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Rally Malaysia Day 2 Blog Hi all, Today has been another tough day. The team worked miracles overnight to repair the car and to get it almost looking as good as new. As expected with the different front suspension the car handled a lot differently in the faster sections which required some caution. We started the day motivated to set some fast stage times and to proof a point. Unfortunately only 200 metres into the opening stage the car suddenly lost all power. Stranded on the side of the road for the second time this weekend we went about road side repairs to find an electrical short that had cut off all power in the car. We lost about 30 minutes with repairs and exceeded our time limit but we continued to set some stage times and gain experience. As our repairs in the first stage dropped us back in the pack we spent most of the long stage passing cars. Then the final stage before service everything started to click again. After service we drove as best as we could with what we had, setting some competitive stage times. Again in the repeated long stage we spun at the mid point and lost crucial time getting the car re started. Then the final stage we had a ball, defiantly my favorite stage of the event and I must admit it was good to see the finish line after what I would like to call a character building rally. It has been one of those rally’s where once it started getting bad it continued getting worse. As I mentioned yesterday it is a very hard pill to swallow not coming away with what we were aiming for but at the same time have to accept what has happened, move on and concentrate on doing a better job next time. The Pirelli Star driver scholarship was won by fellow kiwi driver Mark Tapper who drove well and kept out of trouble. Presently there are no stage times published from today and being that we spent half the day trialing at the back we haven’t had a chance to compare our times to see how we did. I will keep you posted regarding our stage times as soon as they are available. I think we won a couple of stages today for the Pirelli Competition and maybe even a stage overall. Over the next couple of days we will sit down, debrief and clean everything up for its journey back home. Once we get home it will be straight to the drawing board in preparing for the 2009 New Zealand Championship as well as exploring avenues to find the budget to compete in a international rally championship next year. With where I am in my career and to continue moving forward in the sport it is important that we can try and find a way to compete overseas next year to expand our profile, gain experience and compete against different competition. Thank you very much to everyone for your support throughout the rally and during our build up. I am sorry we haven’t delivered what I believe we could have but we have learnt a lot from this weekend that I’m sure will benefit us in future events. I guess the disappointment of this weekend is also magnified by the thought that there are no more rally’s planed this year. Also a huge thanks to all our sponsors and our amazing team who worked all around the clock throughout the event and never gave up. Thanks Dad, Math, John, Neil, Allan, Peter, Jackie, Satu and local Syami. Thanks, and will keep you updated of any stage times and happenings in the team. Have a great week,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rally Malaysis Day 1 Blog Hi all, Well I hoped that I was going to have good news to report this evening but unfortunately I only have bad. Our day started ok, nothing too flash but was a matter of getting used to the different road conditions. It had been dry over night which was what we were hoping for but the sandy road base proved to be very slippery. On the way to the first stage we broke the handbrake switch in the car which made it difficult to negotiate the number of tight corners in the stages. We set top 5 overall times in both the first two stages which I was pleasantly surprised about as I felt there was a lot of room for improvement, but more importantly we were second in both tests in the Pirelli Star driver competition. So it was a good strong start and for stage three I was planning on getting back into my normal rhythm. As we predicted yesterday this stage was still very wet and muddy as much of the road is hidden beneath the adult sized palms. The stage was going well until about 5km in things turned a little pear shaped. It was a short left hander, about a third gear corner, and was very muddy and slippery. I had the car set up on the line I wanted going into the corner but a big bump in the middle of the corner threw the car slightly off line. From there we were really a passenger as in the extremely muddy conditions the car sledged into a palm tree right on the side of the road. We went from about 60-70kph to zero within a blink of an eye, the impact leaving the car stranded in the middle of the road. The damage is reasonably severe but the guys are doing a amazing job fixing it overnight and we plan to restart again tomorrow. The damage sustained to the front suspension means that we have to run our spare front suspension which has not been developed for this car, so is a bit of a unknown how the car may handle. Words can not describe how gutted I am. I guess its all part of the learning process but it is a very hard pill to swallow on such a vitally important event. It’s certainly not all over yet as we are 15 points behind the leader with 18 points up for grabs. Sure it is a very tough ask but I am pumped up to go prove a point tomorrow, set fast stage times and gain more experience. I am sorry to everyone that has helped out, our sponsors, our supporters and our fantastic team. Motorsport is all about highs and lows and we have had a very good season to date, but the one that really mattered this year is not going to plan at the moment. Tonight John and I have more pace notes to go over and to get some rest and let the sore bones recover. I will keep you posted tomorrow and I can ensure you that we have certainly not given up, not until the bitter end. Many Thanks
