THE children at Turakina School got to put on the race helmets and feel what 600 horsepower feels like rumbling under their seats as 4x4 national champion Hamish Auret brought his Corvette-engine truck to "show and tell" yesterday.
Auret and Dan Cowper were visiting five country schools to promote the inaugural Suzuki Extreme 4x4 Challenge, which will be held this Sunday on the Cowper property.
The 4x4 truck builder has invited 15 of the best drivers to enter the challenge on a course he has designed and will dig out on the property - sculpting it to suit rather than using more natural barriers like the national 4x4 championship series.
He hopes that by design this will make 4x4 competition more spectator friendly, and has arranged for a crew from TV3's CRC Motorsport show to attend the weekend.
"It's built for TV, really," Cowper said. "Because of that, the spectators will get a good view on what's going on. There's jumps, walls of death, big lumps to cut out and get over."