Wheels at Wairarapa 2023

FROM THE BIG WHEEL

Robin says the weekend has a big emphasis on family entertainment including tractor rides, truck rides, a kids’ corner, stall holders, a food court, and live entertainment.

“We are super excited about Wheels at Wairarapa and anticipate a big event.”

Across Waitangi weekend from 4 to 6 February 2023, Wheels at Wairarapa is the place to be. Find it at Clareville’s A&P Showgrounds, Carterton.

“We’ll be showing off the biggest collection of wheeled and track machinery in the lower North Island,” Parker says. “It’ll be an event to remember.”

Each of the three days of the event offers displays and vehicles strutting their stuff around the oval and each day has a theme or particular focus. Saturday will showcase vintage to modern cars, motorbikes, car clubs, V8s and more. Sunday will focus on

vintage, classic and new trucks, and Monday will offer old to new tractors, earth moving equipment, and agricultural machinery.

In a tilt to the ‘good old days’, steam traction vehicles will be in operation and, in a nod to where horsepower came from, there’ll be a team of Clydesdale horses. For those wanting their fix of heavy machinery, an earthmoving area

will be in operation and stationary engines will work away all day.

A commercial space for vehicle and machine dealers will show new models as well as display their vehicles from bygone eras. Competitions will take place within the different groups and prizes awarded, with evening BBQs on offer for the exhibitors.

Anticipation is for a big show which will grow bigger each time it is held. Profits made from the event will be shared with Westpac Life Flight Trust. Profits from Sunday’s truck rides and some proceeds from the truck show will be provided to the local Honeysett family for help with the costs of their disabled son.

“A big thank you to all of the Wairarapa District Councils and to Trust House,” Parker says, “all of which have given grants to support Wheels at Wairarapa. Thanks go to all the sponsors and volunteers who have helped make this event possible.”

“We’re moving up the gears,” says Robin Parker, immediate past president of the Wairarapa Vintage Machinery Club and convener of Wheels at Wairarapa 2023.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are key to making Wheels at Wairarapa run smoothly and to providing a warm local welcome to the many people coming from outside our region.

WHO WE NEED

• We need volunteers to operate earthmoving machines, graders, bulldozers, moto-scrapers, and dump trucks.

• We also need general volunteers – we’re looking for awesome, helpful, energetic, and friendly people over the three days of the event to help keep things happening smoothly and on time. It’s all about family friendly fun.

WHEN WE NEED YOU

• On some or all of 4, 5 and 6˜February 2023.

WHAT YOU’LL GET

• Each volunteer will receive a Wheels at Wairarapa cap and tee-shirt, together with a pass to the show. We’ll provide you with shelter, food, and drink while you’re onsite. You’ll get safety and how-to briefings and training where your role requires.

• On Saturday and Sunday late afternoons a happy hour and BBQ is available for volunteers ($20 each).

HOW TO VOLUNTEER

• Please fill in the contact form on the website.

• You will then be recruited into one of our teams and provided a roster for the show.

VOLUNTEER TEAM

CAMPING ON SITE

• If you’re a volunteer and would like to camp on site for the duration of Wheels at Wairarapa, a free camping option is available. Please contact Robin Parker on 027 546 8909, to confirm details.

CONTACT

• With any queries about volunteers, their duties, times, and conditions, please check out the website www.wheelsatwairarapa.co.nz or contact Robin Parker on 027 546 8909.

THE NUTS & BOLTS

• Vehicles – All types of vehicles will parade around the oval each day, based on the detailed daily programmes outlined below.

• Demonstrations –Earthmoving machinery digging, dumping, and backfilling. Gravel screening. Crop to harvest demos with horses and with machinery. Tractor ploughing. Threshing. Chaff cutting. Straw baling. Fertiliser spreading.

• Operating displays –Stationary engines running all day. Generators. Steam traction engines. Wairarapa Vintage Car

Club’s display and workshop on the premises. Horsedrawn vehicles displayed in the ‘stadium’ on the premises.

• Commercial vehicle and machine dealers –New and old models for your inspection.

• Stalls and entertainment –Market stalls. Food court. Live music.