Hi all, The past week has been a bit quieter being that the car is already halfway to Malaysia and all that is left is a empty space in the workshop. There is still a lot of paper work and organization to be done in the mean time and we are also working on budgets and sponsorship proposals for next year and beyond. Over the weekend the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Boxman Rally of Nelson was held. Nelson has always been my favourite event as it rewards fast driving while you can get away with using all the road which suits my driving style. Unfortunately with the championship already tied up at the previous round and the car on the boat we did not have a liable option for a car. A couple of us did however make the trip up to sunny Nelson to stand on the other side of the fence for a change which was a very different feeling. We also collected our championship wining trophies which the final winning margin was 21 points over Richard Mason, who also won the rally. Fellow Mitsubishi driver Chris West finished 2nd for the rally and 3rd in the championship. We depart for Malaysia on the 1st of October which is quickly creeping up. Along with all the other work that has to be done I have stepped up my training program for the last couple of weeks which also includes sessions in sauna’s and heat training. Can’t wait! Will continue to post blogs on our website and via emails through our supporters club. Thanks ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi everyone ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mid Season update Hi Hope all is well. Although the last few weeks have been somewhat quiet on the national rally front, it has been an exciting month for Paddon Direct Team Green, with a few exciting announcements. The next round of the championship is also quickly sneaking up, now just 4 weeks away in Hawkes Bay. Since the Rally of Whangarei, the car has been on display at the national agricultural field days where the response from the public was quite overwhelming. The car then headed home, where work immediately started on our mid season rebuild. During the long gap between national rallies it gives us an ideal opportunity to go over every component on the car and completely rebuild mechanical parts to ensure we continue to have a strong reliable package for the remainder of the season. Of course after each rally all components are checked, but this bigger gap gives us a chance to carefully inspect and replace worn parts, to get the car basically back to brand new condition. Work is all going to schedule, which is a great, thanks to our dedicated team who are putting in a lot of hours and hard work. Over and above that, last week we got last years Mitsubishi Evo8 out of the shed. We have had the car on the market now for a while and decided that, as we were coming north with it to do the Mystery Creek Rally NZ promo day last Sunday, we might as well compete in the Waitomo Rally the day before. We opted to run the car in very standard trim, to save wear and tear on competition components such as the gearbox and diffs, but for testing purposes we used the shocks and diff maps from the Evo9. As the cars are essentially set up the same chassis wise, it gave me the chance to play around with the settings a bit more and find out what does and doesn’t work on some heavily gravelled roads that are very close and similar to roads we’ll use for Rally New Zealand. It was a successful day and even in atrociously wet conditions, we thoroughly enjoyed a great event. We finished the rally 2nd, again to Chris West, which was great, as the day was solely targeted as a test, with no expectation of a podium result. Then on Sunday, we competed in the Rally New Zealand Promo day around Mystery Creek, which is a good, casual, fun day out, where we have the chance to give rally sponsors and media a ride. It was also great to give some of our North Island sponsors a ride and have them along for a fun day. All together it was a fantastic weekend. A huge thanks must go to Neil, John from Farmline, Andre and Dylan for their help servicing throughout the weekend, even in very wet and cold conditions. Thanks very much guys! Also at the Promo Day we were lucky to again be confirmed as 1 of 2 recipients of the PWRC (Production World Rally Championship) wildcard entries for this year’s Rally of New Zealand. This is the same opportunity we received last year, where we compete with the world’s best drivers in their championship for this round. Last year wasn’t so kind to us, so this year we certainly have some unfinished business. This, like the Pirelli star driver award later in the year, is a massive opportunity and one I have to try and make the most of. All in all it has been a great first half to the season. We have finished on the podium in every rally we’ve done, 3rd Wairarapa, 1st Timaru, 2nd Otago, 2nd Whangarei, 2nd Waitomo, and are leading the NZ championship again. It did take longer than originally expected to get used to the new left hand drive car, but I’m now on top of it and I can focus on further fine tuning the car and start pushing myself even further. The competition this year is very tough, but I feel rally victories are just around the corner again, it’s just going to require a lot of hard work. This Monday John and I fly out to Thailand for the week to compete in a national rally over there driving a Mitsubishi. The purpose of doing the event is to get some experience competing in Asia, the climate, the culture and conditions, in preparation for the Pirelli Star driver award in Malaysia during October. The October event is winner takes all, with the “all” being a fully funded drive in the 2009 Production World Championship. It is a massive opportunity and because there’s so much at stake we need to be as well prepared as possible, so this is why we’re competing in Thailand next weekend. That way it gives us a few months to prepare with more of an idea what to expect rather than going into it in the dark. The event will be purely a learning curve and completing each and every stage will be crucial to gain as much experience as possible. I will endeavour to keep you all posted while I’m over there. At least I’m sure it’ll be a complete contrast to the -3 frosts that we are getting at home at the moment! With both the Rally New Zealand PWRC scholarship and the Pirelli Star driver opportunities that we have gained we need to generate more funds to give us the best possible shot at success. Not only do we extensively market our sponsors and team through the many different media channels, we