It's rare in life to meet one of your childhood heroes. Rarer still to be strapped in next to them in a Nissan 370Z tearing through the challenging roads in the Adelaide hills.
But that was where I found myself last week as I tackled the Classic Adelaide tarmac rally with two-time Australian Touring Car (nee V8 Supercar) Champion Glenn Seton.
Growing up as a motor racing fan in the late 80s and early 90s, Seton was one of the sport's megastars. The 'baby-faced assassin', as Mike Raymond used to call him, raced wheel-to-wheel with the likes of Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, John Bowe, Allan Grice, Jim Richards and Mark Skaife.
He is also the last man to win the V8 Supercar crown driving for his own team, a feat that looks increasingly likely to stand for a very long time.
But since stepping down from fulltime V8 Supercar racing at the end of 2005 Seton has been able to pick and choose what races he competes in. He continues to race V8s occasionally but has also competed in the Bathurst 12 Hour and historic touring car races with his own Ford Capri.
Joining Nissan's Classic Adelaide campaign was a perfect fit because it was the Japanese company that gave him his big break in motor racing. Seton was Nissan's junior driver in the 1980s, doing his racing apprenticeship with the team, before setting up his own team with Ford.
But that's all in the past and now the focus is on Classic Adelaide 2009. For those unfamiliar with the event it caters for classic and modern tarmac rally cars and runs over four days across the roads surrounding Adelaide. There are three competitive classes; 'Classic' for cars built between 1948 and 1971, 'Late Classic' for cars made between 1972 and 1990 and 'Modern' for post-1991vehicles.
However, Nissan had not entered the 370Z in any of those categories. Instead we were in the 'Thoroughbred Touring' class that caters for cars with rollcages and other hardcore competition gear. The Zeds were fitted with the mandatory fire extinguishers and first aid kits but were otherwise untouched.
We would also compete without any timing and were limited to 130km/h during the super special stages. But without any pace notes and no familiarity with the roads that speed limit didn't slow us down as much as our own commonsense did... most of the time.
DAY ONE - Thursday 19, 2009
Having flown into Adelaide the night before and attended a compulsory safety briefing, the day starts early in the hotel lobby. There I meet up with the rest of the Nissan team for the event, including Seton.
With the Thoroughbred Touring category going out after the competition classes there plenty of time for breakfast before Seton heads for the car. He'll be navigated during the morning session by a local newspaper journalist, before I'll rendezvous and takeover the co-drivers seat at the lunch break.
That means a quiet morning in the hotel before a leisurely drive through the Barossa Valley to the lunch stop at Peter Lehmann's winery. When I do arrive the morning weather forecast of 43 degree heat has proven correct, leaving the competitors looking for shade and a cold drink.
Before long it's time for Seton and I to get back on the road (with air-conditioning blasting) and head for the first stage. But before we get underway, a crash course in navigation is in order as we wait in the starting queue.
Classic Adelaide organisers provide each crew with a 'road book' that includes directions between each stage and warns of cautions and sharp turns in the special stages. The crews in the competitive sections will use detailed pace notes; the same sort of notes Sebastian Loeb and co. in the World Rally Championship use, that allow them to drive flat out.
But pace notes or not, tarmac rallying requires total focus and commitment for the driver because the price of making a mistake can be incredibly high, as Seton and I discover when we reach the first special stage after lunch.
The fire truck and police bikes heading into the special stage six, as we sit in an increasingly long queue, are the first indication of the serious accident that lies ahead. Soon the news starts to filter down the line of cars that there has not only been an accident, but a bad one.
As Seton and I are handed new route instructions and make a U-turn to find the next stage, it later emerges that the emergency crews were doing their best to try and save the lives of Victorian crews Gary Tierney and David Carra. It proves an impossible task and Classic Adelaide records it's first fatalities since the inaugural event in 1997.
Unaware of this development, Seton and I arrive at the start of our first stage together. Our immediate concern is exactly how we are going to communicate with each other, given there are no radios for us and I'm wearing a full face helmet!
