Evans and Paddon are just two of the stars to emerge from the academy, which held its week-long camp in Dunedin this week.
Academy trustee David Turner, of Auckland, said other names to emerge from the academy over the years are Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley, Shane van Gisbergen, Richie Stanaway and Otago's own Emma Gilmour.
The eight academy athletes were whittled down from more than 50 applicants, and the camp is the high-intensity learning period of the year.
The camp is held during university holidays, to make the most of the facilities available through the university's school of physical education, along with easy access to the Otago Academy of Sport and the High Performance Sport New Zealand's facilities, Hunter said.
"They're in here on par with Olympic athletes, the Highlanders and netball teams. Without the asset that is here in Otago, we couldn't make the programme work, either.
"It's about creating that leg up they wouldn't otherwise get.''
Two of the aspiring drivers are already well on the way to making their mark.
Australian Alex Whitley (22) moved to Auckland 18 months ago and now works for car company Ssangyong "so they're not only my sponsor but they feed me and give me a job''.
Whitley grew up in a racing family in Toowoomba. Her father was a keen speedway driver but she has the tarmac tracks in mind.
"I want to head to V8 Supercars. I want to be the first female in the main game,'' she said.
"Beyond that, I want to make a successful career racing around the world.''
Aside from learning about dealing with the media, fitness, nutrition, mental and physical training, Whitley said the camp had opened the academy members' eyes to establishing sponsorship relationships.
"Sponsorship for all of us is one of the biggest challenges,'' she said.
"It's been great for us to have experts come in and teach us things we would not even know or normally learn from the sources that we have.''
Fellow academy member Jacob Smith (17) started out in karts when he was 8, before moving on to Formula First as a teenager, courtesy of an AMP National Scholarship and entry into the Scorpion Racecars Programme of Excellence.
Last year, he moved up to the Toyota 86 championship, where he finished sixth overall and second in the rookie standings.
Smith has soaked up as much as he can during the past week and had ''learnt heaps''.
"Everyone here really wants to be here and we're working really hard to get the most out of it.''
Smith would love to end up in endurance racing.
"Heading over to Europe or Asia to compete in GT endurance racing, that would be one of my main goals at the moment, and definitely to make a living out of it as a paid driver.''