also have prominent car signage and in-car camera areas available for the remainder of the season. If any one has any ideas or suggestions I’m open to any of them and encourage you to please get in contact. If you would like any further information also please get in touch. We’ve also just had our new Team Green T-Shirts professionally screen printed by Barry at Brita Safety. They look absolutely fantastic and it would be great to see more Team Green clothing prominent out there on the stages. We will be having a prize draw before Hawkes Bay Rally where we will be giving away several Team Green T-shirts. For those that would like to buy one, we are selling them for $20 + freight each, sizes are from kids to XXXL. There maybe a small wait if we’ve run out of a particular size while we get it made but you will get it! I have attached a couple of photos (sorry about the poor quality of the photos). They are a good quality 100% cotton Tee, with sponsors logos in white down the arms, and Paddon Direct, Team Green and hayden-paddon.com on the front and rear. Drop me an email if you have any enquiries hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz. As you can see all is very busy at the moment. I am really looking forward to heading over to Thailand and to be completely honest I’m not to sure what to expect. I will however be taking a few cans of baked beans as a get out of jail card, as I can’t say Asian food is a favourite! Thanks everyone, I’ll keep you all posted. Also stay in touch with our website, which is also regularly updated with photos and videos, www.hayden-paddon.com. Many Thanks
Team Green Newsletter - June Hi all Hope all is well. Things have been busy here in the North Island with the national Fieldays. Certainly a change from the fast paced Rally action that I must admit already miss from last weekend and can not wait to get back behind the wheel. Whangarei was a good event again for us this year, giving us a championship advantage over our nearest rivals. After last years debut win on this event I defiantly felt a bit of extra pressure to back last years result up and to also close the 29 point lead that leader Richard Mason had on us in the championship. Also this was the first round of the Pirelli Star driver award and the prize at the end was 5000 euro as a finical assistance package to help the top two teams compete in the final over in Malaysia later in the year. So there was a lot up for grabs for this event but my one and only focus for the event was to try and win it. A good result like this would mean the other two targets, the championship and Pirelli scholarship, would look after them self’s. I have always enjoyed a bit of pressure as it makes me dig a little deeper and hook another gear. It’s certainly a very important part of our sport, handling pressure, and the more opportunities I get at doing just that the better prepared I will be for the future. The team had once again done a amazing job of preparing the car prior to the event and along with some successful testing the weekend before the rally, we were confident we could repeat the feat of last year. We were also very lucky that Regis and Jendaporm from BF Goodrich tyres flew over from Malaysia to help us for the event and introduce us to a new tyre that worked absolutely superbly throughout the rally. This was our first time using these tyres and they were a bolt on job without having to make any adjustments to the car. We were seeded 15 for the event. Being that this rally is a round of the Asia Pacific championship they get priority seeding, so we were the 2nd non APRC car behind Mason. After a successful recce where we were confident that we had a good set of notes we thought that the masses amounts of freshly laid gravel would be mostly cleaned up by the time we got to them. Well, how wrong were we!! As we discovered the lines that the front runners and the cars running further down the field in the APRC are completely different. This meant that rather than all the cars taking the same lines and creating a clean line they would be taking different lines hence spreading the gravel out. So by the time we got to the stages, the wider parts of the road almost looked as if no one had passed over them although the narrower sections were not so bad. It was extremely slippery and after expecting cleaner and harder conditions we choice a harder compound tyre that simply didn’t work. While other teams were scorching 6 tyres in the this group of stages we were barely marking 4. We were however 2nd fastest on all 4 stages before service but losing what would turn out to be a very valuable 19.5 seconds. It was a good experience however and for the first time in my rallying I discovered and felt how a wrong tyre choice can upset the car. It was good to learn this as I’m sure it will help me in the future. For the afternoon our tyres worked a lot better with the warming and cleaner conditions. I enjoyed the run through these stages a lot better as there was a lot more grip. In these situations though the roads are the same for everyone around us and it’s who ever deals with them best that gets the quicker times. We won the last stage of the day and in the process breaking our own stage record from last year. We ended the day in 2nd, 20 seconds behind fellow Mitsubishi driver Chris West who was driving superbly. Championship leader Richard Mason rolled out on the second stage which ultimately put him out for the whole weekend as they were unable to repair the car. 2nd for day 1 was good, although it had almost felt like we had been 2nd far too much in the past. I was fired up to go one better on day 2 and overnight rain and drizzle throughout the day made for a completely different ball game from the previous day. Although the roads were slightly cutting up in the damper conditions the roads seemed to offer a lot more grip and it was easier to push harder. We were again 2nd fastest in the first stage, won the 2nd and 4th while we were runner up in the 3rd. We arrived at the first service of the day just 1.9 seconds behind West for the day and it was shaping up for a cracker battle that would go right down to the wire. By this stage the weather was chopping and changing, and with service 80km away from where the stages were it was a real gamble of what tyres to take and how to cut them. The rally was so close that I