9 May 2026
I like fast rides in the forest – zipping down dirt tracks and always looking for the right apex in a corner. I love the adrenalin and dopamine hit when you get to the end and realise you didn’t mess up so much that you came off the bike.
I also have a lifelong association with cars even though I am very much a lifelong cylist who prefers non-motorised hobbies. My exposure to cars came first through my parents and then through Nigel. My dad built hot rods and took us from a very young age to see racing at local oval tracks with midgets and sprint cars and street stocks, etc. I think my hometown was home of the world’s fastest 1/4 mile banked oval… or something like that.
My mom closely followed Indy Cars and my hometown was only an hour away from ‘The Brickyard’, home to The Indianapolis 500, the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ and the world’s largest single-day sports event in which they cram 300,000 people into the track.
We grew up going to Indy 500 practices, and occasionally the Qualifying weekend. I’ve been to the race itself twice. And every race weekend in my first 18 years of life, my parents would hold a family party and everyone would come over for grilled foods and salads while we listened to the race on the radio (as there was a TV blackout locally). The month of May in Indiana was all about the Indy 500, regardless of whether you were into auto racing the rest of the year or not. Every Hoosier was a race fan in May.
Then I met Nigel, who likes to drive cars very fast and drives heavy vehicles for a living. He owns multiple historic vehicles and one very, very beloved muscle car. He is into the V8 Supercars – Australia’s version of US stock cars, only exclusively run on circuits and street courses intstead of ovals.
I think the V8s that Nigel likes are more interesting than IndyCar, but the ‘genre’ of racing I’ve always been drawn to is rally cars. I always thought that would be the one that I would ‘follow’ since I loved how the navigator has to call the turns and the driver just follows the directions. I loved that the cars got air and skidded through corners, and it was all done out in the forest. This was much more my idea of motorised fun than officially sanctioned, paved racetracks.
A few years ago I saw that you could go for a ride in a rally car, and it wasn’t all that expensive. Nigel has done the V8 supercar ‘drive’ experience at Winton, Sandowne and Bathurst (3 times). But he thought a rally car drive would be interesting, too.
So, I bought myself a Rally Car ride experience for my 50th birthday. I don’t really buy into celebrations all that much and normally don’t even celebrate my birthday at all. But this year is a big year. It’s my 50th birthday. I also hit 25 years of living permanently in Oz and 20 years of citizenship here. So let’s do something fun to celebrate that is actually doing something, not just sitting around eating or drinking alcohol!
We had perfect weather on the day. Sunny, no wind, perfect temps. Nigel bought himself a bunch of drive laps and got to drive three different cars.
He said it was challenging and very, very different to driving the V8s on a paved circuit race track. While the laws of physics don’t change, how you apply that to braking and steering does when you have no grip. He did have lots of fun, though. One of his friends and that guy’s wife also came, so it was fun to catch up with them and watch his friend drive, too.
It was all very laid back and friendly, and there were only three other people doing drives in the session besides Nigel and his friend. When Nigel has done the V8 race experiences, it is all very formal and there are always lots of people. On this day, they gave all of the drivers a demo on each of the two circuits to show them what to do and not to do before they did their drives. Normally there would be a charge.
And, they gave me an extra lap (5 in total) if I put the video of my laps on Nigel’s SD card instead of a separate one. I was more than happy to share the SD card instead of buying a separate one – particularly since I would be the one downloading and doing all the tech once home, regardless of the number of cards! They also allowed me to do 3 laps in one car and 2 laps in a different one, instead of 4 laps in one car like I’d paid for.
So we were very impressed with the laid back, excellent customer service and how smoothly the whole session ran.
My first car was a rear wheel drive. If you are wanting the most extreme Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, go in a rear wheel drive. This one really flings you about the most. You are just all over the place within the harness. My butt came up out of the seat and slammed down quite hard in a couple of places in this car. It was the most fun in terms of being flung (and if this doesn’t remind you of the opening chapter in Bill Bryson’s ‘Walk in the Woods’, you need to re-read that one).
So that was lots of fun. What a great way to start off my end-of-contract relaxation!
The only downside was that the course was just outside of Sydney. We went on Saturday. And Sunday was Mother’s Day. Nigel’s parents live just outside of Sydney in the Royal National Park. So we couldn’t go to Sydney on Mother’s Day weekend and not go see them.
So, yes, I had to go for the visit with Nigel and go out for lunch with his parents and sister and then spend the night at their house – out the back in the mouldy caravan with Nigel. Yes, I still love the bugger enough to endure that. But his parents are almost 87 and 88, so you never know at that point how many family holidays they will be around for. So that’s a no-brainer sacrifice on my part.
It was all okay. I had not seen them in 20 years. And I figure if 20 years is the frequency with which a visit is required, this was most likely my last one! The nice thing is that they live in a gorgeous, exclusive location and I was able to go for a nice walk the next morning in scenery that I don’t normally experience since we rarely go to the coast.
