4x4 trials a family affair for Nathan Fogden and his sons

Left to Right: Brinn Fogden and Sean Bydeley with thee A-Class Suzuki, Nathan Fogden and Mike Gibbons with the C-Class Cowper Truck and Cody Fogden and Karl Burgener with the Zook-Sport E-Class Suzuki. Photo / Supplied

For a dad and his two sons, this weekend’s NZ 4x4 Trial series round in Te Puke will be a family affair.

Since the last time the series visited the district two years ago, seasoned campaigner Nathan Fogden has been joined in the sport by his sons, Brinn and Cody, in the muddy test of driver skill and driver/co-driver teamwork that is 4x4 trials.

Last season was the first full one for Nathan’s older son Cody, with co-driver Karl Burgener, while his younger son Brinn is competing in the whole series for the first time this season, with Sean Bydeley in the co-driver’s seat.

Nathan’s co-driver is Mike Gibbons. All three compete in different classes, but they all tackle the same tests and bragging rights are always on the line.

All three trucks are painted in the same colour scheme with the same sponsors, under the Zook-Sport / BF Goodrich Tires 4x4 Rally Team banner.

Both Cody and Brinn are driving Suzukis, with Nathan in a class C Cowper Truck.

Class C and D vehicles are premier super-modified trucks of up to four cylinders and five or more cylinders respectively, with Nathan driving in the slightly lower-powered C Class.

Te Puke's Nathan Fogden and co-driver Mike Gibbons at the last Bay of Plenty round of the NZ 4x4 trial in 2021.

Nathan, a three-time national C Class champion, is currently first in his class. At the last round in the Manawatu, he won his class but finished 10th overall, which pushed him down to third overall in the season standings.

“We were a little bit affected by the draw, but that’s the way it is - it’s random and sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t do so well because of the draw.”

Brinn and Cody also rolled in the last round and Brinn had to replace the whole diff on his Suzuki.

“Cody had a pretty impressive [roll] and Brinn broke a CV,” says Nathan.

Nathan says it is “awesome” that his sons will be competing alongside him for the first time at a Bay of Plenty Four Wheel Drive Club-organised national trial.

“I’ve been in the sport 18 years and I’ve come through in both those trucks and it’s quite cool. A lot of people comment on how cool it is to see those old trucks out there being driven by the boys and it’s actually really humbling as a parent to hear people commenting on how they are a couple of nice young blokes and how well they put themselves forward out on the course and how well they are driving.”

Now in his second full season, Nathan says Cody getting to the point where he should probably be in a better truck.

With the trucks built to tackle slippery, muddy conditions, the event will go ahead whatever the weather - events only being cancelled if it is deemed too dangerous.

But Nathan says good weather would help attract the crowds and assist with the club’s fundraising for Waipuna Hospice.

“It means a lot to our club to raise as much money as we can for the hospice,” he says. “We know what hospice does for people in their hour of need and it’s good for our club to raise as much money as we can - and that’s about crowd numbers.”

Nathan’s truck will be on display at Saturday’s Te Puke A&P Show.

Food and drink will be available on Sunday, with the action starting at 8.30am.

Entry is $25 for a family of two adults and up to three under 16s, or $10 per adult and $5 for a child.

■ Trials are based on the ability of competitors to drive their vehicles over difficult terrain, including hill climbs, mud bogs and going up steep hills, over rocks and along banks. The course is made up of a minimum of 28 short obstacles. Blue pegs mark the start and end points of the obstacle, and the boundaries of the obstacle are indicated by red pegs on the right and yellow pegs on the left.

The driver and co-driver attempt to negotiate their vehicle through each obstacle as far as they can, and vehicles from all classes drive over the same obstacles.

Classes include production, production-modified, super-production, modified and super-modified.

Each event has an overall winner and class winner for the day. Points won go towards deciding the overall and class winners for the different zones and national placings at the end of the season.