• Rides –Thomas the Tank Engine. Surrey rides. Tractor and trailer transportation around the grounds. Truck rides on ‘truck day’ to raise money in support of Eli Honeysett.

• Accommodation –A caravan park is set aside at the event for motorhomes, where you can be near the action. Check out our wheeles website www.wheelsatwairarapa.co.nz Secure your motorhome spot by booking a ticket for the event through Eventbrite.

• Seating –BYO fold out chairs.

• Terms & Conditions –Check out health and safety terms and conditions on the Wheels at Wairarapa website www.wheelsatwairarapa.co.nz

Horsepower in the flesh.

Waggs gig built more than 100 years ago.

Ford Dexter 1959 tractor with wood splitter.

WHEELS AT WAIRARAPA DAILY PROGRAMME

DAY 1

SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY

Focus on cars and motorbikes

10.00am Opening and welcome – safety messages

10.10am Clydesdale horses

10.15am Tractors

10.30am Crawlers

10.45am Vintage trucks

11.00am Vintage cars, modern cars, motorbikes, and car clubs

Noon Break for lunch

12.30pm Traction engines and steam vehicles

1.00pm Light trucks, utes, and vintage commercial

1.15pm Land Rovers and all 4-wheel drives

1.30pm American classic cars

1.45pm British cars

2.00pm Wheeled earthmoving vehicles

2.15pm Trucks

2.30pm All in motorbikes

3.00pm All in cars and light vehicles parade and park up

4.00pm Exhibitors Awards and Social Hour

5.30pm Exhibitors BBQ

DAY 2

SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY

Focus on trucks and a truck show

10.00am Opening and welcome – safety messages

10.10am Clydesdale horses

10.15am Tractors

10.30am Crawlers

10.45am Vintage trucks

11.00am Big rig hour – classic, modern, and new – all makes and models

Noon Break for lunch

12.30pm Traction engines and steam vehicles

1.00pm Light trucks, utes, and vintage commercial

1.15pm Land Rovers and all 4-wheel drives

1.30pm American classic cars

1.45pm British cars

2.00pm Wheeled earthmoving vehicles

2.15pm Other

2.30pm Motorbikes

3.00pm All in trucks, big rigs and others parade and park up – old and new – and truck show awards

4.00pm Exhibitors Awards and Social Hour

5.30pm Exhibitors BBQ

DAY 3

MONDAY 6 FEBRUARY

Focus on agricultural machinery, tractors, and farmers day

10.00am Opening and welcome – safety messages

10.10am Clydesdale horses

10.15am Vintage trucks and other trucks

10.30am Cars – all classes

10.45am Earthmoving equipment

11.00am Tractor and agricultural machinery both vintage and modern

Noon Break for lunch

12.30pm Traction engines and steam vehicles

1.00pm Cars, all makes and models

1.15pm Land Rovers and all 4-wheel drives

1.30pm Other vehicles

1.45pm Motorbikes

2.00pm All in tractors and agricultural machinery parade and park up

NOTE: The daily programme is subject to change on the day.

4

FEBRUARY 2023 10 AM ˜ 4 PM, CLAREVILLE SHOWGROUNDS, CARTERTON

GREAT ESCAPES: WITH CARS AND MOTORBIKES

LOVING OUR CARS

Cecil Woods of Timaru created the first New Zealand-built motor vehicle in 1896. Only two years later the first imported cars arrived – these were Benz vehicles from France and were paid for by a Member of Parliament.

In the early 1900s when cars cost more than senior public servants earned in a year, the initial market was limited to professionals, especially doctors, and wealthy sheep farmers. The first car in central Canterbury, for example, was owned by the runholder at Rockwood station who had to send to Sydney for petrol.

Cars have been a boon for our small population dispersed over a relatively large land area with rugged terrain. They also provide a sense of freedom. The muchloved kiwi road movie Goodbye Pork Pie symbolises the use of wheels to escape from the dictates of authority.

Today, there are just under nine motor vehicles for every 10 people in New Zealand, giving us the sixth highest rate of motor vehicle ownership in the world.

