LET’S get this straight – I am not a bike person. At least, in so far as riding one.

My old mate Chris Billing can attest to this when I went sliding sideways across the grass on my scooter during one of our trips overseas a few years back.

So you can imagine my hesitation when offered a pillion ride around Symmons Plains with 2009 World Endurance Champion Steve Martin.

Being lucky enough to ride with 2014 Targa Tasmania Jamie Vandenberg in his 2013 Nissan GT-R as a preview to this year’s event, I knew the speeds that vehicles could reach on the tight 2.4-kilometre track.

After a medical, a safety briefing and some banter with the fellow ‘‘lucky souls’’ who were off for the pillion rides, we find ourselves in borrowed leathers waiting on pit lane to set off for four laps of adrenalin.

A photo is snapped, the visor is lowered and off we go.

Even though it’s only an out lap, you can immediately feel the power from the Yamaha R1 as we criss-cross through the bus stop and under the bridge.

Soon enough, a wall of deceleration slams me into Steve’s back as we approach the hairpin.

The bike leans sharply to the left before the front wheel lifts up as we fly off up the back straight, my hands gripping on tightly as we move through one of the fastest right handers in the world.

The next two minutes are a blur of asphalt, fields and blue sky as I relax, albeit slightly and allow Steve to do his job putting the machine through its paces.

Coming up to the hairpin on our final lap Steve gives me a thumbs up and points to the dashboard where the speedometer sits, before one final lunge up the back straight.

‘‘Did you look at the speedo when we went into the kink (the right hand turn on the back straight)?’’ he said.

‘‘Yeah we were just nudging 240km/h I think.

‘‘Well we were mid-250’s on the fast lap,’’ he replied.

With my feet firmly back on the ground and with a huge smile on my face, I shook Steve’s hand and headed off to regroup for the rest of my day’s work.