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.