Track reimagines Pioneer camper brand

History shows that Track Trailer and Pioneer have both been at the forefront of serious Australian off-road travel and adventuring for around 30 years.

Back in 1997, the Perth-built lightweight Pioneer flip-over camper trailers were state-of-the art for off-road travellers.

Then in 1999, Melbourne’s Track Trailer moved the goalposts when it introduced its hard-shell Tvan that has since become a largely unchallenged icon, despite Pioneer’s best efforts.

Although awarded Camper Trailer of the Year shortly after its introduction in 2017, Pioneer’s Tvan-inspired Mitchell and lower-spec entry-level Wilpena models always finished second in any comparison with the venerated Track Trailer original.

Twenty-one years later in March 2020, Track purchased Pioneer from Ararat farming equipment manufacturer Gayson as a package deal with Melbourne’s long-established Trakmaster, just as COVID struck Australia.

As a result of economics, limits on production investment and major component shortages, it will now be approaching three years before Australians in late 2022 will see the fruit of Track’s bid to re-imagine Pioneer as Australia’s premier hybrid caravan.

Real-world testing

Now the good news. After joining Track engineers for final off-road testing in South Australia’s rugged Bendleby Ranges in the Southern Flinders area, I  feel confident to tell you that it has been worth the wait.

While the resulting new Verve is a boxy full-height caravan, not a camper, Track has taken care to honour Pioneer’s good name, while extending its capabilities in line with the changed expectations of Australian travellers.

Track put an option-laden Verve through its paces over challenges off-road tracks in the Bendleby Ranges and then on to severe corrugated road enduring testing at the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Anglesea, Victoria before settling on its standard specification and pricing (due to be announced August 9).

I caught up with Track Director Gerard Waldron and was able to gather some details about the new Pioneer and a better understanding of the engineering and design work that has gone into it during the COVID shutdowns and onwards.

Waldron confirmed that Track has setup a new manufacturing facility and that the Pioneer will go online early September.

"We’ve been recruiting new assembly team members and utilsing them to speed up the Tvan and T4 production; once we are ready to go these team members will move across and begin construction with the aid of our R&D team and their comprehensive assembly instructions," he said.

Anyone familiar with Track'sTvan and its upmarket T4 pop-top models that superseded the upmarket Topaz, will see a lot of familiar things in the new Pioneer hybrid caravan.

Its modified Trakmaster 2 trailing arm coil and twin shock absorbers suspension is not available with air springs, that are standard on the latest Sunseeker Vision, but can be adjusted for toe-in and camber.

Cruisemaster 12-inch drum, rather than disc brakes, are the only stoppers available and while the chassis employs Australian steel, it is very sturdy and with a metal box section galvanised chassis with an average minimum 390g/m2 thick hot-dipped coating, is designed for a long life.

The custom chassis is critical to Track's commitment to a well-balanced caravan and depending on the buyer’s options, the spare wheel can wind up between the chassis members, or be located at the rear, with stability on all road surfaces being prioritised.

Ready for rivals

So, this sets the theme of the Pioneer Verve – proven simplicity with a considerable focus on build quality.

Just how it will fare on the market against more tech-orientated alternatives like Sunseeker’s Vision, with its standard air suspension, disc brakes and electric awning, is yet to be seen, but Track has on first look done a great job in bringing Pioneer into the modern era and is building it on a dedicated new line in its expanded Bayswater North, Melbourne headquarters.

Now, Track's design focus will shift to a long anticipated new Trakmaster.

Unlike the Pioneer, the 2023 Trakmaster will be a tandem caravan, but it will share many construction and design features with the Verve, placing it back at the top end of Australian true off-road caravans, where it previously existed.

As a former happy Trakmaster owner, based on what Track has achieved with Pioneer, I’ll be fascinated to see what they come up with...

The Pioneer Verve is being released at Track's Melbourne retail outlet, Outback HQ’s Open Day on August 13 and will have a handful of production deliveries prior to Christmas for a lucky few.