Low flying to high flyer

Like all race drivers, I love speed and I suppose flying is the ultimate thrill. So during this long mid-season break I've been taking flying lessons at the Caboolture Airport just near home in Kilcoy and I'm loving it.

So far I've only done about eight lessons and have about six hours of flying time with an instructor. I still need a fair few more hours before I go solo. It's one of those things where you sort of look for another way to have a thrill away from the racetrack and there are a lot of racing drivers that have plane and chopper licences.

I'm not really sure what I'll do with it when I get my licence. I don't think I'll be putting a landing strip on my property because it's too hilly, plus there is a lot of expense in upkeep. Maybe there will be the occasional opportunity to fly to some of the V8 rounds or even to work it into my sponsorship commitments.

So instead of a hot lap of the track I might give sponsors a hot lap of the sky.

The thrill of flying a plane is much like driving a race car. You need to have total concentration, get your speeds right, monitor your instruments and listen to instructions on the radio communications. While I do everything naturally in a V8 race car, I'm still having to consciously think about it in the plane, so it's still a long way to go before I feel comfortable. I'd love to buy a plane, but I'm not really sure what to buy, where I would keep it and what the running costs are.

Meanwhile, my other priority during the break between the Townsville round last month and the Ipswich round in two weeks has been preparation to defend our debut win in the Australasian Safari in September.

This weekend we are heading down to Moree for a shakedown of our two Colorados. Last year I drove with Kees Weel and he's back with me again this year in a new Colorado. Our Colorado from last year will be driven by Kees's son, Paul, who used to race V8s until his big crash at Bathurst in 2008.

We want to go to the Safari this year with the strongest possible combination and hopefully score a one-two finish. Paul has competed before and has been fast enough to be leading but hasn't been able to keep it together to the finishing line.

Our new car is a carbon copy of the old one, so it should be easy to get used to it. Hopefully my first outing in the new car this weekend won't turn out the same as my first run in the car last year. If I think back I was doing pretty well until I rolled the car on to its roof just before lunchtime on the first day.

It's going to be a fantastic Safari this year with even more international stars coming along such as three-time Dakar winner Cyril Despres from France. I'd love to be able to see him in action on the bike.

Talking of internationals, this year we have open-wheel ace Sebastien Bourdais on the Triple 8 team for the Gold Coast 600. He's won in the Indy cars at Surfers Paradise before and he did a good job in the V8 races for DJR last year. Our chief engineer, Adrian Burgess, knows Seb from England and speaks very highly of him. However, Adrian wants Seb to drive with Jamie (Whincup) and leave world touring car champion Andy Priaulx and me together in the 888 car as our seating is pretty comparable.

It's going to be another great Cold Coast race and I'd love to say I'm looking forward to seeing Simple Minds play, but like all the major acts that have played at street circuits - Guns and Roses, Powderfinger, Cold Chisel and the Beach Boys - I won't get a chance to see them. We're always too busy on the Saturday night. Hopefully they will be loud enough so we can hear them from the pits.