A trip to Canberra usually costs Tom Clarke more than most.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But it isn't fancy restaurants or five-star hotels forcing Clarke to reach into the back pocket - it's that damned Tidbinbilla Forest race track.
The White Wolf Racing driver is out for redemption after a nightmare run in Canberra having crashed in all three of his appearances at the National Capital Rally.
The New South Welshman returns after more than a year away from the Australian National Championship in a bid to overturn his horror record at Tidbinbilla Forest.
"It hasn't been nice to us in Canberra, all three times we've had quite extreme crashes," Clarke said.
"We'll be looking to make amends on that this year and that was the reason for coming back.
"We're pretty well prepared this time, I'll definitely be taking a different approach to some parts of the forest where I've made mistakes before."
Each one of those crashes cost between $20-40,000 worth of damages. Clarke's team has also spent an additional $100,000 in new parts to make sure the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9 is "100 percent right" for their long awaited return to the ARC.
After spending half a year developing the rally car for the dusty dirt tracks of Tidbinbilla Forest, Clarke refuses to back off the accelerator and let the money go to waste.
"It's a completely different car to what it has been to the other times that we've been to Canberra," he said.
"I don't have any fear of crashing again, I don't think I'll back off anymore to try and get through there. I'll probably go harder and more so be mindful of the mistakes that I've made in previous years and to not make them again."
With a brand new engine, sequential gearbox, wiring and computer systems, Clarke believes the lower series Lancer is at the highest performance level that it can be.
Clarke and co-driver Ryan Preston managed to win four of the nine stages at Caves Classic Rally in the newly developed car last month, but a mechanical issue on the third stage hindered their overall result.
"We got it right, the car was perfect," Clarke said. "We were leading that rally by a long way, by a mile actually, but suffered a mechanical failure in the third which put us out of the event.
"But it showed just how quick it was once we got the car sorted. We ended up with some huge gaps which showed that the gearbox and the new engine were working."
The National Capital Rally will be Clarke's first appearance in an ARC event since the 2017 Rally Australia, where he finished second behind outright champion Nathan Quinn in the national event and 14th in the WRC field.
While some would simply try to make it over the finish line on their ARC return, Clarke has set his sights on making the top five.
"We're going to Canberra being one of the underdogs to probably make the podium," Clarke said. "We have a lesser car then some of the others, but I think we have a good shot at it and potentially get towards the top."
Standing in his way of making the podium are Canberra brothers Harry and Lewis Bates, who topped the opening round of the ARC last month. The local racing stars will enter the National Capital Rally as strong favourites after claiming first and second place at Forest Rally.
Harry and co-driver John McCarthy led the one-two in the team's brand new Toyota Yaris AP4 and won 13 out of a possible 18 stages in the first round.
"Harry and Lewis Bates will be very hard to catch," Clarke said. "I think they'll get out of there without making any mistakes [and] they're in some of the best cars in the world.
"We'll look to clean the back of them and give them a bit of a push. We're definitely capable of doing it, we just need to have a clean run."
Racing stars Molly Taylor, Richie Dalton, Luke Anear and Adrian Coppin will also compete in the event.