Before we've had a chance to work a system out its time for Seton to drop the clutch and fire us into the stage. Powering up and down the hills I do my best to yell out the cautions and turns to Seton and before I get a chance to catch my breath we're at the end of the stage.
"How did that work for you?" I ask Seton.
"I didn't hear a word," he smiles.
Not a great start but on the way to the next stage we work out a rudimentary hand signal system and I vow to yell louder.
The next stage is also the last of the day but it's the longest of the day at over 12km, and gives Seton the chance to stretch the legs of the 370Z. With the sun setting we launch into the stage that begins with a tight, twisting section before opening up into faster, flowing bends.
Before we even reach the halfway point Seton has caught the Porsche 911 that started 30-seconds before us. The good news too is that Seton is having more luck hearing me this time so he can attack the corners with a bit more confidence. But just as it was first time around, the stage finish comes all too soon.
Special stages over it's time for us to head back to the centre of Adelaide to put the 370Z back in parc ferme for the night. Seton and I then reunite with the rest of the team and head for dinner where stories are swapped until late into the evening.
It's a great way to end the day and, on such a tragic day, highlights the best aspects of the Classic Adelaide. The social side of tarmac rallies is one of its strengths: you can compete with your friends and then spend the evening trading tales over a good meal.
DAY TWO - Friday 20, 2009
A longer day means an earlier start and after a quick breakfast it's time to head to the Adelaide Markets carpark that serves as parc ferme for the event. But instead of hopping back into the white 370Z with Seton, it's my turn to slide into the driver's seat in the second Zed entered by Nissan.
Doing the navigating for me during the morning session is an old friend and former colleague, Mark 'Foges' Fogarty from Auto Action magazine, and he passes his first test by successfully directing me to the first stage to the south of Adelaide.
As we wait for our turn to start there's a chance to catch up with some of our fellow competitors in the queue. Just ahead of Foges and I is Seton's former touring car sparing partner, Win Percy; the Englishman who helped established the Holden Racing Team back in the early 1990s.
Thanks to a botched surgery a few years ago Percy now has very limited movement in his legs, but that hasn't stopped him from living his life. He's driving a Jaguar XF Diesel with hand controls and proving that not age, immobility or diesel can slow him down.
He kindly offers to allow Foges and I to slip ahead in the queue but mindful of the fact he has one more Bathurst 1000 win and three British Touring Car titles than I do, I politely decline!
Eventually our time comes to start and we're off into the stage and immediately the adrenaline takes over. Foges' booming voice calling the corners and cautions is crystal clear and I push as hard as I feel comfortable.
Even though the Thoroughbred Touring class is untimed the chance to push as hard as you like on a closed road is an incredible experience. The previous day's tragedy and my own inexperience in this event means pushing too hard is not a danger, but opportunities like this are to be embraced. Getting comfortable with the handling of the 370Z isn't a problem. The brakes, steering and power delivery are all predictable, making life easier.
Having got comfortable in the first stage we reach the start of the second test for the day just as rain begins to fall. Flicking the wipers on as I accelerate as hard as I dare towards the first hairpin, it quickly occurs to me that a steady approach is required to get safely to the end of this stage without falling off the road.
By halfway through the stage the rain stops and thankfully stays away for the rest of the day. For the rest of the morning I get more comfortable with the Zed's handling and feel confident to push harder. But because each stage is new ,pushing too hard on unfamiliar roads is still a danger.
Too soon we reach the lunch stop in Goolwa and it's time for me to hand the keys over to the next driver.
Reflecting on the event, my first tarmac rally, there are plenty positives to take away despite the tragic accident on the first day. If you've never done any motorsport or want to graduate from the circuit to open roads, the Thoroughbred Touring category is the ideal way to find your feet.
You compete on the same roads, using the same instructions and procedures as the competitive classes but without the pressure of timing. It allows you to get accustomed to using the whole width of the road and learn to read the road better.
But even if you don't have any dreams of winning outright it's a great chance to give your car a run out on the open road without any fear of the police or endangering fellow road users.
And you can do it all with a mate, sibling, partner or if you're really lucky, an Australian racing legend.
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