The future’s so bright

 

Linc Whiddett: more talent at thirteen than many twice or even three times his age

Brightly coloured, at least: the inaugural New Zealand stadium offroad racing championship in February and March featured three race vehicles that can shine a light on the future of offroad racing in this country.

Among the crash, bash biff and bang, the dust and flame of the mass-grid heats were the 450 Trophykarts of Linc ‘Hot Wheels’ Whiddett and Paul Hackett and the raucous wee Red Bull truck of master showman Mad Mike Whiddett.

The event was huge. Round one gridded up 107 race cars and trucks, a paying crowd of around three thousand, the 850-car spectator parking area full to the brim. The last time I remember seeing that in the national championship was… oh, never. The second round went ahead in March despite the best efforts of the modern plague to derail the show. Some might also say the health bureaucrats were complicit in their obsessive conservatism. We got 75 cars to that one, though crowd numbers were well down thanks to the Government giving only a day's notice before switching NZ down to level one (whatever THAT is).

But back to the story. To the dismay of the traditionalists, these new vehicles are crowd pleasers. Mad Mike has more than two million followers on his Facebook page. He is a Red Bull athlete, just like Liam Lawson (FIA F2, for those who don't know) and Shane van Gisbergen (Bathurst 1000 winner and now on his way to an Aussie V8 championship title). Mike has a mad keen following in the Japanese drift scene, and in the USA.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the racing – in general – and the antics of the 450s and Mad Mike in particular. It’s been a while since the sport has heard anything as overtly rotary as the Red Bull truck.

But with last month’s focus on unlimited-class race cars, it’s fitting now to have a look at the Thundertruck class as well. These three new stars are standing on the shoulders of giants in the sport.

People like Lyndsay Dowler, Euan Cameron and Mike Parkes were at the forefront of the pre-Thundertruck era. Lyndsay had a lovely FJ40 with a V8 in it; Euan ran a Toyota Hilux (like the Crumpy one) with a V8 and a flat deck; and Mike of course had a lovely Holden Rodeo with a V8 transplant. Anyone who followed both four wheel drive rallies and offroad racing will remember with great fondness Mike’s CJ Chevy, a stunning CJ5 Jeep with difflocks and clever transmission tweaks and more importantly a Chev V8 under the bonnet.

All three were chassis-based trucks though Mike’s was maybe the bridge between old-school four wheel drive and the new-school spaceframe racers about to make an entrance.

Lyndsay and Mike continued in the sport as the new era arrived, Tauranga-based Euan focussed on his well drilling business.

The big sea-change in the 1990s was the creation of the new 2-4-6-8 class structure. Class 2 was for production trucks, which were dubbed Protrucks. Classes four and six were for four cylinder and six cylinder ‘improved’ trucks. Class eight was for the unlimited big bangers.

Lyndsay built his lovely new class four Hilux with a 3S-GTE Toyota four-banger turbo engine, poster-truck for the new sports-modified truck class.

Parkesie built his bright blue class 2 diesel Terrano. Stepping into that out of his Rodeo, that was his first venture away from V8 power units.

The late Warren Arthur had the Rodeo for a while and then built 801, the massive red-white-blue Ford F150 that is still brought out every couple of years. Sheesh. Warren’s gone, Parksie passed away in Thailand a few years ago, Pegleg’s gone. The giants are becoming gods at an alarming rate these days.

Big Black may be golden these days but Raana Horan still flings the big Titan around like it's a rally car

 

Time for some new giants then – Raana Horan perhaps? Rallying, offroad racing in two countries, and all while running a clutch of event-sector businesses in the time of the plague. His run at the Stadium event was classic Raana: spectacular, earth-shaking stuff. That truck has twice won the Woodhill 100, confounding buggy pundits who were adamant a truck could never win that sprint-enduro.

Rallyman and the brains (and muscle) behind the new Jack's Ridge rallysprint event: Andrew Hawkeswood

 Or how about Andrew Hawkeswood? Like Raana, he’s a rally man, offroad racer, businessman. He also organised the inaugural Battle of Jack’s Ridge, where he ran his new red truck in the offroad racing demo class. Andrew was in the thick of the action at the stadium event until he spun into one of those unforgiving concrete walls.

A mild cornering stance from Mad Mike Whiddett

Or – hey, I know, Mad Mike. Drifter, video star, offroad racer. Kinda like Ken Block without all the crashing. His truck is a class one car with a body on it, which some of the old school find a tad scary. But there is no denying the guy’s skills and style and certainly no denying his ability to put offroad racing in front of massive audiences.

Mickey Thompson New Zealand Stadium Offroad Championship Overall Results 

BSL Racing KiwiTrucks 1st= J150 Asher Morgan and J34 Tanner Willetts 3rd J54 Lucy McKay 

BSL Racing Modifieds 1st NZ2 Holly Russell 2nd ST2 Aaron Crabb 3rd M06 Kenna Baker 

BSL Racing Super 450 1st E21 Lincoln Whiddett 2nd E10 Paul Hackett 

Lucas Oil SuperBugs 1st 789 Brooklyn Horan 2nd 730 Dave Maggs 3rd 714 Emma McKinstry 

Lucas Oil Challenger 1st C12 Harry Hodgson 2nd 518 Geoff Matich 3rd 521 Tyler Castle 

ENZED ProBuggy 1st 333 Brendon Old 2nd 310 Connor Nicklin 3rd 362 Dan Frommings 

Class 10 1st 1011 Ed Hiestand 

Cooper Tires ProLite 1st NZ1 Nick Hall 2nd 805 Andrew Hawkeswood 3rd 886 Craig Carlyle 

Carlton Party Hire Thunder Trucks 1st 899 Raana Horan 2nd 863 Leigh Bishop 3rd= 841 Ricky May and 897 Warren Adams 

Federal Tires Pro1 1st 157 Tony McCall 2nd 144 Brad Harvey 3rd 196 Justin Davies Polaris 

Yamaha Ultra4 1st U22 Carl Ruiterman 2nd U83 Scott Munro 3rd U89 Boston Morgan-Horan

Ultra4Turbo 1st S22 Carl Ruiterman 2nd S16 Joel Giddy 3rd S43 Brian Rutgers 

Series Overall 1st 899 Raana Horan 2nd 789 Brooklyn Horan 3rd S22 Carl Ruiterman