So with all that fun out of the way, I now just need to clean and pack up the house. Then we’ll be on our way. I’m thinking it looks like I’ll shove off around the 24th or 25th depending on weather.
Unfortunately, they are predicting two big rain bands to move through by the end of the month. This does not bode well for open roads, but we’ll just see what happens and remain flexible on routing. Here is an article about this on the ABC today:
So don’t expect to hear from me until the ride is finished. There’s no way I’m spending time on a computer or phone to upload content while I’m on the road after an intense 12 months of computer work. I’m very much looking forward to only having the phone on to check the weather forecast and text my location/proof of life photos to my immediate contacts. I will be keeping my hard copy journal, though, and will post the days once home.
Now, let’s get out there and head into the great, wide open!
Hey Em,
That looks like a lot of fun. You certainly deserved that after a big year. With all of your experience riding on dirt and driving on dirt for work you probably would have been pretty good driving too. The inlaws probably thought you came along to get back in the will, haha. Nice of you to oblige Nigel for that. He should have paid for your ride experience in exchange. I’ll keep fingers crossed for open non mucky roads. Stay safe. Put me on your proof of life text list please.
Love
Mike
Thanks, Mike, be prepared for random “I’m okay” texts at weirdo hours in your time zone. I’ll tell Nigel you think my sacrifice to visit his parents was worthy of the cost of the rally car ride. No, I would not have been good at the driving – Nigel said it was really tough. And remember, I lost the back end of the car once and went for a really nice slide off the road and through the ditch shortly after getting my first car. I’m not sure I’ve built skill since then… or I am just more aware and more cautious on those roads. I did get that uni car stuck on the clay road with the farmer, too, and he had to get us out of there. I think it best I stick to bikes!
I asked for a report on the rally car experience, and you delivered big time. Just curious, weren’t you once known as “The Navigator?” If so, did you get to call the turns, and the driver just followed directions? That would have been pretty cool. I can’t say my butt has ever involuntarily come off the seat of a car before, but it has come off my bike seat a couple times on seemingly normal washboard gravel. (SCARY! But I’m alive.) Any idea of the maximum speed attained on your ride? Whatever it was, if you were on a public road, the state patrol officer would have a field day with all the charges he could bring against you guys.
I’ve never been a fan of auto racing, but I HAVE always thought it would be great to experience the Indy 500. One time only, though. I’m even less of a fan of horse racing but, again, just once, I’d love to see the Kentucky Derby. (Both events would be for people-watching purposes only, of course.)
Hi Greg,
Yes, I’m still the navigator (I read the maps on the bike) and the engine. Verne is the Commander and Kermit is the Mental Health Counsellor. As I was bouncing all over the place, I kept thinking about how hard it would be to read the cue sheet and call the turns on a road course at competition speed. This was just a figure eight circuit that took about 4 minutes to get around. Definitely gave me much more respect for the navigators in real competition. I was literally just along for the ride.
I think the max speed was probably about 50-55moh down the straight bits in the faster car, but you got right down to almost nothing in the tightest turns. It feels faster than it is. I know that ‘oh dear’ feeling of coming off the seat on the bike, too. Luckily, this was just pure fun and felt completely safe since you had a full harness on that kept you from moving too much. Bit like a rollercoaster – fun, but not scary. Paragliding and bungy jumping were both a bit scary in addition to the fun.
I think the prime time to go see the Indy 500 was probably the 1970s when inside Turn 4 was absolutely wild and full of drunkeness and debauchery. It was called the Snake Pit. When I went in 1994, they had cleaned it up a lot, there was plenty of police and I’d say it was R-rated instead of X. When I went again in early 2000s, my mom and I actually sat in the Snake Pit area and it was totally cleaned up and pretty family friendly – maybe PG13 rated. The race series is very different to what it used to be and no longer seems to have quite the prestige it once did. The people that owned the track forever (the Hulman family) sold it to Roger Penske (one of the most famous, successful and long-time team owners) a few years ago.
The best people watching is definitely just buying general admission and taking chairs and a blanket and sitting on the inside of one of the turns or backstretch, though. But definitely more fun to sit in the stands if you go for Qualifying so you can watch the pit action. The pageantry before the start of the race on race day is probably as legendary as the race itself. Even me, who could not wait to get out of IN at age 18, used to get a bit teary when Jim Nabors would launch into singing ‘Back Home Again in Indiana’. I’m sure the Kentucky Derby would be similar, except for the length of the race!
Hi, Emily, Car No 2 was definitely faster, judging by how quickly the traffic cones zipped by. Were you moving so rapidly that you ran into your dust cloud from a previous lap, or was that someone else on the circuit? Best of luck on the tour. And, that was an evocative bit of description of your pre-dawn ride a few days back.
Thanks for the nice comment, Chuck. Yes, that was our dust cloud. The top end of the track was quite narrow and double-backed on itself. I’m looking forward to actually getting on the road – when all the gear is sorted and packed and ready to go and the house is all cleaned up and keys returned to the property manager.