Meet Carl Natta, a man of many talents from Wellington, New Zealand.

We (virtually) met Carl after he tagged Trucks at Tracks in a superb album of old motorsport transporter photos on his Shutter Nutta Photography Facebook page. It turns out that Carl has not only been shooting the transport industry for 28 years, but he is more than familiar with the world of motorsport and has even driven transporters for an NZV8 Touring Car team.

Carl has very kindly given us the opportunity to share his collection in our #FlashbackFriday social media series of nostalgic transporter photos. However, before we start posting them on Trucks at Tracks, we wanted you all to get to know the man behind the camera.

“Well, I’m a mechanic by trade living in Wellington,” he explains.

“I’m married with three kids and caught the motorsport bug from my dad. I remember sitting in his go kart as a kid while he worked on it and my first memory of watching motorsport was Peter Brock in a VK Holden Commodore around Wellington.

Down the line, I had a friend who ran a motorsport workshop. I helped him out a few times doing bits and pieces which turned into a full-time job.”

Carl racked up the kilometers behind the wheel of two race car carriers for Radio Sport Racing in the NZV8 Touring Car Series.

“The Radio Sport truck was a 1982 Hino FF175, it was an ex moving company (Munro’s Moving) truck,” Carl recalled. “It also had the nickname ‘Shaka’, but I can't remember why! We carried an NZV8 Holden Commodore.”

But an upgrade was eventually required…

“The old Hino was getting tired and slow and the Fuso had more grunt and a bigger body. That meant it had a bigger kitchen/lounge as well as more room for storing spares along with the car.”

We then asked Carl about his enduring interest in photography.

“Photography started for me with my first camera at the age of 12 and going to the Nissan Mobil 500 in Wellington. I think for me, it’s a transport thing. There is a big family history and current, of transport related jobs in the family.

As for my Shutter Nutta Photography page, I've had it for about three years. It’s just somewhere that I can put the photos instead of just storing them on a hard drive. It’s slowly building, but the hardest thing is keeping up with the photos, editing and sorting.”

Now spending time away from the motorsport game, Carl is still clocking up some kilometers in another impressive piece of diesel-powered gear with very different equipment aboard.

‘I haven’t done motorsport stuff for a while now. The only truck I drive regularly now is an Iveco fire truck, as I'm a volunteer fireman.”

Please make sure you head over and support Carl’s Shutter Nutta Photography Facebook page and look out for his collection of nostalgic transporter photos from both sides of the Tasman.

They’re coming to Trucks at Tracks soon!