Donn McLaren’s Ford Mazcort at the Leadfoot festival with its strong group of supporters. Photo supplied.The rubber of his tyres has barely cooled down, but petrolhead Donn “Hopper” McLaren already has his sights set on a return to the Leadfoot festival.

McLaren restored his Mazda rotary powered Ford Escort to its former glory, ready to tackle the famous driveway of Rod Millen’s estate on the Coromandel Peninsula, and loved every moment of the experience.

“The car was excellent, absolutely spot on,” he said.

“The road is so technical, Rod (Millen) has made it with so many tricks, there are so many parts that look straight and simple but they aren’t and you can’t afford to get them wrong.”

So caught up in the experience, McLaren did not even bother checking where he finished on the leaderboard in his category, instead choosing to soak up the experience.

“As soon as you drive through the gate you just go ‘wow’,” he said.

On the first day of the event McLaren opened the door to the 1970 Mazcort, welcoming the public to get strapped in to the driver’s seat.

“Seventy-one people got in the car in total, everyone from kids as young as five right up to a 91-year old grandma,” he said.

“I was there strapping everyone in and telling them a bit about the car, I also let one fella drive it out of the pits and around a paddock and back and the grin on his face was massive.”

While the Leadfoot Festival was the main goal of the trip, McLaren is taking a slight detour on the way home to attend the Rotary Reunion event being held at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo.

“I think there are going to be over 300 rotary engine cars there which should be cool, and I have a brother called Bruce so I will have to stop and get a photo by the sign,” he said.

While the Leadfoot Festival was only a two-day event, McLaren and his band of more than 20 supporters made it a three-day event by returning on the Monday to assist with the clearing of the hay-bales that lined the course as safety barriers.

“We offered to let some of the other guys leave and we carried on shifting the big bales and they just couldn’t understand why we wanted to do it but it is just the South Island way,” he said.

“I also had a mate call me when we were there who asked to speak to Rod because he wanted to offer, cost-free, to come up and help set up the event 10 days before which shocked him.”

McLaren already has his sights set on returning next, with a larger contingent of South Island drivers alongside him.

“I 100 per cent definitely will be going back, just got to hope I can get invited again,” he said.

“I spoke to Rod when we were there and said I’ll definitely be applying next year and he just smiled.”

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 8 February 2019