believed that it was going to come down to tyre choice to win the day. We went for a tyre for wetter conditions hoping that the rain would continue. Unfortunately once we arrived at the stages the rain had stopped and the roads began to dry out. Despite this our tyres handled the conditions really well. So it was maximum attack and we won the first 2 stages after service and again setting new stage records on both. In-fact our stage record on the 11km Millbrook stage was just 10 seconds off Chris Atkinson’s 2005 record in a Subaru World Rally Car! So going into the last stage we had a 3.2 second lead over Westy which was as big as the gap got all day. So the final 21km test would decide it and I knew Westy would be going for it. So we did the same and amazingly at the end of the 12 minute long stage there was only 0.5 of a second separating us. So we held on to win the day by 2.7 seconds and come up 17.5 seconds shy of winning the overall rally. All in all it was a great weekend and great to finally get a heat win after all the hard work that everyone has put in getting our new car up to speed. Also with Richard scoring no points it was vital we got as big of jump on him as possible and now with a 23 point lead over West in the championship we are firmly back on track for this years title. There is a lot of hard work ahead though as it is a different kettle of fish being chased rather than chasing. The goal at the next road at Hawkes Bay will be to try and stretch our lead and put more pressure on the chasing pack but as Richard illustrated this weekend things can turn around very quickly in this sport so I have to keep my head screwed on and make the most of the good start we have made to the championship. We also won 13 of the 15 stages for the Pirelli star scholarship which was fantastic. The funding assistance will certainly help us to compete in Malaysia but we still have a lot of the budget still to find. The NZ championship will still be a major focus of mine this year, but the main focus for the remaining of the year is a good build up for Malaysia and extracting as much speed from myself and the car so that we have the best possible chance for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I can ensure you I will be trying 110% in both our preparation for the event and during the event. This opportunity has come at an ideal time for us as I have now spent 3 years in the National series, experienced off shore competition, pressure of winning national rally’s and combined with what I learnt at the Elite Motorsport Academy in 2006 I feel that this is my golden opportunity to take a step closer to my ultimate goal of driving in the WRC. It will be no easy task, with a lot of fast drivers and the challenge of a whole new event that is in complete contrast to what we are used to. But I love a challenge, and especially this one! Another big event in the 2nd half of the season is the Rally of New Zealand and after our dismal run there last year we certainly have some unfinished business. I look forward to flying the kiwi flag and put a strong challenge to the best PWRC drivers in the world. We now have a 6 week break until the next event in Hawkes Bay. Currently the car is on display at the Mystery Creek Fieldays before it goes home and gets its birthday. We will fully rebuild the car and all of its mechanicals so that we can be ensured that we continue to have a strong, reliable and fast car for the rest of the season. I will also be competing in the Rally of New Zealand promo day at Mystery Creek on the 29th of June driving last years Mitsubishi Evo8 that is still in the shed. The weekend after that I will be a guest speaker at the Eastern Southern Car Club which will be fantastic, especially to catch up with a lot of the people that I started out rallying with in the South Island. A huge thanks to our whole team, Dad, John, Math, Allan, Neil, Tom, Katie and to Regis and Jendaporm from BF Goodrich tyres who taught me a lot throughout the course of the weekend. Also to James from Beaurepairs in Whangarei who was great helping us out changing tyres. A massive thank you to all of our fantastic sponsors and supporters. Without you guys our results and achievements to date would not be possible, so thank you!! I will keep you all updated on our build up to the second half of the year. If you have any questions or any remarks please do not hesitate to contact me on the below details. Until next time, look after yourself! C ya! Ph: 0273181748 Overall classification _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Team Green Newsletter - May Hi all. Well now a week after the Otago Rally we are already in full flight for preparation for the next event, the International rally of Whangarei. Looking back a week ago, we are happy with our 2nd place result. We have still got some work to do however as the goal is to win the championship and as many rally’s as possible which is no easy task. We are continually making steps forward with the new car, and perhaps the biggest to date is the experimental rally that we had at Timaru trying all sorts of different things. We are again making more changes to the car for the next round which are quite dramatic changes, but we know they will work as they are similar to what we did with our old car last season. The 2008 Otago Rally was properly one of the driest they have had in many years. Leading up to the event the region had been quite dry like a lot of the country, but then a good soaking of run for the week prior to the event dampened the roads and country-side. It was again another wet slippery, muddy Otago rally, although despite a few light showers on Sunday afternoon was good clear crisp weather all weekend long. This event is the rally that we have the least experience on believe it or not, despite being the closest to home. We have twice previously competed in the rally but a DNF in 2006 cut our rally short. This year the rally incorporated mostly new roads which made it more of a level playing field in terms of pace notes. This was also the only event that we didn’t write notes on last year. This year we will have much better notes for each event as we will be using the notes that I wrote last year and can continue to develop them, but for Otago being that we didn’t write them there last year we had to write them for the first time this year. This is certainly no problem and I enjoy the challenge of writing notes from a clean sheet of paper with only one pass but makes for a lot of work having to check the notes with the video camera to make sure all my left’s go left and right’s right. I have been known to get these going the wrong way in the past J. We had a good successful recce, and the team had done a good job getting the car ready. So all that was left to go do was to tear up the gravel roads. Day 1 mainly compromised of wet muddy forestry tracks which had continuous changes in rhythm. We were second fastest on both test and arrived at service 13 seconds behind the rally leader. What surprised me was the gap back to 3rd even at this early stage. 