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Video: Paddon goes HAM freeestyling his AP4

30 May, 2017

Kiwi WRC extraordinaire Hayden Paddon knows how to pedal, there is no denying that. So when you give Hayden some fresh tracks to slay you know its going to be good. Dubbed Paddon’s Playground, the premise for these low buck videos is simply Hayden, and his NZ based Hyundai i20 AP4, inserted into roads that have never been hit before  this is raw rally at its best. 

The first instalment sees Hayden travel by barge to Minaret Station on the shores of Lake Wanaka and let loose like the local farm boy in a flat deck Hilux. Lets hope this video series goes someway to promoting New Zealand as a return destination for WRC in 2018, which currently has the 14th spot sitting open. 


Our only competition currently is Croatia, and a candidate rally will be held here this September to promote our viability. The promoter will reveal its 2018 calendar to the WRC Commission for autumn ratification by the World Motor Sport Council. 

“I don’t need to tell you about New Zealand,” said Ciesla, continuing, “There is a big passion to go there with Hayden and even though we won’t see the highest number of on-site spectators, we have these beautiful roads which we can use to make great television. I am very much in favour of this.” 

Working in our favour is WRC Promoter’s policy of avoiding more rallies in Europe, though we are unsure if this will prevent them from choosing Croatia, as Ciesla explains, “It’s true that we are not seeking more European rallies … [but the planned event] would go straight into the top five rallies for spectator attendance.” Failing New Zealand returning for 2018, it is expected that a 16-round calendar will be introduced by 2022, of which we are almost guaranteed to make an appearance.

 

 

More to the point

6 March, 2026

This Daimler SP252 is so rare, few people know it exists. It’s one of a kind. It’s the only surviving, in fact the only SP252 ever completed; the would-be successor to the SP250 Daimler Dart. It is also the last sports car to have been designed by Jaguar’s legendary founder, Sir William Lyons.
Perhaps one of the original Dart’s biggest problems was it’s somewhat-divisive looks. It certainly went well enough to win fans, although Sir William wasn’t among them. It crushed the opposition in the Bathurst six-hour race, finishing five laps ahead of anyone else, and it was snapped up by police forces in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, as it was the fastest thing on the road.
So you’d think a stunning new body with the magic Lyons touch would have been a surefire success. Why this car never made it into production is still something of a mystery, as the official explanations barely stack up.

Polishing to perfection

26 February, 2026

The secret to a show-stopping finish is colour sanding, no matter which paint system you use. Even a good painter, no matter how experienced or talented — like my mate Bruce Haye, CEO at Ace Panel and Paint in Whitianga — can’t shoot to a perfect mirror finish. To get that level of perfection, you need to colour sand.
It used to be called ‘rubbing out’ or ‘cutting’, and it was done with pastes that came in cans. They worked — sort of — but the compounds really just rounded off imperfections instead of eliminating them, and they removed a lot of paint in the process. But now your new finish can be made flawless, thanks to microfine sandpapers that come in 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 2500 grit ranges, and Farecla G3 polish — available from automotive paint suppliers.