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Hayden Paddon announces New Zealand–based Hyundai

24 March, 2016

Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard  announced on March 24 that they will contest two rounds of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) in a newly built Hyundai i20. 

The car that Hayden will be pedalling is an AP4-spec i20, run under the newly formed Hyundai Motorsport Team. The car was built at Force Motorsport (Andrew Hawkeswood), and is the second AP4-spec car to be built in New Zealand behind Hawkswood’s Mazda 2. The i20 wears World Rally Championship (WRC) body panels identical to the car that Hayden and John are currently contesting the WRC in. 

The two cars also share the same WRC 1.8 turbocharged Hyundai engine. The AP4 car, however, is backed by a Sadev six-speed sequential transmission that is rated to 920Nm of torque. The majority of the suspension components are built here in New Zealand, including billet uprights, and chromoly and billet suspension arms and cross members, with all suspension parts designed to be interchangeable across differing chassis. The cars all run Australian-built MCA coilovers, AP Racing brake packages, Racetech seats, and a Woodward steering column. 

“I’m very excited to be part of this programme with Hyundai New Zealand as we enter a new phase of our partnership to bring our rally exploits back to New Zealand, and to introduce Hyundai New Zealand to the NZRC,” says Paddon.

While WRC will still take priority, the team are able to contest firstly the Rally of Otago, followed by the International Rally of Whangarei. Paddon says, “Otago and Whangarei are my two favourite rallies in the world. The car is still early in development, but has a lot of potential and we look forward to working closely with Force to help develop it into a rally-winning car. Like any new formula, it will take a little longer for this car to catch on, but I believe that value for money is the key with this sort of car. While not at the same level, it has the same design principles and look of a WRC car.” 

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.