Followers of the local Winch Challenge scene will no doubt recognise the name Scotty Newport.
Scotty, from Nelson, has been a regular competitor on the Superwinch Mainland Series circuit for a number of years, his skills as a co-driver recognised by the likes of Sav Satherley and Gordon Jackett.
Both ran Jeeps with Scotty responsible for their electric Superwinchs, with Scotty part of the class-winning team in the Mainland Superwinch Series as well as joint holder of the NZ1 Title for their class four years running.
The story of Scotty’s Jeep Cherokee build started at the end of the 2015 Winch Challenge season at the big NZ1 meeting in Auckland last November.
The idea of building a Winch Truck was often talked about at home but was put down as a dream and in the ‘maybe one day’ basket. Scotty had it all planned in his head though and when a 1997 Jeep Cherokee turned up at the right price - and Mainland series’ sponsor Superwinch offered some sponsorship - the build began.
Scotty and his brother Mark own their own small engineering business in Nelson and by starting work an hour earlier each day, working on it during his lunch break and for another hour after work in nine weeks Scotty had rebuilt the sides, welded the roll cage in, completed the outside bar work and painted the Cherokee.
Scotty would like to thank the following people and businesses for either their sponsorship, knowledge, advise, parts or guidance.
- Superwinch (Traxion) - main sponsor
- Newport Light Engineering - steel, workshop, man-hours and parts
- Sav’s 4x4 Centre - parts, knowledge, advice
- Frosty’s Towing - delivery, painting
- Translog/ENI Oil - crown wheel pinion, oil
- Richard Paige - rebuilding diffs
To read the full story in the August 2016 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (July 25) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.
