Coast - 1 Otago - 3 Southland - 4

Vehicles: 61 Nissan - 26 Toyota - 17 Land Rover - 11 Isuzu - 2 Mitsubishi - 2 Ford - 1 Jeep - 1 Suzuki - 1 Motive power: Diesel - 72% Petrol - 28% Winches: PTO Winch - 15 Electric - 18 Tyres: BFG Mud Terrains - 35 Firestone - 6 Hankook - 5 Kumho - 4 Dunlop - 3 Bridgestone - 2 Swampers - 2 Armstrong - 1 Cooper - 1

Other 4WD web sites

Interested in seeing more on the web on 4WD'ing? Here are some local sites you might like to visit. 

4x4.net.nz 1999 North Island Challenge  Auckland Landrover Owners Club   Canterbury Landrover Owners Club   Jeremy Walkers 4WD site   Manawatu 4WD Club  NZ FWD Association NZ 4WD and Sports Vehicles Magazine South Island Niva Drivers Association Wellington Cross Country Vehicle Club

The North Island Four Wheel Drive Challenge has been put together by a small dedicated group of 4WD enthusiasts (all experienced club members) on a non-profit cost-recovery basis.

Your comments are welcome - click to send mail to the trip organisers or web master

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Content Copyright 4x4.net.nz,  2001.