Big Rigs & Construction
In 2006, Steve Machin decided to go to Super Model Car Sunday at the Malaga Hot Rod club rooms. It is there that Steve first met Shaun Fishlock & Grant Hodgson. Shaun & Grant both had Prime Movers and a couple of trailers. This intrigued Steve.
The first meet was about a month later, after Steve had built his first truck. It was behind Riverton Forum shopping centre. They decided to make their meetings more regular and decided to meet at the Caltex in Kewdale, one would say a fitting place for a truck club being the entry to the kewdale freight facility.
It wasn’t too long before the group began to grow. The location was great for attracting new drivers being in the heartland of the trucking industry in WA. With the exposure and word of mouth, we began to grow quickly.
Before they knew it, there was half a dozen people with trucks and trailers. The original 3 came up with the name Big Rigs WA R/C and have been known ever since. By 2011 we had grown to over 20 members. Most were from the trucking industry or have an interest in them. Both Male and Female, Young and Old.
In 2011, the club joined forces with West Coast Model RC inc. to get a permanent venue. Now operating out of the Bayswater RC site, we now have purpose built areas for our trucking.
Currently, the club has 2 sand pits for construction vehicles, a dedicated concrete haul road system with over & under bridges, plus tipping areas for sand etc. We also use the on road track to drive around stretching the big rigs transmissions to a Max speed of around 25 km/hr, as well as loading docks complete with forklifts, service station, overhead hoppers, warehouses with more buildings on the way.
With new members come new ideas and new trucks, trailers and earthmoving equipment. The club has all sorts of truck and trailer combinations. Most of the trucks have been built with a leaning towards making them look like Australian Trucks. Very few of the trucks nd trailers are straight out of the box. Flat beds, Containers, tankers, pans, low loaders, B-Doubles, Road trains and others. Plus we now have a good assortment of construction machinery. The club record for the most trailers pulled by a 1/14 truck is 27 trailers.
The club conducts shows around Perth, check the calendar for details. The biggest show we have attended was the Perth Truck and Trailer Show at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, In our second year we were given a large space to drive as we caused a bottle neck at the entrance to the main hall in our first year. We also attend Numerous shows with both driving & static displays Including: The Avon Descent finish line in August , York Motor Show in September and for the first time The Mack Muster show in November 2020.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for upcoming events or visit us at the club on our scheduled driving days.