Catherine Wellington

The Otago Rally may still be sighted this year although its destiny appears out of the organisers’ control.

There were some fairly serious repercussions for event organiser Hayden Paddon if he did not win the inaugural Ben Nevis Golden 1200 Hillclimb yesterday.

After competing in hundreds of motorsport events all around the world, Hayden Paddon has a fair idea about what he expects from a good one.

Hayden Paddon is hitting pause on chasing his World Rally Championship (WRC) dream and will focus on his business endeavours, which may well deliver him back to top-tier rallying in the future.

As far as debut attempts go, Mike Sheehan nailed his first tilt at winning the FIA Group N 2WD title at the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) on Saturday, at the Rally Waitomo.

Fifty years ago, Queenstown's Grant Aitken raced for the first time at Teretonga Park, in Invercargill, and on Saturday he raced for the final time, at Highlands Motorsport Park.

It was a double thumbs up for Highlands Motorsport Park's professional driver Andrew Waite as his team claimed victory in the three-hour endurance race and he bested his boss and colleague again.

There are many perks to being a professional driver at Highlands Motorsport Park and Andrew Waite and Damon Leitch have certainly got it good tomorrow.

Following the pathway laid by New Zealand motorsport innovators Bruce McLaren, Burt Munro and John Britten, Hayden Paddon is pioneering the construction of the world's first electric rally car.

Motorsport generally lightens a driver's wallet. However Saturday's Circle Hill Rally-sprint bucked the trend and sent the fastest few away with some dollars in their pockets.

Hayden Paddon revelled in rallying on the gravel back roads he grew up on, winning all 12 stages and finishing six minutes, 54.4secs ahead of the second driver in Saturday's South Canterbury Rally.

"This is my favourite car. One day I'm going to buy a car like this," reigning V8 Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin enthuses, upon spying the Porsche GT3 RS3 he is about to take his debut drive...

Three Otago drivers entered in Saturday's one-day South Canterbury Rally have different agendas for the 12-stage event.

Her wonder-kid son, Liam, might have been making Kiwi motorsport magic on the Highlands Motorsport Park track, yet Kristy Lawson could only allow herself glances at the final Toyota Racing Series ...

Invercargill's Brendon Leitch is returning for his sixth tilt at the Toyota Racing Series which will open its five-round season at Highlands Motorsport Park in Otago this weekend.

The inaugural Wheels at Wanaka is calling for vehicles to register for display at the Easter show next year and the criteria is all-encompassing.