FASCINATED WITH MOTORBIKES

Motorbikes were invented when people began putting engines on bicycles in the late 1800s. During

the 1920s, when few people could afford a car, motorbikes were popular because of their cheaper running costs. Racing on beaches was one of the earliest forms of motorbike competition with their wide-open spaces perfect for riders to test speeds without worrying about scaring horses on the roads. The first speedway course in the country opened in Kilbirnie, Wellington, in 1929, drawing thousands of spectators.

Our most famous biker must be Burt Munro. His preferred racing spot was the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. Born on a farm near Invercargill in 1899, Munro was a motorcycle salesman and mechanic who went on to modify his 1920 Indian Scout motorbike from the States. He set an under-1000cc world record at Bonneville in 1967, aged 68 – a record which still stands. The freedom of speed was always in his veins.

HIGHLIGHTS TO LOOK OUT FOR AT WHEELS AT WAIRARAPA:

• Carterton’s well-known surrey, pulled by horses, will deliver Carterton’s Deputy Mayor Dale Williams to the stage to open the show.

• Check out The Stadium for horse-drawn transport and cars that need to be cossetted and kept out of the weather.

• Wellington Vintage Car Club’s fleet of cars from over the hill.

• Vintage and new motorbikes.

• Get a glimpse of the way of the future –electric and hybrid transport options.

1916 American Overland.

WHEELING ON THE LAND WITH AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

HIGHLIGHTS

TO LOOK OUT FOR AT WHEELS AT WAIRARAPA:

Since the 1840s, the Wairarapa valley has been known as the agricultural powerhouse of the Wellington region. Dairying, drystock farming (sheep, beef, and deer), fruit and olive orchards, mixed cropping, and vineyards all contribute to the area’s economy, together with forestry and fishing.

Agricultural enterprises in Wairarapa have increasingly used machinery and technology to carry out tasks once done by hand or with a horse, which has revolutionised farming. The first tractors into New Zealand, arriving in 1904, were an Ivel and a Kinnard Haines – large and heavy beasts. By 1919 there were 136 tractors on our farms but, by 1931, there were more than 5000. These lighter and more manoeuvrable machines were widely used for towing machines

to cultivate the land, plant seeds, mow, and reap. Some drove small stationary threshing machines called tin mills.

Four-wheel-drives eventually became the ‘go to’ for getting around the farm. Land Rovers were the favourite, but war-

TFM TRACTORS

TFM

surplus jeeps and even bren gun carriers were used to access steep country.

In the 1970s, farm motorbikes made travel on the farm faster. Four-wheel quadbikes were introduced as another way to transport material and workers.

• A million-dollar plus John Deere 9470 (470 horsepower) tractor and Navag 6 metre precision seed drill –which carefully places one seed at a time – the newest and biggest on the market and living on a farm at East Taratahi.

• A Lister stationary engine from a Mauriceville woolshed.

• A 1948 Ferguson TEA tractor initially owned by Robin Parker’s grandfather and now owned and restored by Robin.

• Racing lawn mowers from Eketahuna.

• Land Rovers old and new in celebration of the Land Rover Club’s 75th anniversary.

• Working demonstration of a 1947 McLarenBrush electric generator.

Robin Parker with his Grandad’s 1948 Ferguson TEA.

Million-dollar John Deere 9470 tractor with Novag 6 metre seed drill.

75 YEARS OF LAND ROVERS

This year marks the 75th anniversary of when the Land Rover was first unveiled to the public at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1948. The Land Rover was designed by Rover engineers Maurice & Spencer Wilks, who had the foresight to see a gap in the market for a utility vehicle. Parts from Rover saloon cars were used, including a 1.6 litre engine from a Rover P3 60 saloon. Doors and a canvas roof were initially optional extras.

The original Land Rover was an instant hit worldwide due to its offroad capability. In 1970 the new Range Rover became an instant hit and combined the durability of the Land Rover with luxury driving for the road. The 1,000,000th Land Rover was built in 1976. 2013 and 2014 saw new generations of Range Rover Sport and the development of a Special Vehicle Operations division. In 2015, a one-of-a-kind Land Rover ‘Defender 2,000,000’ sold for £400,000 at a UK charity auction.

The Land Rover is important in New Zealand’s agricultural history, being one of the first four-wheel drive vehicles used on farm. They were easily maintained and, because of their aluminium body, didn’t rust. Land Rovers are quintessential New Zealand farm vehicles into which you can load everything you need for the day, including the dogs.

