It's that time of year when Motorsport New Zealand are looking forward to the Elite Academy, held at the start of July.

The Elite MotorSport Academy is a world-renowned development program for motorsport competitors in New Zealand. Young competitors from all aspects of the sport are put into a 12-month academy program, starting with a weeklong ‘camp’ in Dunedin.

The academy has fostered young talent who regularly make headlines around the world for their achievements. Shane van Gisbergen, Hayden Paddon, Mitch Evans, Brendon Hartley, Richie Stanaway and more recently Marcus Armstrong have all received training through the academy.

Those chosen to attend will live “in camp” for the duration of the Elite Academy and in addition to the personal development thrust of the programmes will undertake a number of team-building activities. These activities will be awarded points with recognition at the end of the camp to the team scoring the highest.

Soon after arrival “in camp” attendees will be assessed on components of their personal fitness relevant to being an elite driver. The components to be assessed will include:

• Strength• Endurance• Flexibility• Heat stress tolerance• Reaction time• Visual abilities• Muscle balance/posture

Workshops covering sport psychology, nutrition, data analysis, public speaking/media skills, motorsport regulations and procedures as well as daily physical training routines will provide an all-encompassing week of learning designed to test and sometimes stretch attendees’ mental and physical limits.

During the course of the week, all attendees will develop a sponsorship proposal, which they will have five minutes to present verbally to a panel of judges on the last day of the Academy. The format is not too dissimilar to the TV programme “Dragons Den”.

Applications can be submitted via the MotorSport New Zealand website with applications closing on 11 March 2024: https://motorsport.org.nz/elite-motorsport-academy/applications/?fbclid=IwAR1BCoNfiMcVfSjPcXNgfoGVumJZp1X-Qosa7twqWDyycSxnbh3LWdMYunQ

Article added: Friday 15 December 2023