Pines Enduro thrill for local journo

HOT LAP: The South Eastern Times journalist Raquel Mustillo takes a ride in a racing buggy at the Teagles Excavation ARB Pines Enduro.
HOT LAP: The South Eastern Times journalist Raquel Mustillo takes a ride in a racing buggy at the Teagles Excavation ARB Pines Enduro.

IT WAS three years since my last ride in an offroad buggy and since I’m a sucker for thrills, I thought it was time to again suit up for a hot lap at the Teagle Excavations ARB Pines Enduro.

Prior to hitting the track, we were advised that while the drivers will do their best to ensure we do not get hurt, racing is a dangerous sport.

However, we were assured the drivers would not go faster than 70pc of their maximum speed during a hot lap.

After seeing father and son team of Marty and Max Scott roll in the Saturday heats, this does not fill me with confidence.

The briefing aside, we are told to get geared up and head trackside to wait for our turn.

While waiting for my ride, I see buggy after 4WD after buggy flick dirt into the air as they speed off into the depths of the quarry.

The 77 Racing’s 2000 Rimco Unlimited buggy rolls up to the start line with talented driver Daniel Lamb behind the wheel.

The buggy sits on Cooper STT Pro tyres hooked up by Millicent Tyre Centre, which are one of the most advanced mud tyres to date.

I fluff about and wonder if anyone is able to distinguish my feigned nonchalance as immobilising fear as I step onto the dirt track.

In classic damsel in distress style, I enlist the help of a lovely gentleman to buckle my helmet, help me very clumsily enter the seat through the passenger’s seat window and put on the five point racing harness.

“You might feel yourself slipping out of the harness,” he tells me.

“If you do, pull down on the belt tight.”

I already feel like an astronaut bobblehead with a helmet and racing suit at least five sizes too big, so I make sure the belt hugs tighter than a 1950s-style girdle before we take off.

The buggy is geared to reach speeds of 220kph and I assume the speed that we will be travelling at is around 150kph.

I’m trying to play it cool while my internal monologue is screaming expletives which are heightened when we get the green light from the official.

Any preparation I had for this moment was left in the dirt Daniel just ripped up with the assistance of a 6.0 litre Chev V8 powering the $80,000 buggy.

We fly over the mini jump and slight curve I have just witnessed many drivers slightly slide out of before approaching a Devil’s elbow-esque left hand turn.

I’m half expecting to be battered and bruised, but a combination of the fibreglass racing seat and shocks that give around 21″ of wheel travel means we land softly on the hard track.

Comparatively, your average 4WD has around 6″ of wheel travel.

My heart is beating heavily as Daniel enters the turn at speed and essentially slides around the bend.

The quarry is filled with sharp bends that only truly skilled off-road drivers would be able to handle, so as we hit the next one and the mud starts flying, I know I am in safe hands.

My hands however have turned a ghastly shade of white as we progress through the course and belt it down the railway track straight.

We are flying down the narrow track and I think to myself if this is 70pc of what this beast can put out, I honestly wonder how it goes at full capacity.

My 150kph assumption? Trashed.

We hit around 170 to 180kph throughout the back straight.

Suddenly out of nowhere, I see a dead end in the horizon and my stomach sinks as we approach what eventuates to be a u-turn.

Daniel, who at this stage I am convinced is the off-road equivalent of Michael Schumacher, does not even flinch as he changes gears and effortlessly drifts around the hard u-turn.

This is probably assisted with a gear box worth the equivalent of a house deposit in Melbourne.

We return to the arena hitting equally as fast speeds, roaring around corners and soaring over the man-made jumps.

What nerves I did have were completely eliminated and there is nothing but pure adrenaline pumping through me as Daniel approaches the final leg of the lap.

After sliding deep within a corner, Daniel straightens up for the final stretch and I’m grinning ear to ear as we gun it down the straight before flying over the final jump.