Land Rovers launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1948.

Land Rovers on the factory floor.

Land Rovers advertised in the Evening Post, 19 Feb 1955.

Visit Wheels at Wairarapa to see working demonstrations of a 1947 McLaren-Brush 55W generator that spent most of its working life at the Wairarapa Times-Age offices in Masterton as an emergency back-up generator. This old generator is currently owned and cared for (with the help of a small mortgage) by Jim Clark, after originally being purchased in the 1990s by Chris Slater.

Chris and Jim were founding members of the Wairarapa Vintage Machinery Club, formed in 1982. They worked together on renovating the generator. Chris has since died and is deeply missed by Jim and all Club members.

After WWII, McLaren-Brush generators were made in England and placed in factories to help re-vitalise manufacturing – dieselrun generators were needed in the absence of a reliable electricity grid. Energy supplies in England

were nationalised in 1947, a year in which power stations fell under the weight of massive snowfalls, but establishing the national grid took many years. This type of generator could run on its own or several could be wired together to

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON RACING LAWN MOWERS

power big factories. They helped keep England’s lights on.

Starting up the old Times-Age

McLaren-Brush is a labour of love – it takes around 20 minutes to get going and is very noisy!

The Eketahuna Lawn Mower Racing Club, founded in 2017, began as a way of raising money for worthy causes and helping out in the community.

The Club has grown to around 30 members of all ages.

It races socially on the second Sunday of each month at its home track in Eketahuna.

The mowers are all custom-built racing machines, some of which are capable of up to 70kmh on the track.

Mower racing is a great way to be a petrol head and have some light-hearted fun. Eketahuna’s Lawn Mower Racing Club will be out and about and putting its

wheels in motion at Wheels at Wairarapa.

Come and talk to us if mower racing interests you.

Wairarapa Time-Age’s old McLaren-Brush 55W electric generator 1947.

Eketahuna Racing Lawn Mowers.

MOVING HEAVEN & EARTH WITH EARTHMOVING MACHINERY

HIGHLIGHTS TO LOOK OUT FOR AT WHEELS AT WAIRARAPA:

• The earthmoving demonstration is a chance to see mighty diggers in action as they tear up the ground, dumping the soil into enormous trucks that move and tip the soil.

• Dump trucks, excavators, diggers, bulldozers, caterpillars, front-end loaders, graders, rollers, crushers and more – old and new.

Before WWII, the government began to expand its public works. This programme involved extensive importation of heavy earthmoving equipment and trucks essential for forestry and for infrastructure works like airports, military camps, hydro-electric plants, and highways cut through mountains.

New equipment enabled works to be completed in double-quick time, at significantly reduced costs.

Infrastructure work today is undergoing another push, all of it relying on earthmoving equipment

and trucks. In 2022, more than 1000 water construction projects and similar numbers of roading and subdivision projects were initiated in New Zealand.

Robin Parker first became involved in earthmoving by buying a Wairarapa business at the tender age of 19.

Back in the day, this sort of transaction by a ‘minor’ had to be verified in court.

The seller gave him five years to pay off the cost of the business which included a bulldozer, two trucks, and a front-end loader.

Although Parker traded earthmoving for selling cars and real estate for a while, he’s been back for a couple of decades moving earth for subdivisions, farms, and roading projects. All three of his sons also work with heavy machinery in the concreting, site works, and Australian road train industries. Come along to Wheels at Wairarapa on Waitangi weekend for a wonderful outing for the whole family.

Kids, bring Grandad along. Bring Mum too. You might be surprised

• A screening plant, with demonstrations of processing gravel (metal) for use on roads and as backfill.

what they know. Demonstrations will take place every day. There will be plenty of noise, squeaking steel tracks, and interesting displays on offer for the whole family to enjoy.

New Zealand has a long and rich transport history with “land freight playing a major part in the success of our primary industries and international export prowess,” according to a company that sells tracking systems for trucks.

It is not known exactly when the first motor truck was imported into New Zealand but over 150,000 trucks were listed on the motor vehicle register by the early 1960s. During all three days of Wheels at Wairarapa, you will be able to see vintage to newly minted trucks of all makes, models and sizes and for different uses such as general freight, logging, livestock, and bulk cartage. On the Sunday, the focus will be trucks.