3rd place was already a minute back with big gaps already between the next few competitors. By days end we had stretched out to be 2 minutes ahead of 3rd but our main concern was the gap ahead. I pushed quite hard for the remaining 4 stages, and although we got agonizing close on all the stages (2 seconds being the most that we lost each stage by, 0.7 the closest) we couldn’t close the gap to the leader. We finished the day 20 seconds behind, although satisfied that we were setting a good pace without taking too many risks. Unlike Wairarapa we had some grip for a change which was a pleasure to drive on and certainly suits me better. Day 2 was an early start, 6.30am. We headed north of Dunedin for two brand new stages, the first a very fast 30km test through rolling central Otago country. I found this stage quite hard to find my rhythm with a constant change of road character and grip levels. We lost 12 seconds, combined with a further 1 second on the next stage meant it was a case of dejuvu, 13 seconds behind at the first service. Again though there was a big gap back to 3rd and between each team beyond that. After getting close yesterday I was determined to try and close the gap and put some pressure on the leader. The next set of stages was going to be the make or break of the rally, the first a traditional Otago rally stage at 14km and the second the longest of the championship at 51km. The two stages were two entirely different stages, with the short one being a flowing public gorge road, and the other hard slippery forestry roads. We had chosen tryes and a set-up to best suit the longer stage but still pushed through both. Unfortunately we lost another 7 seconds through the first stage and I simply had no answer for it. But I wasn’t too wound up in the time lose, knowing that we had a car more suited to the long stage. This was where I was going to attack 110%. Unfortunately only ¼ of the way through the intercom failed between John and I, meaning I could barely hear the pace notes. At the top of the ranges the conditions were difficult, rain, mist and mud. Coupled with our intercom issues it was a very difficult stage. Pace notes and communication between the two drivers at this level of the sport is crucial, and is the difference between winning and struggling to get a top result. I drive 100% to what John tells me weather I can see the road or not and it does make for some hairy moments. The whole purpose of pace notes is that they paint a picture in my head of exactly what the road is like before I get there which I then sub consciously drive. The reason I say sub consciously is once I have thought about how I am going to tackle the upcoming corner or piece of road, I am thinking about the next corner before we have even driven around the first one. Why you ask? Generally the way you exit one corner effects the next corner so it is vital to connect the dots and get from point A to B as quick as possible. So this requires to think ahead and this can be reflective in the style that our notes are written and the pace that they are read to me. So back on topic, once the intercom failed my focus went away from the driving and onto the little I could hear from John and where the road went. It did make it difficult, but I was conscious of the hard work everyone had put in and was not prepared to chuck away a good result on this stage just because I wasn’t sure where the road went. We lost a massive 27 seconds, but still 2nd fastest on the stage that was a surprise. I have had a few people ask me could we have beaten Richard on that stage without the problem. In all honesty it would have been close like the previous day, maybe a second here or there as Richard was driving very quickly, but I can confidently say we would have lost 20 odd seconds so it would have been close. Even so, it would have not been enough as the gap was slowly getting bigger. We backed off for the last two stages knowing that we still had a big margin back to 3rd. 2nd fastest on the famous Kuri bush stage which is one of my favorites as it reflects the nature of the fast rolling roads associated with Finland. Then the last stage I was perhaps a little too casual and completely overshoot a junction and stalled the car, but by this stage it didn’t matter. So 2nd on every stage but 2, and 2nd overall for the weekend wasn’t too bad. Obviously our goal is to win, but as we found out last year every point counts and 2nd is still not bad points in the bank. In saying this we have to start clawing some points back from the leader before the gap gets to big, but there is no better event to do this on than the next one, Rally Whangarei. Whangarei is certainly one of my favourite events, and after victory there last year I see no reason why we cannot repeat the performance. The Northland roads suit our car, tyres and my driving better and combined with some further testing and development I feel we will be in good stead. We have now moved up to 2nd in the championship on 100 points, 29 points behind leader Richard Mason while we have extended our lead in the Junior championship to 30 points. With 32 points up for grabs for each day of competition, the 29 point gap could soon diminish either way so there is still a lot to play for. The pace seems to be getting quicker and quicker every year and its now to the point where every corner and every second counts. So not only is it a case of maximum attack and driving 110% but also limiting the mistakes and time loss. One aspect I have to work on myself is the first stage of the day as we can’t afford to lose big chunks of time on the opening stage like we did at Otago. Maybe a bucket