The Pivot

Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have taken a commanding win at the opening round of the 2021 New Zealand Rally Championship. It was the fourth time the pair had won this event in a Hyundai. This time their winning margin was a huge seven minutes and 32.9 seconds, secured over two days and 298 km of competition. While their fellow NZRC competitors struck mechanical issues across the two-day rally, Paddon and Kennard had a near perfect run to win 12 of the 14 special stages and set new stage records on 11 stages. Two punctures on Sunday afternoon prevented a clean sweep of stage wins, but Paddon was still pleased to return to competition in such strong form. “We’re very happy; it’s awesome to come away with a win, particularly after the off-season and how busy it’s been for the team. We couldn’t ask for anything more. It was a shame we couldn’t quite get the clean sweep of stages, but two tyres delaminated on us.” For many of the competitors it was a much awa...

A charitable trust that provides essential support for rising New Zealand race drivers is seeking wider support from the motorsport and business communities in order to expand its work. The Kiwi Driver Fund has been instrumental in helping New Zealand's latest crop of young motor racing drivers to build their international racing careers. It provides financial support for drivers entering the annual Castrol Toyota Racing Series, New Zealand’s premier single-seater championship and an essential step for any local driver’s career plans. Trustee and former McLaren Formula 1 team member Bob McMurray says the fund “is probably the single most important instrument for helping drivers take that crucial next step in their careers.” "The Toyota Racing Series gives local drivers a chance to compete directly against the best rising stars from Europe, the UK, Asia and the Americas. While drivers from Europe or the USA have championship opportunities literally at their doorstep, the...

    Offroad racing champion and rally driver Raana Horan was left wishing he’d stuck with these low-risk sports in April after breaking ribs in a boating incident. Horan, who won the inaugural offroad racing stadium championship held at Manukau in February and March, was in the final stages of preparation for the Otago Rally, first round of the 2021 New Zealand Rally Championship. After winning the final rally of the 2019 season in Waitomo and sitting out the ‘Covid year’ Horan was ready to fight for points over the two-day Otago event. His withdrawal has nudged the entry list below 50 cars, with Hayden Paddon an odds-on favourite to win from top seeding position.

Big air from northern truck class leader Andrew Hawkeswood. Image by Darren Stanley The 2021 New Zealand o ffroad racing championship is a tale of two islands Rally driver Andrew Hawkeswood has become the early truck-class leader in the 2021 offroad racing championship. In the North Island's opening round the multi-talented Hawkeswood scored 70 point, holding a narrow lead over Nelson's Bruce McKenzie who completed the first southern round with 69. The series kicked off in March with the opening northern round at the TECT motorsport park near Tauranga. The event was in short course format with four in-class heats on a track that features some of the biggest ‘berm’ corners in the country. Hawkeswood scored two wins and two second places in his ProLite to finish the day with 70 points. Defending overall national champion Nick Hall had a win, a second and a third placing in the trucks but was a non-finisher in the final heat. Rob Cresswell won class four for improved t...

Side by side at the start - Bryan Chang and Bruce McKenzie launch off the tabletop at West Melton Winning the first heat by half a lap was a good start to the 2021 offroad racing championship for Christchurch driver Bryan Chang. Having the Giti Chev truck's gearbox break in the closing moments was 'less good'.  "The truck loves this track, and I was trialling a new rear end setup that really got the tyres biting off the start and in the slow corners. But then first gear started making a lot of noise," he said. Duelling with Nelson drivers Bruce McKenzie and Darrin Thomason off the start line Chang launched the Chev over the big table-top jump and grabbed the lead. From that point the race was under control. "It ended up we were most of a lap ahead. Everything was going strong, and then first gear went on strike." Chang says to come away with second in class and a decent benchmark against the more powerful tracks in his class was 'good enough'....

Face off: Isuzu and Mazda step up the stakes   New Zealand is special in so many ways. Local vehicle buying trends are no different – they have shifted massively over the decades, and there’s no doubt this little market is unlike any other. New Zealand is the only market in the world where Ford’s Ranger is so dominant that it is both the DDC leader and the outright passenger vehicle star, month after month. Utes are now the mainstream for work and play. Diesel double-cab utes (DDCs) are the dominant format among the ute market (94 per cent of all utes sold here) and they remain our most popular vehicle of all, roundly trouncing hatchbacks, estates, passenger cars and even SUVs. The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are Captain America and Godzilla, battling for category dominance and in fact ‘best of the best’ month by month in the sales race. The war between the Ranger and Hilux continues, but lurking behind those two there are a handful of top-end offerings that are equall...