Driving in the Matamata races was a once in a lifetime experience and an absolute joy. A real dinkum road race on a real road, power poles, kerbs, plenty of stuff to hit, but all of this somehow made things so easy. Braking points were simple to judge and identify and everything fell onto place.
The circuit felt like home and a drive down to the local shops, but with the extraordinary opportunity to drive on or over the limit. Every time I have been there since, I have recalled the fun of flat out down the main street between the central planted dividing sections. Hard to imagine in this day of politically correct safety. It was there, you could hit it and getting very, very close to doing so was the name of the game. Hooooooooooooray!
A continual sequence of normal roadside objects along the way provides an aspect where one feels at home and to go flat out in these circumstances is out of this world. Thank goodness sticky tyres did not inhibit the exercise. It was small time in many ways but this was real motor racing. Driving on a dedicated racing circuit just does not, can not and will never compare.