of ice may be the secret ingredient. As soon as we got home on Monday morning the car was cleaned and stripped. The car should be back together by next week but it is a full overhaul to give us the best chance of a top result. We will also complete another small test session to test the changes we have made to the car and to make sure we are further heading in the right direction. A massive opportunity up for grabs this year that some of you may or may not know about is the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship. It involves 2 events in the Asia Pacific region and only drivers from this part of the world and under the age of 27 are eligible. There are another 4 regional championship scholarships like this one around the world. The top two drivers eligible for this at Whangarei get funding assistance to compete in the Asia Pacific round in Malaysia in October later this year. Then at Malaysia the slate is wiped clean and the team with the most accumulated points over the two day event receives a scholarship to compete in a fully funded 6 round Production World Rally Championship campaign in 2009. Points are awarded on a stage by stage basis for the top 3. The funding required to compete in 6 rounds of the PWRC is huge and the budget can dip into the 7 figure mark!! So this is a once in a life time opportunity for myself and would be a massive step towards my ultimate goals. In saying this it will be very difficult with not only quick drivers from here and Australia but also the challenge of a brand new event in Asia which I’m sure would be completely different to anything that I’m used to. We are now fully focused on this one international event rather that trying to fund other international drives this year. We have already started planning for Malaysia so that we can be as prepared as possible to give us the best chance. Like any international rallying however, it’s not cheap to rally overseas so we are still working on the budget. We will more than likely send our own car there as by that stage would have had a lot of development put into it, and it’s a car that I know and have driven for a while. There has been a lot going on of recent as you can properly tell by this somewhat of a novel. I was lucky to recently be a nominee and a finalist of the South Canterbury Sports person of the year which was won by a world champion inline skater. I will also be attending the Motorsport NZ awards dinner this weekend in Wellington where we will receive our Junior champion trophy from last year. We have also been nominated for the Rally Founders trophy for the 2nd year in a row, which is a premier award in Rallying for performance, sportsmanship, service to the sport etc etc. It is a very prestigious award with greats such as Possum Bourne, Neil Allport and Joe McAndrew all putting there name on the trophy. A huge thanks again must go out to all our fantastic sponsors, Paddon Direct, Willett, Sitrex, Vogal, ACL automotive, Ralliart, BF Goodrich tyres, FMG, EDL fasteners, Teng Tools, ZM, Pope Print, The front store, Outlaw Industries, Timaru Signs, Castrol oils, Bluebridge Ferry’s, Northend Ford, Vicarage Lane Wines, Resene Automotive Paints, Wayne Murdoch Motors and Elite transport Refinishers. Also to our great team who have put in a lot of work prior, during and after each event. Dad, Math, Neil, Allan, Tom and co-driver John. Thanks very much guys! And a big thanks to all our supporters urging us on and for all the messages of support. Remember if you would like to see the results quicker than our emails and see how we went on the day, you can join our text update service at no charge. Text, ‘add me your name’ to 0273181748. I was a little slow getting these updates away at Otago but will work on this so that it is a much quicker and more effective in the future. Also if you have any questions or suggestions with anything regarding our team, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email. hayden@paddonrallysport.co.nz. Can’t wait for Rally of Whangarei in just 2 weeks time (6-7 June). Keep up to date with news and photos on our site www.hayden-paddon.co.nz. Until then, C ya! Many Thanks
Team Green April Newsletter Hi all. What a off season it has been, and it was almost a relieve that the first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship was upon us. 4 months of hard work had paid off, as our pre-season testing had gone without a hitch. As most of you will know, we are this year driving a left-hand drive Mitsubishi Evo9 that we have built from the ground up. The reason for going left hand drive is so that I can learn the art now, as 95% of international rallying involves left hand drive cars therefore if I ever get the opportunity to drive off shore I wouldn’t have to struggle getting used to left-hand drive. This is a move towards the future as we try and compete more overseas. Just over a week prior to the rally I headed up north for a final weekend of testing. Saturday included 80km in the traditional home of New Zealand rallying, Mamararuma forest, while Sunday involved a rally sprint to the west of Auckland on a nice flowing public road. We made several changes to the car, but the main problem that I was having was that every road we went to we were changing the car quite a bit. So after the weekend we made the decision to stick with a neutral set-up and concentrate more on tyre compounds and cuts for the Wairarapa and focus more on my driving and getting used to the new car. Unfortunately this car is not a matter of just jumping straight in and picking up where we left off with the old car. There is certainly a lot of potential in the car, but for now it’s a matter of me getting as much seat time as possible so that I can become fully confident and comfortable with the car and attack as I did last year. To be able to get the last 5% out of the car and myself which is required to win rally’s, I need to be able to have the confidence to lean on the car, suspension, brakes and tyres every single corner and straight. We also can not go back to our base set-up from the Evo8, as we are now running different shock absorbers, diff computers and diff set-ups which are the 3 main parts to any cars set-up. It is certainly a better car, now it is just a matter of getting myself accustomed to it. I traveled down to Wairarapa on the Thursday, unloaded the car and then