Eight years ago, Otago Daily Times motorsport writer Catherine Pattison started reporting on the rallying exploits of a young driver from Geraldine. Now, Hayden Paddon is on the world stage. Pattison helps the rally ace reflect on an exciting year.
After his debut season in the World Rally Championship, Hayden Paddon has become one of the few household names in New Zealand motorsport.
His performance in the six WRC rallies he contested this season impressed not only his Hyundai Motorsport team - which wants Paddon back in 2015 - but also the Citroen team, which has come calling.
Paddon, who was recently in Wanaka, where father Chris and stepmother Jackie are now based, acknowledged being courted by two WRC teams was a ''good problem to have''.
Any decision will be made with the help of a few good men and Paddon's good woman - his partner of seven years, Katie Lane, who does all his marketing and helps with his media work.
The three directors of his company, Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global, including his father and Timaru businessmen Pete Swaney and Peter Anderson, along with Paddon's long-term co-driver John Kennard, have been pushing for the best deal over the past few months.
''Sometimes Dad and I lose a lot of sleep over it,'' Paddon confessed.
He realises that although his ultimate goal of contesting 12 out of the 13 WRC events - he will miss the season opener in Monte Carlo at the end of January - next year is a ''long shot'', team Paddon will be signing with the WRC outfit that gives it maximum mileage.
''The most critical point for us next year is more rallies,'' Paddon said.
He describes 2014 as a learning year but knows 2015 will be about him performing consistently to keep his seat and getting better results and earning more points.
Six WRC rallies this season was just a teaser for the (pardon the pun) extremely driven Paddon. Ask him his best overall finish (sixth at Rally Australia) and he will tell you it was ''not as high as we wanted to be''. Ask him how many points he gleaned this season: ''not enough'', accompanied by a wry grin, is his reply.
He is not down about it - just unwaveringly focused on improving and moving upwards to his long-held desire to become a world champion. It will be hard graft to get there but Paddon has never been one to shy away from hard work.
He is physically training a couple of hours every day and when based in Frankfurt near the Hyundai factory this season, he was constantly liaising with the engineers and analysing data from the previous events.
In between rallies, his ''homework'' was intense study of the next event's pace notes, if he and Kennard had contested it before.
Paddon would then watch the on-board footage and make any adjustments he thought necessary before liaising with his co-driver over any changes.
The advantage of having done an event before is ''huge'' as he proved in the mixed-surface Spanish round.
Having contested the rally three times previously, he was able to set top-five stage times on the gravel tests.
Earlier in the season, in his third event with Hyundai, Rally Finland had been a turning point for Paddon.
Prior knowledge of the stages from four years driving the high-speed, jump-laden roads there saw him finish ahead of Hyundai's Finnish driver, Juho Hanninen. Respect followed after what had been a daunting start to the season in Sardinia, where Paddon underestimated the challenge of getting used to the Hyundai i20 WRC car on unfamiliar roads.
The competition was also fierce and Paddon described the speed at which his top rivals travel, as ''nuts''.
World-class aerodynamics, suspension and diff design all fuse together to create a mobile weapon which can attack and carry speed around corners.
''The car is designed on a computer to be the best thing possible. You have to actually trust with the aero that it will keep you on the road,'' Paddon said.
Driving a WRC car at full tilt means the driver is teetering on hero or zero status. The two fates are often found too close together for comfort, as Paddon learned the hard way in Spain after he achieved his first WRC stage win.
His first reaction was ''a bit of a surprise'' when the phone sitting on his Hyundai's dashboard, giving real-time results on the drivers in front, showed he and Kennard had achieved that milestone.
Paddon said he had only about five seconds to bask in the glory before they were back into the next stage.
He mused that perhaps he let it go to his head slightly, as he made the decision to push on hard and was foiled at the very first corner. The resulting double puncture cost them six minutes.
Finishing sixth at Rally Australia earned Paddon warm praise from Hyundai's team principal, Michel Nandan.
The result was doubly rewarding as there were hundreds of New Zealand supporters waving flags and cheering them on, Paddon said.
''Kiwis pop up everywhere. There hasn't been one rally where we haven't seen them.''
Paddon, the most successful rally driver in the southern hemisphere and the first New Zealander to secure a professional WRC contract, has eclipsed the successes of great rally drivers who have gone before him.
Helping him get there have been his father, his partner, company directors, sponsors and the 50-plus shareholders ''who took a gamble on us four years ago'' when HPRG was set up.
''Literally hundreds of people have been involved in our journey. That's the beauty of it all.''
