TMM095 Matt Mackelden in the Drivers Seat
Meet Professional driver trainer Matt Mackelden, a high performance drive instructor who’s raced in a wide variety of events over the last decade,  and currently racing the 2018  SuperUtes season aboard the Kubota Racing Toyota Hilux team.
This year Matt turned his attention from super car drive instructor to Real Estate Agent,  as of last week.
Giving up the glitz and glam of the track, for a life at home with family and a new career he’s learning the ropes on from the ground up. 
To the outside world and most of his mates, Matt was throwing away the ‘dream life’ – racing cars, driving days all over the country with amazing brands – Mercedes, Porsche, Jaguar, Holden and more – jet setting around high octane living. To Matt it was a different story.  
Mackelden has raced everything from Formula Vees and Hyundai Excels to Production Sports Cars, and is a two-time class winner at the Bathurst 12 Hour. He has competed in the Mini Challenge and Australian Production Car Series and is a familiar voice at Supercars events, filling the role of on-track commentator for categories including Australian GT Championship and V8 Utes. 
 
Find out why he’s more in the drivers seat than ever before, as at 45 we reflect on what he would like to have told his younger self, how true courage means taking action and the agility required to really design and life a life you love.
In The Drivers Seat  – Taking Control Of Life
Close to 30 years of age,  Matt pretty well changed everything. Reflecting on being locked into a fairly unhappy marriage at that stage, hadn’t done anything that he really wanted to do. 125 kilos, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, drinking a litre of coke a day, and “just existing”.
I’m 45 years of age now and the  last 15 years has been really where I started to live my life. I reckon prior to that, I was doing everything that everyone thought that I should do. Doing everything the social norms thought that I should do.

* I felt relatively trapped and so I made a very brave decision, a decision I think a lot of people find very difficult and sometimes its viewed as quite selfish. But I decided that this was my life and I needed to try, and live it the best way possible. So I ended up buying a race car- my first race car when I was 30 years of age. 

Having looked at racing my whole life thinking “I reckon I could do that” – Matt ended taking some equity out of the house and bought his first little race car.
Matt said he couldn’t even fit into the car, so  had to go and then lose  weight. Gave up smoking instantly, from a pack a day to absolutely nothing.  He lost 35 kilos, jumped into the race car for my first race, ended up qualifying fourth, coming second in the race.
All of a sudden the new life of Matt MacKelden was underway.
Who’s Expectations?
Prior to last week Matt was flying around the country side, being in fabulous cars, meeting incredible people, and leaving his family at home.
After a while that gets very old. There’s only 52 weeks a year and I did 64 flights last year.  I thought that I would love them. And that’s a heck of a lot of travel, at the end of the day, yes you earned good money and, yes you had fabulous experiences. But the reality is, I’m not. I’m happily married, to a wonderful woman with two beautiful little girls, who you know I wanna be apart of their life. I wanna be apart of my step daughters’ lives.
So again while its all shiny and lovely on the outside, it is extremely hard work.