continued south to Wellington where I met the guys who flew up from Christchurch. Early morning Friday, John and I headed out in the ‘Big M’ (my new left hand drive 5 series 1992 BMW wagon day to day car which now doubles as recce car) to the first stage for recce. For the first time in a year we didn’t have to write notes from scratch, instead modify the notes that we wrote on the same stages last year. Leading up to the event though I spent hours watching our in-car footage from last year to add and take out any unnecessary information I wanted in my notes to make our job in recce a lot easier. I have said it many times before, but recce and our pace notes are one of the most crucial parts to be able to drive quickly and get the result on the day, so I put a lot of emphasis on this. The surface for the weekend was very slippery, much the same as the previous year although with the rally this year being 2 months earlier and the seasonable dry weather for the area, the roads were also very dusty and the gravel was more like a river stone which is even more slippery. We started as the 3rd car on the road for day 1. Saturday morning dawned, and it was time to get the New Zealand Championship underway. I was feeling alive and full of beans after my routine 5am run to get the blood pumping. The first stage of the championship was going to be a matter of easing our way into it, especially as we knew that the cars running further down the road where going to be hard to bet with there road position. Unfortunately I made the smallest and the silliest mistake on a few km’s into the opening stage. It was a slow 2nd gear right hand bend, and for some unknown reason I decided to cut the corner even when it wasn’t mentioned in the notes. Hiding amongst the grass was a culvert which we hit square on with the corner of the car, and flicked us on two wheels. My initial thoughts was that we might have damaged the oil cooler (which sits in that side of the bumper and is very fragile). We continued as fast as we could through the stage nervously keeping a eye on the gauges as we were more worried about oil pressure and temp than the loss of power. The damage had squashed the intercooler hose which gave us no turbo boost. It was a fast stage and our top speed down the long straights was 120kmph. Despite the time loss it was a relieve to get to the end of the stage, especially when we got to the end of the stage to find the oil cooler had been rubbing on the wheel which was very lucky it didn’t damage it. We made road side repairs, opening the pipe back out half way using the bare tools that we carried in the car to get us through the next 2 stages before service. The car was still down on power but much better than what it was. For the rest of the day we struggled with grip as much of the other competitors did, but I didn’t adjust my driving style to the conditions very well and by days end I was a little disheartened how far off the pace we had been. We made some suspension changes at the end of the day which helped us to set the 2nd quickest time of the last stage. We ended the day in 6th, but at least we made the finish and got some points which many teams unfortunately were unable to do in what was a action packed day of rallying. A new rule for 2008 is that day 2 running order is based off day 1 finishing order which meant we would be 6th on the road for the second leg. This meant we would have a better road position but would have to contend with the dust. The day started off much better with the 2nd fastest stage time as I was consciously trying to drive the car a lot smoother which did feel slower, but the times were much better. The on the start line of stage 2, there was confusion between the start control and the competitors. Later on we had been accused of asking for a 2 minute starting gap which is illegal in this sport and we were penalized 1 minute. But this was not the case at all, we did not ask for a 2 minute gap, it was given to us by the start official after confusion over start times. Later that night a hearing took place where all the evidence was put in place and the penalty over turned. I found out about the penalty at the last service and I must admit it did wound me up. But I have seen it many times before by drivers all around the world that when drivers get wound up they make mistakes and things turn pear shaped. So after leaving service, I told myself to forget about it and get on with the job. Up until then the day had been going well, setting top 3 stages times in all of the days stages but one. I had adapted my driving style for the conditions which helped immensely and I learnt a lot about my driving throughout the weekend. I was determined to win at least one stage, as we had got with 2 seconds on 3 other stages, so I put in a big effort through the last stage. At stage end, I though I had probably over driven the car and maybe not set the time I would have liked, but to my relieve we won the stage by 3 seconds which was a good way to finish off a testing weekend. The road conditions on day 2 were very slippery like day 1, and they even felt more slippery than when we were road sweeper on this same event last year. Day 2 stages were a lot faster than the first day which is more to my liking. We finished the day in second, just 24 seconds behind local hero Richard Mason and 30 seconds ahead of 3rd. Despite our bad run on day 1, we still accumulated enough points to be 3rd in the championship on 44 points, 18 points behind leader Mason. I have learnt from the weekend that I will need some more miles behind the wheel of the new car before I can feel as comfortable as the old car. We will undertake some more testing in my local Timaru Rally next weekend which will be valuable miles before the next round of the championship in Otago in a few weeks time. It is also very encouraging that the car ran faultlessly over the course of the event being brand new straight out of the box. It is a huge credit to the whole team who have put in huge hours to build the new ‘green machine’ to not only be fast but reliable. I think the speed we showed on its debut is very promising for the rest of the year. While on the subject of the team I will take this opportunity to introduce you to the members of the team as they are all as important part to it as I am. Chris Paddon (Dad) – Has competed for many