Paddon pulls through for second place finish in Poland

2 July, 2017

Local boy Hayden Paddon, along with new British co-driver Sebastian Marshall, secured their best finish in a WRC rally since Paddon’s win in Argentina last year. The pair finished second place in Poland behind teammates Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsou, making for Hyundai Motorsport’s first one-two finish since Germany 2014.





The team no doubt stoked with the finish after a slow start on day one saw the pair sitting 40 seconds back in tricky conditions, which would close up to a third place standing after day two, and then with Norwegian Ott Tanak crashing out after battling Neuville for first, Paddon was free to squeeze on up.


“For us, it’s a massive relief … It’s been 12 months since we were last on the podium, and this year’s been some of the hardest times of my life … this weekend has helped me lower the shoulders and relax a little bit. This gives us a bit of momentum now that we can build on to work towards future rallies.”

Paddon and Marshall will next appear in Rally Finland, kicking off July 27.
 
 

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.

Lancia Stratos – building a winner

On his own, and later with his wife Suzie, Craig Tickle has built and raced many rally cars. Starting in 1988, Craig went half shares in a Mk1 Escort and took it rallying. Apart from a few years in the US studying how to be a nuclear engineer, he has always had a rally car in the garage. When he is not playing with cars, he works as an engineer for his design consulting company.
Naturally, anybody interested in rallying has heard of the Lancia Stratos, the poster child and winner of the World Rally circuit in 1974, ’75, and ’76. Just as the Lamborghini Countach rebranded the world of supercars, so, too, did the Lancia Stratos when it came to getting down and dirty in the rally world.