Just over one year ago I had the very good fortune to spend a day driving the length of Victoria’s famed “Great Ocean Road”. This stretch of road (around 200km depending on where you measure the start and finish) is justly famous as one of Australia’s finest driving roads, and as someone who loves to drive, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We drove from west to east – starting at the regional centre of Warnambool, and finishing in the coastal village of Anglesea. Driving in that direction, the character of the road changes regularly, and anticipation builds for the quintessential cliff-side roads of the run north from Apollo Bay.

My experience began with the long sweeping curves along the cliff-tops of the Great Australian Bight – with occasional, tantalising glimpses to seaward of incredible landscapes and rock formations such as the Twelve Apostles. The speeds here are high, as the road rises and falls through the coastal heath just behind the sheer drop into the Southern Ocean.

Shortly after the Twelve Apostles however, the character of the road changes as it climbs inland to Laver Hill before descending into Apollo Bay. Here there are classic climbing turns – tight and twisty at times, double apexes, blind downhill kinks. It is great driving.

And then what can be said about the run north from Apollo Bay? It is quite simply stunning – the road literally cut into the side of the mountains that plunge straight into the Southern Ocean. This stunning, curving ribbon of asphalt splits the green of forest from the glorious turquoise of perfect sets rolling in below. It is tight, narrow, twisty, and at times, nearly unbelievable.

It was a magnificent experience and nothing could have stopped me from enjoying it immensely – not the occasional shower scudding through, not the school holiday crowds, not even the driver of a Nissan Skyline GTR who stubbornly refused to even approach the speed limit while I was trapped behind. I have only one regret (and it will live long), and that is only the fact that my first driving experience of the Great Ocean Road was behind the wheel of my family Mazda Bravo Dual Cab ute – hardly the Porsche 911 Cabrio I would have chosen should it have been an option! (sadly i’ve since been back….driving a Mitsubishi Rosa 25 seat bus!)

Somewhere along the way, as I pondered what made that road such a joy to drive, I started thinking about great R/C tracks I have driven on, or seen. The kind of tracks that you just want to drive, and drive, and drive. I started wondering what it is that makes a great track so special, and what it is that makes some tracks simply frustrating, or worse still, boring.

I came to the conclusion that for me great R/C tracks, just like the Great Ocean Road depend a lot on the combination of corner shapes, the variety of speeds various corners can be approached, the level of commitment demanded of the driver, and most importantly, the way the track uses changes in elevation (or at the very least varying camber of track surface).

Two tracks came to mind as I pondered and explored the outer limits of the Bravo’s handling. One current on-road track, and one long gone off-road classic. The 1992 New South Wales EP Champs took place in Newcastle, on a small, rough track carved into the outside banking of a velodrome. It was windy, cold, and raining at times, and the track broke up badly – with the result that by the time the second day of racing rolled around, it was absolutely a one-car width racing line, and it was definitely “rocket round” qualifying. If you didn’t do it in round one, you were no chance. For all those challenges though, the actual track lives large in my memory as a classic. A fast downhill sweeper at the end of the main straight, uphill chicane into mogul section, a fast kink into tight uphill hairpin and so on. I loved it.

The second is Adelaide’s Littlehampton circuit. In November last year I was trackside for a couple of days to check the action at the 2007 EP Nats as Simon Nicholson fought off all challengers, and exploding tyres, to capture the Championship. The track looks magnificent. Just like the Great Ocean Road it has a variety of corners, utilising the natural rise and fall of the land, and challenging the driver to be totally committed and take big risks to be fast. Once again, I loved it.

Of course thinking about great tracks, also leads one to think about the “not so great” circuits we find from time to time – where all the corners have the same shape, where there is no rhythm, no reward for bravery, and where the track is pancake flat. I still want to race on those tracks – because racing is in my blood – but never do I look forward to it as much as when faced with the opportunity to take on a piece of track that challenges, inspires and thrills.

I will go back to the Great Ocean Road one dark and quiet night, in a car with just a little more capacity than my Mazda ute – and enjoy a different type of experience. In the meantime though, I look forward to finding more “Littlehamptons” and “Newcastles” to tackle.

How about you? What makes a race track great for you? What’s your all time favourite?  And how about your favourite 1:1 driving roads?