FIVE MORE TRUCK MANUFACTURERS NO LONGER IN SUPERCARS
Delving deep into race transporter history to find five more truck brands no longer in the Supercars paddock
Tickford Racing at the Clipsal 500 in 2012
Image: Lawrie Shem
Last week, we put together this article covering the truck manufacturers that have left the Repco Supercars Championship since 2017. It generated a lot of discussion around which trucks race fans want to see return to the paddock, and our followers also mentioned some other truck brands that have been involved in the premier touring car championship Down Under at various stages.
This one has proven a bit trickier when it comes to exact timelines, but in this article, we’re covering five more truck brands no longer pulling Supercars transporters.
CAT
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a CAT badge in the Supercars paddock – the end of 2013 to be exact. And that’s for good reason, given CAT called time on its struggling truck manufacturing business in 2016.
Before its demise, Tickford Racing and Brad Jones Racing represented the CAT brand in 2012 and 2013. A CAT pair hauled the two Tickford Racing (then Ford Performance Racing) B-Doubles around Australia for two years which included a victorious trip to Bathurst in 2013. Brad Jones Racing also ran a pair of CAT trucks for two seasons – one pulling a B-Double for the Holden Commodores of Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard, and the other a single trailer for David Wall’s Wilson Security entry.
An FPR CAT in the Bathurst paddock in 2012
Image: Mike Cornwall
The Brad Jones Racing CAT B-Double at Bathurst in 2012
Image: Mike Cornwall
DAF
DAF hasn’t had a prime mover in the Supercars paddock for eight years, with Tony D’Alberto Racing most recently representing the Eindhoven-based brand in 2013. The D’Alberto DAF CF entered the paddock in 2010 with just one trailer to worry about. The team then switched to a Volvo FH and upgraded to a B-Double trailer set for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. However, the DAF had more year in the category in 2013 for Tony D’Alberto Racing’s last full-time tilt on the championship in B-Double configuration.
The Tony D’Alberto DAF CF at Bathurst in 2010
Image: Mike Cornwall
Other long-lost DAF trucks from the Supercars roadshow include Tony Longhurst’s Benson & Hedges Racing 3600 Space Cab prime mover (pictured below). This truck transitioned to Paul Morris’ Diet Coke BMW rig a few years later. A DAF XF also hauled the Paul Cruickshank Racing B-Double in the mid-2000s.
Tony Longhurst’s DAF 3600 in Auckland in 1991
Image: Mike Cornwall
We reckon it won’t be the last time we see a DAF badge at the sharp end of a Supercars rig. PACCAR is making plenty of noise about its DAF line-up Down Under. And with the new XF, XG and XG+ launched in Europe earlier this year, a return to the Supercars paddock could be on the cards in the coming years.
UD Trucks/Nissan Diesel
The four-car Walkinshaw outfit made the switch from a pair of Freightliner Argosy prime movers to two UD GW470 trucks at the start of the 2011 season on a multi-year deal. There was a lot of hype around the announcement, with the GW being the best-selling Japanese prime mover in Australia at the time. The UD trucks had plenty of work to do, with the Clayton team running two B-Double race transporters for Toll Holden Racing Team and Walkinshaw Racing in 2011 and 2012.
One of Holden Racing Team’s UD trucks in 2012
Image: Lawrie Shem
The partnership continued for two years and included a winning 2011 Bathurst 1000 trip, after which the Walkinshaw squad switched from Japanese to Swedish power at the start of 2013. This hailed a new V8-powered race transport era with Scania.
When it comes to Nissan Diesel-branded trucks, which we’re grouping under the UD banner, the most famous Nissan prime mover was run by Winfield Racing. This one hauled the mighty Bathurst-winning GTR race cars. It eventually moved on to Paul Romano Racing, and we haven’t had any luck tracing exactly how long it stayed in the sport after the new millennium.
The Winfield Racing Nissan truck at Bathurst in 1992
Image: Mike Cornwall
Isuzu
The other Japanese brand missing from the Supercars paddock for over a decade is Isuzu. The Holden Dealer Team famously used Isuzu trucks from the late seventies well into the eighties, but that’s not the most recent Isuzu to be seen in the Supercars paddock.
The most recent Isuzu we can find was run by Rod Nash Racing in 2009, which carried Tony D’Alberto’s Holden Commodore in The Bottle-O colours. You can see the old Isuzu EXY on the move here. And while we don’t see any Isuzu trucks pulling Supercars race transporters today, it’s hard to miss the Isuzu Trucks branding on the bonnet of Jack Le Brocq’s Ford Mustang this year.
Rod Nash Racing’s Isuzu in 2008
Image: Mike Cornwall
The Mobil Holden Dealer Team Isuzu in Adelaide in 1986
Image: Mike Cornwall
Ford
Once upon a time, there were Ford prime movers everywhere you looked in the Supercars paddock. So much so that in the mid-nineties, just about all the leading Ford squads had the same badge on their truck as they did on their V8 Falcon race cars.
And while Ford pulled the pin on its truck manufacturing division in 1997 (it was sold to Daimler and became Sterling), many of the leading Blue Oval teams continued to use Ford-badged trucks into the early 2000s. The latest Ford we can find is the Dick Johnson Racing outfit which ran a Ford prime mover during the 2006 V8 Supercars season.
The Ford-powered Dick Johnson Racing rig in 2004
Image: Mike Cornwall
A classic Ford Louisville for Murray Carter Racing
Image: Joe Sullivan
Another big thank you to Mike Cornwall for giving us the green light to share these brilliant transporter photos from his collection. Make sure you check out Mike’s Flickr page where you can find thousands of high-quality truck photos from around the world.
If you missed the first part of our ‘lost truck manufacturers’ series, you can read it here.
Do you have any intel on where these trucks ended up? If you do, please drop us a line on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.