Just four years after competing in his first ever motorsport event Ryan Howden of Invercargill is the Eastern Southland Car Club Champion for the 2025/2026 season.
Howden recently turned seventeen but claimed the Club Championship at sixteen years of age, the youngest to achieve the feat. He scored 162 points to head off his father Glenn on 133 points in the championship and backed up the overall club championship title with a swathe of trophies – Class B Champion, Junior (Under 25) Champion, Junior (Under 18 Champion), Under 18 Autocross Champion and the overall ClubSport Champion. He also took the award for the club’s Most Consistent Competitor.
During the year he also finished third in the National Junior ClubSport Championship in Ashburton in an under powered 1300cc Corolla.
He has now won the Eastern Southland club’s Under 18 Championship twice and the Under 25 title three times.
Ryan, who has had health challenges along the way says, “for me, racing is about so much more than just driving a car. It’s my escape from the challenges that life sometimes throws at me. I’ve spent a lot of my life dealing with things that are out of my control, but when I’m behind the wheel, I’m focused on something I love and something I can work hard to improve at. Some days are harder than others, and there have been times when I’ve had to push through more than people realise. But I’ve never wanted sympathy. I just want to get out there, give it everything I’ve got and prove to myself what I’m capable of. If my journey inspires even one person to keep chasing their dreams, no matter what obstacles they face, then that’s something I’m incredibly proud of.”
Ask Ryan how he got into motorsport and he will say, “I had no choice. Mum and Dad have been involved since before I was born.” His parents say he attended his first motorsport event at three months old as they were stage end marshalls at the Barrata Creek Gravel Sprint.
Ryan himself recalls being in the back of the rescue truck at a Catlins Coast Rally at the age of three. “When I was seven, I remember seeing Hayden Paddon on television in the WRC and that is when I decided I really wanted to race. When I was nine or ten dad was doing autocross in a Corolla and he taught me to drive a manual in the backyard moving firewood during lockdown.” Like many kiwi kids he also got practice driving on a farm that the family holidayed on at Christmas.
With parental consent anyone can compete in ClubSport from the age of twelve. Ryan turned twelve on 6 September 2021 and seven days later he tackled his first event.
Since that time he has made some great contacts in the sport. “Hayden Paddon once gave me a ride alongside him in his EV Rally car at the Waimate Hillclimb. We won and I stood on the podium, squirted his champagne and he gave me the trophy to take home.” Paddon has also given Ryan the gloves he wore when he won the Rally Argentina WRC Round in 2016. “I have them framed and they hang on the wall at home.”
This season Howden stepped up to compete in two National Championship rallies, Rally Otago and Rally Southland. “At Otago, driving through the last stage at Kuri Bush was a cool achievement. Around one hundred and sixty cars started and only seventy finished and got to that last stage.” Kuri Bush is quite an iconic stage and Howden says, “it is definitely a roller coaster stage. I am lucky enough to have a simulator at home and I made the most of it learning that stage. There were a couple of corners I knew well and I managed to give dad alongside me a fright for the first time – that was a highlight,” he laughs.
Asked about those who have helped him along the way, there are many. “Mum, Dad, Hayden Paddon, Roger Laird of the ESCC, and lots more. Ryan has not been afraid to seek out advice either. “When Shane Van Gisbergen did a rally in Auckland I had a good chat with him at a Service Park and Emma Gilmour is always full of encouragement and always keen to find out how I’m doing.”
The next step for Howden is more horsepower. “I want to refine my driving a bit and be a bit smoother. Smooth is fast so it should get me more pace. It was quite stressful going for the championship this year so I want to go out and have fun and relax.”
He will continue in ClubSport, maybe rallies if the budget allows, and “I would like to do hillclimbs and sprints – they are the heart of motorsport. They are social and you can talk to people.”
Fresh from beating his father by almost a second at the recent Slopedown Hillclimb Ryan doesn’t mention it. “If I do I might not be allowed to use the car again,” he says!
A talented driver who is comfortable seeking advice and clever enough to not ruin a good thing – a worthy champion indeed!
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