Isuzu donates FRR tilt-tray as Variety Bash heads west

Isuzu Australia Limited and Ballarat Isuzu have donated a new Isuzu FRR 110-240 tilt-tray truck to Variety, where it will serve as the charity’s primary recovery and sweep vehicle across its motoring events.

The truck goes to work immediately on the 2026 Variety Victoria Bash, which leaves Halls Gap on 18 August and covers more than 5,000 kilometres over 10 days before reaching Exmouth on Western Australia’s Coral Coast on 27 August. It is the 34th running of the event and its first visit to Exmouth.

The FRR replaces a late-1980s Isuzu tilt tray that Variety has operated for around a decade. It runs at the rear of the convoy each day, recovering cars that cannot be repaired track side. The tilt tray body carries one Bash car while a rear cradle allows a second to be towed.

“The new vehicle is safer and more spacious, with the equipment our crew needs,” Variety motoring events manager Nick Clarke says.

“Our mechanic teams can fix almost anything, but remote and regional Australia does not always offer up quick access to a workshop or the right parts.”

Dealership resource on the road

The donation sits within a wider commitment. Team Isuzu is again supplying a prime mover for the Bash logistics operation along with an additional support vehicle, and Ballarat Isuzu is sending a mechanic vehicle and two of its technicians to travel with the convoy for the duration.

That is 10 days of workshop capacity committed off the dealership floor in the middle of the year, with dealer principal Ian Deacon also entered as a participant.

Deacon says the replacement came out of conversations during last year’s event, when the age of the existing tow vehicle became apparent.

“They’ll be in one of our service vehicles, helping with minor breakdowns and trying to avoid putting vehicles on the back of that tilt tray,” Deacon says.

IAL head of marketing and customer experience John Walker, who is also taking part, says the package was built around what the event actually needs.

“The FRR is a lasting asset that Variety can use across its motoring events, while the vehicles and people travelling with the 2026 Bash will support the immediate task,” Walker says.

Variety is targeting $2 million from its 2026 fundraising, and says supplier support of this kind lowers the cost of staging the event and lifts the proportion of funds reaching grants and equipment.

IAL and Ballarat Isuzu ran a two-car entry on the 2025 Bash from Hamilton to Darwin, with IAL taking Silver Heart Partner status and supplying a Giga prime mover for logistics.

The Victoria Bash is a separate event to the inaugural Variety Backyard Bash, which ran through regional New South Wales from 9 to 14 August and carried the first battery electric entry in the event’s history.