years, and has now taken on the team management role. He is enthusiastic in rallying as much as what I am and wants to help me achieve my goals. Also my boss and I am very fortunate that I get the time off work to be able to go rallying. John Kennard – co-driver, need I say more. Experience counts for everything in this game and John certainly doesn’t have a shortage of this. He has been to the very top of the sport and knows what is required from both drivers and a team. Does a fantastic job in the car calling the shots and keeping me in line. Robin Matherson (Math) – Has been involved in preparation of all of Dad competition cars and mine. We are very lucky to have Math as part of the team as he puts in huge hours during the week nights and weekends to ensure the reliability of the car. Neil Hetherington – School mates, and has now been heavily involved in our team for 2 years. Very enthusiastic and hard working, giving up a lot of his free time to help prepare the car. Allan Methven – Like Neil gives up his spare time to help prepare the car and to travel the country side helping fix the damage that I cause at rally’s. Does a excellent job in the running and maintenance of the car. Tom – the truck driver. This is Toms first year with us, and he drives the service truck and car from one end of the country to the other after each event. Be sure to flick him a big truckie wave if you see him out on the road. We are also very lucky to have a lot of others helping us from time to time, but there are just too many of you to mention. You know who you are and a big thanks to you all. Also our sponsors are a massive part of our team, and we have a very good support from local and nationwide companies that are helping our campaign possible. We use all our sponsors products and pride ourselves on presentation, reliability and performance as much as our sponsors. A huge thanks to all our sponsors! Our next rally is our local rally, Rally South Canterbury next Saturday, 26th of April. Visit www.southcanterburycarclub.org.nz for event details and results. We are using the event solely as testing as we look to further get more mileage in the new car in preparation for the 2nd round of the New Zealand championship 2 weeks later. The next month will be busy times preparing the car for two events, so it will be all hands on deck. Please if you have any requests for story’s you would like to hear or have written throughout the year, let me know and we will post them on the website. Also I am happy to answer any questions you may have about anything of our sport. Thanks to all for your support and I can’t wait to the next round in Dunedin next month where the goal will be to start and eat away at that 18 point lead that the championship leader has. C ya! Many Thanks
Team Green Update #1 - 20 March 2008 Hi all. Its got to the point now in our preparation that time seems to be simply diminishing as the first round creeps up on us very quickly. We now just have 2 weeks to fully prepare and finish everything before the car and myself head north for tuning and testing. Speaking of which, we had our first test session in South Canterbury last weekend, my first drive in the new left-hand drive Mitsubishi Evo 9 (the green machine). We did approx 100km of testing, and already we have a much better package than our old car, but it is still early stages and there is alot of development yet to go. We are this year running all new suspension, diff and computer set-up's so is alot to get our head around as we virtually have to start from scratch in terms of set-up. But we made some very positive and big steps forward in the weekend, and after further testing prior to round 1 i feel we will have a very good chance to be competitive and push for outright victory. That will not be easy however, as Wairarapa is renown for its road conditions playing a toll in the results, and not only the fast locals but this years championship looks to be even stronger. So we will have our work cut out for us, but i enjoy nothing more than a challenge and cant wait to get back behind the wheel in competition. One thing alot of people are wanting to know is how i find the left hand drive. To be perfectly honest, its harder to drive it on the open road than at speed. I have had no problems adapting to it and feel as comfortable as the old car, as when I’m concentrating on the job at hand I’m not worried what side of the car I’m sitting on. With a bit more testing, this aspect will not hold us back at all! I must admit that one really good thing from being flat out during what they call the off-season, is that time comes around very quickly until we go rallying again. I’m certainly not complaining about that, if i had it my way I would like to drive 24/7, unfortunately I’m not to sure if there are any cars that would sustain that sort of punishment though. I am also over the moon to confirm our sponsors for the year, and a big thanks must go out to them. Some of which are continuing on there support from previous seasons and further building a relationship with team green, and new and exciting business's that are joining our team and our journey. Currently we have confirmed; Paddon Direct We have also just posted our new website www.hayden-paddon.com. The previous domain name www.paddonrallysport.co.nz will also direct you to the same site. The guys at 1 group have done a excellent job with designing the site, and will make it easier for me to keep you up to date throughout the year, with news, results and photos. If you have any suggestions, or anything you would like to see on the site, please do not hesitate to contact me. The car is looking fantastic thanks to the hard work that the guys at Elite Transport refinishers put in. Also a big thanks to Stu at Resene paints, as the paint job has come up absolutely stunning. Almost too good to be a competition car. The car is currently at Timaru signs getting its final touches, before the car arrives back home to Winchester where we will get stuck in and put the finishing touches on the car. I will have photos posted next week with the new colour scheme.....looks sharp!! That’s all for now. There is certainly alot going on, and i look forward to keeping you updated as the season progress's. Keep an eye out for the photos of the new car next week. Happy Easter all, and drive safely on the roads. Many Thanks |
