Hayden Paddon

[Lundefaret]

Haydon Paddon is a very talented driver, with a very good potential.

I think Paddon - and other drivers wanting to challenge Ogier - most difficult task is to realize how extremely hard they have to work to catch up on Ogier, and how extremely hard Ogier worked to reach the place he is at now. And I am not talking about physical fitness, which I take as a given.

What does Paddon (and all the others) need to do to further improve on his very good talent:

As Lasse Kjus, the several times Olympic and World Champion Gold medal alpine skier said to me when I interviewed him:
"The best athletes are those that even after a victory, dare to look in the mirror to focus 100% on finding faults and weaknesses, and endure extreme amounts of pain to better these."

It is very good that Paddond goes to France to drive with a rally tutor, but if Paddon really wants to improve on tarmac (which I think he has a very good potential to do) this - and all other aspects he needs to improve - needs to be done with a certain level of frequency.

The way the brain learns is trough introduction and repetition. Whiteout repetition it is very difficult to pogramme new ways of doing things (some repetition can also come trough visualization).
On a rally/in a race, the stress levels are so high that You will not "rise to the acation" and do the new things You have learned, but "fall to Your level of competence" and revert to the old ways of doing things, this is something learned trough experience by the Special Forces around the world.

Paddon is strong on what he has done the most, and that is fast gravel rallies with a low grade of inputs per minute.

To beat Ogier he needs to get an accurate view of where You gain and loose time, and be able to do that also when the roads/surfaces becomes more technical. And for this You need to train a lot. But training/practising does not only need to be in a rally car, it can be:
- Watching inboards and outboards
- Driving go carts
- Driving a regular road car on regular roads to program a new line/new lines
- Driving UTVs
- Etc etc
- And to develop a pace notes system where all this can be incorporated, and practice this.

So how many hours a week?

If all the training is done in the correct direction, with correct tutoring, and always challenging the comfort zone in a lesser or larger degree:

- 20 hours of driving related training a week
- 20 hours of pace notes training a week
On top of this comes the physical training, and off course the competitions, wich should not count as training.

So what do Paddon and the other drivers need to do to motivate them self to do this?
- Firtsly, if they are not motivated in the outset to do this, they should conclude on that they will never beat Ogier over a season.
- If they are motivated, but struggle when times are tough (as all do), they should hang a picture of a smiling Ogier in their bathroom, in their gym, in their car, in their bedroom and in all other places they are a lot, and know that an hour of missed training is an hour missed in the race to wipe that smirk of Ogiers face.

Paddon has potential, no doubt about that. Lets just hope that he doesn't fall in the same trap as everybody else, taking to lightly on how much work, effort, and pain You have to endure to beat Ogier.

[AL14]

The way the brain learns is trough introduction and repetition. Whiteout repetition it is very difficult to pogramme new ways of doing things (some repetition can also come trough visualization).

...

To beat Ogier he needs to get an accurate view of where You gain and loose time, and be able to do that also when the roads/surfaces becomes more technical. And for this You need to train a lot. But training/practising does not only need to be in a rally car, it can be:
- Watching inboards and outboards
- Driving go carts
- Driving a regular road car on regular roads to program a new line/new lines
- Driving UTVs
- Etc etc
- And to develop a pace notes system where all this can be incorporated, and practice this.

I think he is already doing this kind of work.

So how many hours a week?

If all the training is done in the correct direction, with correct tutoring, and always challenging the comfort zone in a lesser or larger degree:

- 20 hours of driving related training a week
- 20 hours of pace notes training a week
On top of this comes the physical training, and off course the competitions, wich should not count as training.

You will need public roads and circuits 40 hours per day all days, it is a bit difficult. Don't you think?
But how about his pace notes? I'm curious to know what you think about his actual notes. I think they are a bit poor...

So what do Paddon and the other drivers need to do to motivate them self to do this?
- Firtsly, if they are not motivated in the outset to do this, they should conclude on that they will never beat Ogier over a season.
- If they are motivated, but struggle when times are tough (as all do), they should hang a picture of a smiling Ogier in their bathroom, in their gym, in their car, in their bedroom and in all other places they are a lot, and know that an hour of missed training is an hour missed in the race to wipe that smirk of Ogiers face.

I think Ogiers face will be demotivational rather than the contrary.

[Lundefaret]

You will need public roads and circuits 40 hours per day all days, it is a bit difficult. Don't you think?
But how about his pace notes? I'm curious to know what you think about his actual notes. I think they are a bit poor...

Firstly: No its not a problem because the public road thing You can do in traffic. And a lot of the driving/visualization etc dont demand rally stage quality roads.

Secondly: In my mind his pace notes are to simple, and they make it very hard work to drive fast on technical stages. The gradings etc seems okay, but he doesn´t have the extra info needed. Especially radius and apex point strategy. If he developed his pace notes system, he could have a lot of speed for "free" on technical stages, and he could be a lot safer on the fast stuff.

[Toyoda]

Firstly: No its not a problem because the public road thing You can do in traffic. And a lot of the driving/visualization etc dont demand rally stage quality roads.

Secondly: In my mind his pace notes are to simple, and they make it very hard work to drive fast on technical stages. The gradings etc seems okay, but he doesn´t have the extra info needed. Especially radius and apex point strategy. If he developed his pace notes system, he could have a lot of speed for "free" on technical stages, and he could be a lot safer on the fast stuff.

Since Sardinia he has added a gear number to his pace notes (which is after the Youtube Video)
I think his pace notes are nice and simple, he sets fast times on stages that are new, I remember reading the difference between Solbergs notes and Loebs notes was Solbergs were much longer, and Loeb did fairly well?
But I know jack about notes so im probably wrong

[Mk2 RS2000]

Since Sardinia he has added a gear number to his pace notes (which is after the Youtube Video)
I think his pace notes are nice and simple, he sets fast times on stages that are new, I remember reading the difference between Solbergs notes and Loebs notes was Solbergs were much longer, and Loeb did fairly well?
But I know jack about notes so im probably wrong

Being brought up on New Zealand rallies Hayden and John both are used to competing in "Blind events" that is on stages without any form of recce or notes as they are strictly forbidden on most events in the South Island.
In the North Island many events use Jemba stage notes but again without any form of recce permitted.
For the NZ Rally Championship events Jemba stage notes are available plus a one pass recce is permitted and many take this opportunity to write their own notes.
A number who write their own notes then spend countless hours on the night before the rally viewing in car footage and checking their notes by this method.

Perhaps this is where Hayden and John have a slight advantage when on new stages.

It is only on the FIA events that a two pass recce is permitted.