Paddon shows the future

New Zealand rally ace Hayden Paddon ably displayed the future of rallying to those who attended day one of the two-day New Zealand Hill Climb championship at Burma Rd, near Milton, on Saturday.

Paddon’s newly developed Hyundai Kona electric rally car had its first public showing with two fine runs up the 3km long hill climb course, in between the timed runs of the 33 competitors battling it out for the hill climb crowns.

For Paddon, a former World Rally Championship-winning driver, the meeting was primarily about continuing the development of his innovative car.

“We are using this event to check the progress of our development programme.

‘‘It’s a steep learning curve, developing a whole new rally car, and while we wouldn’t normally use a public event to test the car and its components to the limit, it was a good chance to put it all into practice,” Paddon said.