Hayden Paddon: Possum Bourne Memorial Rally

It is great to be back home in New Zealand after a long flight home – but there is no time for rest as we have 3 events over the next 3 weeks in 3 different cars. Starting with the Possum Bourne Memorial rally (NZ Championship round) this week in our Stadium Cars Evo 9, then WRC Rally Australia next week back in the Skoda, then our local Geraldine/Spring Rally the week after in a BDA Escort.

Over the past couple of months while we have been competing in Europe, our NZ team have done an amazing job getting our Evo9 for this weekend. I can not thank enough Dad, Neil, Math, AD and Coxy who have poured in a lot of hours to get the car looking great. We have also made some further developments to the car that I am looking forward to trialling these out during the opening stages of this Saturday’s, 1 day event.

It will certainly be an eye opener getting back in the Evo after recently being driving the Skoda. The cars couldn’t be more different and the driving style also differs between cars. While the Evo has more power, it weighs more and has less sophisticated suspension which means that the braking and handling performance is not as strong. But still looking forward to a good event, in honour of the late great Possum Bourne who was an inspiration to so many people including myself.

Then 5am the next day after the rally, we are on the plane to Australia. In fact our team leave half way through the Possum Bourne Rally as they head to Australia early to prepare our Skoda for our test on Monday. The Skoda we are using for Australia is a different car and slightly different specification to the one we use in Europe, but it is still a good car that we hope will give us a chance of WRC2 victory.

Really looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend, and then of course heading to Rally Australia – the closest WRC event to home. You can follow live results from this weekends rally at www.chrissport.co.nz and of course we will have all the normal interactive updates on our facebook and twitter pages.

Also if you are in the Pukekohe area this Thursday afternoon and like free stuff, come and see us and the rally car on display at Telecom in Pukekohe from 3pm. You can even sit in the car!

We will keep you posted throughout the weekend and in the build up to Rally Australia.