Among the many demanding roles trucks are called upon to perform in New Zealand, groundspread work ranks as one of the most specialised.

Putting a state-of-the-art groundspread unit to work means starting with a (typically) European brand all-wheel-drive cab/chassis and applying a large slice of Kiwi engineering know-how. And there will even be subtle design variations to suit the regional differences of New Zealand topography.

It’s a recipe which Nelson region company Brooks Spreading has been perfecting for a few years. Dean Brooks’ firm, located at Spring Grove half-way between Wakefield and Brightwater, has – literally – been working in this field since 2003.

Dean says he’s lived in Brightwater most of his life and he moved into the groundspread sector after spending 10 years in the local logging industry.

Brooks Spreading has owned and operated Mercedes-Benz, MAN and Scania units and bought its first Iveco Trakker 4x4 in 2014. Gradually the fleet has become exclusively Iveco and this new T-Way has just gone to work in the Brooks colours.

The Iveco brand has been busy rolling out its new models.

Not long ago we featured the new S-Way on-highway model and now it’s the turn of the new generation T-Way model that is replacing the Trakker range.

It’s the brand’s construction model which includes both 4x4 and 6x6 configurations along with a more robust build and raised ground clearance for the harsher environments.

One of those environments here in New Zealand is the groundspread sector where trucks spend just as much time – if not more – working off the road rather than on it.

This month we catch up with the first T-Way to go to work in New Zealand which sees us travelling to the Nelson region to catch up with Dean Brooks from Brooks Spreading and his business partner/driver Toby Evans.

It’s a brilliant sunny Nelson morning for our test and it doesn’t take long to get a load of Aglime on the truck and trailer and we are in the paddock. I let Toby sort the hills out and I take over for the flat part. I am left kicking myself that I didn’t give the hills a go. Maybe next time…