KEY POINTS:
Hoping to capitalise on previous success, New Zealand's Motorsport Academy is looking to turn out a new batch of motor racing stars.
Graduates from the academy, established in 2004, have already established a name for themselves in New Zealand and overseas.
Top graduate in 2005, Brendan Hartley, was selected for the Red Bull Junior Race Team to compete in the European Formula Renault championships, where he's been regularly finishing on the podium. This class is a significant stepping-stone to getting a seat in a Formula One team.
Another proving himself at the elite level is Daniel Gaunt. He has been the Toyota Motor Racing Series Champion for the past two years and this year won the New Zealand Grand Prix at Teretonga. Gaunt is test driving for various race teams in the United States.
Rally driver Hayden Paddon, at 20, was the youngest winner of a New Zealand Rally Championship round, winning the Whangarei Rally which doubles as an official round of the FIA Asia Pacific Championship.
The fourth intake of the academy is undergoing a rigorous week-long training camp that started in Dunedin last week.
The Academy of Sport-South Island (ASI) has a partnership with Motor Sport New Zealand to run the elite driver academy programme, thought to be the only one of its kind in the world.
The developments over the last two years have broken new ground with tailor-made programmes that have benefited the sport, and improved the performances of many young Kiwi drivers.
"Not only are we able to provide insights for the drivers into their preparation and performance, and how to improve it, but also with the University of Otago provide the basis for research into race-driver physiology, and psychology," said Iain Ansell, ASI programme director.
"It's making a noticeable difference to the performance of new drivers - their ability to cope with the intense demands of world-class competition improves as a result."
The nine drivers taken in each year are selected on their potential to excel internationally. The week-long intensive training camp covers educational, analytical and race-testing aspects, which are judged and reviewed throughout the week.
This is followed by a two-year tailored programme of support services for each driver to help them focus with on-going development.
ASI manages the development and programme, with profiling, monitoring and reviewing of the drivers.
The programme is challenging, but as chairman of the MotorSport NZ Scholarship Trust Steven Kennedy points out, it has been producing reaction times equal to, or better than, those of fighter pilots in its young drivers.
Most of the 27 drivers to graduate from the academy used their increased skills and knowledge as a springboard to success on both the national and international stage.
There was intense competition for a place at the academy this year. Some to make it were: Earl Bamber, current Formula BMW Asia Pacific champion, currently testing in Europe for Formula Renault; Jonathon Lester, who finished fourth in this year's Porsche GT3 championship and is the youngest driver in the world to win a GT3 race; Alastair Wootten, former karter and last season's SpeedSport scholar racing in Formula First and planning to race Formula Ford next season, Anthony Pedersen, son of NZV8s driver Paul Pedersen, a former karter who completed his first season in Mini, and Dominic Storey, who contested the Formula BMW Asia Pacific championship in 2006 with several podium finishes.
