Rain affected play (mostly in a good way!) at this year’s Tangiteroria Farm Tagalong in Northland. Ashley Lucas explains.

This was the second year the Whangarei 4WD Club had run the Tangiteroria Farm Tag-a-long as part of Whangarei’s Festival of Motorsport for the last two weeks of April.  Other events for motorsport enthusiasts included Speedway, Hot Rod car events, RC car club day, culminating in the International Rally of Whangarei.

The tag-a-long across a farm under the Tangiteroria ranges and is a chance to ‘play’ at various challenges and is suitable for all 4WDs.  Funds raised from this year’s event would be going to cancer research.

It had been a stormy couple of days before hand and there was still the occasional showers as we drove north after an early start on the day.

Meeting point was at the Upper Wairoa Memorial hall where it was obvious attendance numbers were down on the previous year.  After completing registration, airing down tyres, buying the obligatory raffle tickets to further help with the fundraising, it was time for the safety briefing.  

Small groups

Vehicles were put into small groups of about 10 vehicles which were led by members of the Whangarei Club and have a tail end vehicle as well.  The trailered and home built vehicles went on one group with another for the ‘shinies’ and then groups for the ‘club’ vehicles.

The property was only a few hundred metres down the road so as the groups were sorted, radio channels confirmed each group headed off.  The property is large enough that the various groups headed in different directions.

Soft ground

The ground was soft and greasy and when, after the first couple of vehicles, the group leader Kyle, struggled getting into the first paddock it was decided to head further up the farm track.  First up, there was a play area coming across a water-logged ditch which the first vehicle did successfully.  The second vehicle bellied as he slowly entered and was winched in but from there he drove it.

We had a fairly shiny Toyota Hilux in our group and even he was keen to give it a go. Unfortunately it was too much for the Toyota, especially after a couple of large Nissan’s on 35s had just gone through.  Again the winch was called into action.

It started to rain yet again so we were back in the vehicles and moved on.   A couple of hills and swampy sections later and the rain was gone but Whangarei’s John Rapana’s two-door classic Range Rover had thrown the fan belt. 

The vehicle was only just back from getting a new water pump fitted and when they went to refit the belt the pulleys didn’t seem to line up.  His model is the early one without viscous fan and the centre ‘hub’ to hold the fan is press fitted to the shaft.  The hub had moved forward and the fan had hit the shroud bending the corners of the fan.  A few repairs in the paddock had it mobile enough to drive out but his day was finished by lunch time.

Spot the prize

We returned to the front of the property for lunch where the BBQ sausage sizzle raised further funds for charity.  The Club had also received a lot of sponsorship support from local businesses which meant that everyone in attendance at least got a prize of some sort from the sponsors’ goodies.  The raffle was also drawn and while I didn’t get the first prize, I did get second and came away with a 25 piece ½ inch drive socket set from BNT in Whangarei.

Back into the four-wheeling and with the rain departed and the sun out we tackled some of the other tracks on the farm.  There was a nice little challenge dropping down across a small waterway and up the other side.  Some had to have several attempts to drive out or were winched.  A little Suzuki got stuck on the descent with a rock under the front.  A quick bit of spade work had him going again.

Slippery under foot

The ground was still slippery under foot and when a vehicle slid back failing the last little climb, he found the only Nikau Palm tree left standing and none too gently either.

Another big hill climb had some make it look easy while others struggled sliding all over the place like myself; I blame the rear diff lock!  The group spent an hour recovering a Jeep that had failed a climb and got stuck in a little gully half way up the hill, and then various recovery vehicles had their own problems. 

Rodney Brown from the ‘tuff’ group showed up in his little homebuilt “Cheep” and using a proper nylon recovery rope (as opposed to the popular flat strap) easily towed the Jeep out of the gully.

A little more trekking around the property followed and before we knew it, the day was done and it was time to air up the tyres, say our goodbyes and head back to the city.  Judging by the state of many of the vehicles, including those from other groups, people had a lot of fun! 

It was an enjoyable day, well run by the Club and something a little different.

Once home it was nearly two hours on the water blaster trying to remove the Northland farmland from the Discovery.  A large part of the farm is now gracing the front garden.

To read every story in the September 2017 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (August 18) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.