Jamie Ellison and his Carterton company Ellison Cartage are supporting Wheels at Wairarapa by ‘showing off’ a cross-section of trucks on the Sunday.

Jamie says, “trucking is in my DNA”. He learned to drive trucks on the farm as a “young fella” under the tutelage of his father and has owned his trucking company for coming up 20 years. Ellison Cartage transports bulk supplies across the North Island, including sawdust, woodchip, bark, post peelings, dry shavings, grain, metal, maize, fertiliser, lime, stock feed and more.

Funds raised from the truck rides and some proceeds from the truck show will be donated to the local Honeysett family, longstanding clients of Ellison Cartage.

Eli became paralysed from the neck down and unable to breathe without a ventilator after being struck down with a rare and nasty virus in 2016 on his family’s Kahutara farm. Eli’s ongoing care is costly, and his current allterrain wheelchair - part-funded by Wairarapa locals - will need replacing in due course.

CALLING ALL VINTAGE MACHINERY ENTHUSIASTS

The Wairarapa Vintage Machinery Club is open to new members. The Club provides a Wairarapa venue for people to share their mutual interest in preserving and displaying all types of vintage machinery.

IT AIMS TO:

• Preserve, restore, and display vintage machinery.

• Provide information about - and access to - vintage machinery, to inform the public and future generations about New Zealand’s heritage.

• Provide technical assistance to members in the restoration of vintage machinery.

• Encourage the retention of vintage machinery in New Zealand.

• The Club meets once a month at The Wool Shed at 12 Dixon Street, Masterton. Club nights are informal evenings with speakers, films, videos, and discussion.

It enters the machinery of members in the local A&P shows, parades, tractor treks, ploughing competitions, and more.

It visits other clubs with mutual interests. Advice and help on machinery restoration is shared by

Club members. A monthly newsletter is sent to members with dates of meetings and events, and reports of interest.

The subscription year runs from 1 July to 30 June and costs $50 per annum, including spouse. Contact

for more information and an application form.

The Club extends a warm welcome and hopes to see you at a Club gathering soon.

Jim Clark on 06 306 9990

PUTTING THE WHEELS IN MOTION ˜ PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Wheels at Wairarapa has taken the best of many events around New Zealand – field days, car rally days, vintage machinery club displays, and the Wheels at Wanaka festival – to put on a three-day extravaganza of vintage and new vehicles, steam engines, tractors, farming heritage, cars, Land Rovers, motorbikes, trucks, earthmovers, and heavy machinery.

Looking back, we’ve come a long way in the six or so thousand years from the time when humans invented the wheel.

In the beginning, wheels were used to make pottery, to move things on carts, and to support the cavalry in war.

When people came up with the

idea of using wheels to create energy, the water wheel was invented, and it transformed our world.

The steam engine arrived in due course, leading to the creation of the train.

These made good use of cogwheels which convert a meshing action to torque and speed.

Around the same time as steam arrived, the bicycle emerged. Hot on the (w)heels of the bicycle came the motorbike, the car, and farm machinery.

More modern descendants of the wheel include the propeller, the flywheel, the turbine, and the jet engine. During the industrial

revolution in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, the flywheel (with its ability to store energy) was adapted for use in steam engines. Because most people lived in small, rural communities before the industrial revolution, their lives revolved around farming. The use of the wheel for farming improved food production and changed lives.

Today, even micro-hydropower systems are available on farms – these use a turbine, pump, or waterwheel to transform the energy of flowing water into rotational energy, which is then converted to electricity. Although we’ve come a long way, we still have miles yet to go. Electric and hybrid utes, tractors, motorbikes,

and buses are on our doorstep. Check out the past, present and future at Wheels at Wairarapa.

Wheels at Wairarapa is saddened by the death of Michael Slater in October 2022. Michael was President of the Manawatu Steam Club, a long-time member of the Wairarapa Vintage Machinery Club, and owner of a steam engine.

Club members celebrate Michael’s life and love of vintage machines, especially steam engines. “We are all touched by his loss.”