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Three Parks, Wanaka will once again roar to life next Easter, as enthusiasts from around the globe gather with a shared passion for wheeled and tracked machines, with one brand at the forefront of celebrations - Caterpillar (Cat).
Founded on 15 April 1925, Caterpillar will celebrate its 100th birthday almost to the day of the fourth and final Wheels at Wanaka, 18 – 20 April 2025. The full celebratory programme has now been released.
Every Cat machine is invited to escape the shed for the weekend to join the centenary celebrations and take part in the world record attempt for most Cat machines in a parade. To join in, simply register as an exhibitor and keep an eye out for the programme released in early 2025.
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The 2025 Cat Global Operator Challenge is where the best of the best show off their skills competing in three challenges with three different Cat machines.
Each will execute a variety of tasks, such as digging a trench, loading a precise amount of dirt, and hauling or manoeuvring the equipment through obstacles.
The best scoring operators from the Preliminary round will then compete in a Final to determine the New Zealand champion, and the chance to take on the world in Las Vegas in 2026 and be crowned World Champion.
Developed in California, the Cat machine evolved when salesman Benjamin Holt replaced a steam tractor’s rear wheels with tracks, helping farmers to work on soft soils. The company photographer exclaimed that the machine “moved like a big caterpillar”. After merging with the Best Tractor Company in 1925, Caterpillar Tractor Co. has been synonymous with earthmoving equipment ever since.
A.S. Paterson was New Zealand’s first Caterpillar tractor dealer. In 1932 Gough, Gough and Hamer took over and took a gamble, importing five machines to demonstrate to the Ministry of Works. The demonstration was successful and Cat earthmovers and their skilled operators have since built New Zealand’s key civil projects including roads, hydroelectric schemes, ski fields, as well as breaking-in much of the nation’s farmland over the last century. Today Terra Cat is New Zealand’s Cat dealer.
Wheels at Wanaka founding member Robert Duncan constructs the road to Treble Cone Ski Field on a Cat machine in the 1970s
The vintage earthmoving machines that shaped this nation will be in action, alongside their modern counterparts, at Wheels at Wanaka’s world-renowned Terra Cat Earthmoving Extravaganza.
Terra Cat has been a proud platinum partner of Wheels at Wanaka since 2019.