EDITORIAL
I was fascinated and somewhat heartened to read last week that the groups responsible for issuing car safety ratings here and in Europe (ANCAP and Euro NCAP) are considering adjustments to their criteria that would reward vehicles that retain conventional knobs and buttons for key operations.
This is a sensible if somewhat overdue response to an increased reliance on touchscreens to handle an increasing number of functions, right down to — on some new models — controlling ventilation and activating the windscreen wipers.
The safety issue is, of course, that diving into the various layered touchscreen menus and sub-menus is demonstrably more distracting than reaching for a physical button or knob located in a known place.
More broadly, the situation is illustrative of the circular nature of progress, and of unintended consequences. The use of digital displays and ultimately touchscreens was a response to new technology (much of it digital) enabling more systems and adjustability settings to become available on cars, and thus reducing ‘button clutter’. These same digital displays were then further ‘enabled’ with additional functions and adjustability.
Moreover, as functions such as electronic stability programme, cruise control (then adaptive cruise control), lane keeping test, autonomous braking, automatic lights and wipers and so on have been introduced, it’s become less necessary to pay attention to what were once core elements of driving. So, the potential for distraction has actually risen, ironically to the point that cars require less attention to drive than ever, and thus now need alerts to remind drivers to pay attention; alerts that can themselves be distracting.
Least anyone read my comments above as being wholly anti-digital, it’s worth noting that advances in technology have been reducing the attention requirement and skills burden on drivers since the advent of the motor car.
Just to pick a few examples that anyone familiar with driving older cars will know: changing gear on early cars demands both focus and technical skill, with the task being made easier firstly by synchromesh on manual gearboxes (from the 1920s), and then by automatic gearboxes (from the 1940s); cars steer much more easily and accurately than they once did due to a raft of improvements including power assistance, better tyres and suspension and stiffer chassis design; they can be stopped with far less thought thanks to better brakes, better tyres and — widely rolled out from the 1990s — anti-lock braking systems; and when’s the last time anyone driving a modern car had to carefully moderate their speed up a steep hill to stop it overheating?
What’s changed of late is that the mainly mechanical advances that were a feature of 20th century progress have been replaced by mainly digital advances. The digital advances have come at pace and have been accompanied by a shift from too little information being available to the driver (with just a few simple gauges on an old car) to information overload (with much of that information either peripheral to, or even unrelated to the actual task of driving).
One driver who hasn’t been struggling to concentrate on his driving over recent days is Hayden Paddon, whose return to the World Rally Championship with Hyundai at the Monte Carlo Rally should be in full swing by the time you read this.
The Monte Carlo Rally is a notoriously challenging event, being run over tight tarmac alpine roads in winter and it seems like 2026 will also bring what are sometimes described as ‘proper’ Monte Carlo Rally conditions. This involves a super-demanding mix of snow, ice, and dry tarmac, and maybe all three within the course of a single special stage.
While well experienced in the WRC, Paddon and co-driver John Kennard have only contested the Monte a couple of times before. A top 10 finish would represent a solid return to the WRC, and a top six result, a brilliant one.
Though not quite to the same extent, this weekend’s 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship round at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park circuit seems set to serve up some challenging weather too, with cold temperatures, strong southerlies, and a bit of rain forecast.
I’ve enjoyed keeping an eye on the opening Toyota rounds in the North Island from afar, and there’s been plenty of tight racing to date. In the right conditions, Teretonga is a great circuit for delivering more of the same.
New Yorker Ugo Ugochukwu continues to head the Toyota series points table from Japanese driver Kanato Le and rising kiwi talent Louis Sharp after last weekend’s second round at Taupo. However, I thought another kiwi, Ryan Wood, was the pick of the pack at the Central North Island track, and there are plenty of other potential race winners in the 19-strong field.
The supporting races this weekend include the SP Tools TA2 NZ Championship making its first appearance at Teretonga, featuring big banger saloons powered by 6.2 litre LS3 V8 engines in which competitors run either Ford Mustang, Chev Camaro or Dodge Challenger bodywork. There’s also the Bridgestone GR86 Championship, the Summerset GT NZ Championship (featuring Porsche, BMW, McLaren, and Mercedes supercars), the NZ Formula Ford Championship and Mazda Racing Super Series.
This full race card demands an early start, with on-track action from 9am on Saturday and 8.30am on Sunday.
