Hurtling 170kmh through the hilltops near Whare Flat, a realisation dawned upon me.
I like to move fast.
To the left of the passenger seat I’m strapped into is my copilot: 19-year-old Zeal Jones, of Pukekohe.
Plus, it seems fitting a driver named Zeal was behind the wheel - that’s sure to be a good sign, right?
His vehicle of choice is a factory-built 350 horsepower Skoda Fabia R5 with a top speed of 180kmh.
It’s worth about $800,000 brand new, Zeal reckons.
With a vehicle like that, Zeal said it could deliver "the full get-go" and while admitting he preferred an aggressive style of driving, Zeal promised he would try to "keep it on the road" for my sake.
The first time I met Zeal that afternoon, back when the ground was not racing beneath our feet, I was naturally a bit apprehensive about the metal beast I would soon clamber inside.
But in my orange jumpsuit with helmet tucked under one arm, I started to come around to the whole idea - even if I somewhat resembled a crash test dummy.
As we inched towards the starting line, Zeal recommended I crack a window to ease some of the adrenaline.
I kept it tight shut.
He began counting down.
"3, 2 ... 1."
It was at that moment I wondered to myself, maybe I should have saved my lunch for after the drive.
A sharp pang of anxiety hit my body all over, before quickly mellowing into a sense of absolute wonder.
Every police road safety advertisement I had ever seen flashed through my mind as trees whizzed past us from both sides.
Zeal’s hands and feet moved up and down, back and forth, pulling levers and pushing pedals like a mechanical puppeteer.
As we approached the first turn, I braced for a shake-up but was instead delighted as we glided smoothly around the corner.
The Skoda handled more like a snowboard, seemingly flattening the terrain and twisting around corners no high school physics background could ever illuminate me to.
But then - a sudden jolt from the left.
Zeal remarked that was "a bit of a puncher" and carried about his business.
As the Skoda ground to a halt in the dust, the carnival rides of my childhood seemed to lose their splendour.
Later on, we discovered a rock in the road had punched a hole in one of the tyres, which Zeal assured was "an easy fix".
He said we clocked in at about 170kmh, just shy of the Skoda’s top speed.
While the experience and unexpected turbulence may put some off driving for good, I leapt out of the car craving more.
Safe to say, I have caught the racing bug.
