ABDC 2017: Australia's Best Driver's Car approaches

Officially it's called Australia's Best Driver's Car. Internally here at motoring.com.au it's known as the 'Omega Protocol'.

Undertaken with military precision and involving a massive cast, we're taking 12 of the best performance cars on-sale in Australia and pushing them to their limits – and sometimes beyond – over six gruelling days in Tasmania.

We get underway after a 10-hour overnight ship crossing from our HQ in Melbourne to Tasmania, then it's the best Tasmanian roads plus race track and drag strip testing.

ABDC takes months of preparation but the objective is always clear in the minds of all judges: to eat the best pub tucker Tasmania has to offer. Oh, and find Australia's Best Driver's Car.

German cars have won the previous two ABDC awards and this year more than half the field – seven of 12 cars – are made in Deutschland. Will Germany win again? Will the winning car have two doors or four? Will it have four, six or eight cylinders under the bonnet?

We'll reveal the full list of on Sunday April 30th, but we can confirm there's only one Aussie contender – and 2017 will be the final appearance of a locally made car in ABDC.

Here are some more fast facts: one-third of the ABDC vehicles have a twin-turbo V6 engine, and every single car has forced induction - turbo or supercharger.

In total, the combined power of the 12 cars is 3529kW (4732hp), the total of the price stickers is almost $1.4 million and four body styles are represented: coupe, convertible, sedan and hatch. Sorry, still no wagons or SUVs.

Stay tuned to motoring.com.au via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for behind-the-scenes updates, with proceedings beginning Sunday.

Feel free to guess which 12 cars are in contention, but know this… The stakes are high. And hopefully medium-rare.