Gold Coast-based TekworkX Motorsport has been busy in recent weeks, and their transport partner has put yet another prime mover to work in motorsport

If you’ve wandered through the paddock at an Australian race meeting this year, you’ve probably seen some distinctive trucks with black flames in the support category area. These prime movers belong to Gold Coast-based Seage Transport, a growing transport business with operations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

The Seage Transport crew has linked up with another Gold Coast operation, TekworkX Motorsport, to pull the team’s race transporter around Australia this year. TekworkX Motorsport currently competes in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and Toyota 86 Racing Series, and the team’s transporter was set for plenty of kilometres throughout 2021. That was, until COVID-19 outbreaks on the east coast put all the plans on hold after Tailem Bend in May.

Last month, the TekworkX Motorsport outfit returned to the track for a test day with a bonneted Seage Transport Kenworth up front that we hadn’t seen before. So, we contacted Seage Transport to get the lowdown on it.

A rotating racing roster

As it turns out, several different trucks in Seage Transport’s fleet have been put on motorsport transport duties this season.

“I reckon I’ve taken a different truck to each race meeting this year,” laughed Nathan Seage, one of Seage Transport’s co-owners along with his brother, Craig. “That’s probably why truck fans in the paddock haven’t been able to figure out which one is which!”

“The thing is, Craig and I have a working fleet and it’s often a case of using whatever is free at the time, so we make it pretty and send it off to do the racing. It’s fair to say we’ve represented a few different brands in half a year of racing, with our Volvo doing the maiden round at Bathurst earlier this year, before swapping that out for the latest DAF XF to see us through to Sandown and Tailem Bend, and then we took a different Kenworth for a trip up to Townsville.”

The maiden trip to a track

Between July and September this year, motor racing went quiet. But a bonneted Kenworth broke the drought last month, pulling the TekworkX Motorsport transporter to a test day Queensland Raceway. And this one was on motorsport duties for the first time.

“This was a brand-new truck as of January this year,” said Nathan. “It’s a Kenworth T610SAR day cab with 585 horsepower Cummins X15 V and an automatic Eaton Ultarshift gearbox. It was specced and designed to transport turf and construction materials, and during the week, it does turf deliveries on behalf of Allenview Turf.

“Monday was its first trip in motorsport, with one of our drivers, Scott McGuinness, behind the wheel. I drove its sister truck to Townsville back in July, which is also a Kenworth T610SAR. But for this particular truck, that was its first time on motorsport duties.”

A match made in motorsport

We asked Nathan how Seage Transport got involved in motorsport.

“It was quite a coincidence really, one day I was chatting away with one of our neighbours at our office and it turns out this particular gentleman owns a race car which he races in the Michelin Sprint Challenge – his name was Rob Woods, owner of TekworkX Motorsport.

“By this stage, Rob had given Craig and I the grand tour of the workshop and we were hooked. Porsches, go-karts, Toyota 86s and a workshop setup worthy to rival the best in the business. The setup and professionalism were spot on. I could tell Rob meant business and was serious in his pursuit of the 2021 motor racing season, with one small problem; a transporter that was already in production and no truck to tow it with.

“Craig and I offered to supply a truck and tow the race transporter around for him,” continued Nathan. “Since then, we’ve become quite good friends and the racing has been a common interest throughout the year. Rob shares his passion with his family and it’s great to see how that is replicated with the way his staff and drivers are treated. I’m just the truckie, but Rob ensures I get top notch treatment just like pro driver and co-owner, Luke Youlden.”

With Seage Transport trucks now on show in the paddock, and the brand occupying prime real estate on the rear wings of the TekworkX Motorsport Porsche entries, car racing has been a boon for the business in more ways than one.

“Brand awareness was the main reason why we wanted to be involved in motorsport,” explained Nathan. “It’s given us some great exposure, and we’ve been able to help Rob with his operation, too.

“But it’s not just a business thing,” Nathan said. “We have a rotating roster between the team at Seage Transport to give our drivers the opportunity to be involved in motorsport by driving the truck, so it’s brought some opportunities to our guys that they wouldn’t have otherwise had.”

The distinctive black flames

The Seage Transport trucks are hard to miss, with black flames on the front of every single truck in the fleet. Nathan shared the story of how this design became integral to their branding.

“We started out here on the Gold Coast as a pool cleaning business of all things,” said Nathan. “We then progressed into building and construction materials. And at that point, we needed a bigger truck to transport more materials.

“In the early days, we were running one truck up and down the Newell Highway,” described Nathan. “They were doing a lot of roadworks at the time, and this truck was getting hammered with stone chips. My brother and I started this from absolutely nothing, and I was ranting that it was ridiculous to spend $300,000 on a truck only for it to look like absolute rubbish.

“Initially we were going to airbrush it, but we realised that was going to have the same outcome. The black flames are actually 3-millimetre vinyl, and they came about to protect the front of the truck. That gradually became our branding, and people began to recognise our brand based on the black flames they’d seen out in the road. Little did they know we just had the one truck that was going back and forwards seven days a week. But that’s how it all started.”

And while building and construction materials remain Seage Transport’s core business, we might see some more black-flamed big bangers in race paddocks in the coming years.

“We’ve always wanted to have more involvement in the transportation of vehicles, but obviously with COVID-19, there hasn’t been much of a need recently,” said Nathan. “Our intention is to keep on supporting TekworkX Motorsport so long as they require our assistance and help out as much as we can.

“Of course, if any other teams have needed any assistance towing their transporter, we can find a prime mover to tow it somewhere. It’s good for them, and it’s a lot of fun for us.”

If you’re loving the black flames and want to see more Seage Transport trucks in your social feeds, you can follow them on Facebook and Instagram. And if you want to see the racing equipment they cart, TekworkX Motorsport is on Facebook and Instagram.