Hyundai i30 N takes on Bathurst

First it was the Nurburgring. Now Mount Panorama is hosting the Hyundai i30 N hot hatch as part of its international shakedown.

Prototype vehicles have been in Australia ahead of a global launch in September at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show to fine tune performance parameters.

Tackling epic sections of fast and (sometimes!) flowing Aussie bitumen, including Skyline, the Cutting and the Dipper, then flying down Conrod Straight in this new video, the Hyundai i30 N looks and sounds capable.

Arriving in Australia in October 2017, the video of the Hyundai i30 N has been released to show its performance chops on Australia's most famous race track. It also represents its first competitive outing in Australia as part of the Nulon Hill Climb and Super Sprint events.

Hyundai WRC test driver Brendan Reeves was the man of the moment who "identified several small areas for improvement" which the Hyundai N boffins in Europe and Korea will resolve before its local launch here in October.

Australia will be one of the hot hatch's key global markets and although two versions of the turbo 2.0-litre front-drive have been developed, it's not clear whether the 'entry-level' 184kW/375Nm version will be offered here.

Hyundai Australia is certain to offer the 202kW version however, which could pump out as much as 400Nm, making it a Volkswagen Golf R rather than Golf GTI competitor.

The Australian testing of the Hyundai i30N at Bathurst involved plenty of data collection via MoTeC computer, which Hyundai says could lead to the inclusion of various performance telemetry on production cars, such as lap and acceleration times and even "custom graphical page layouts and video overlay data solutions".

The vice president of Hyundai and the N performance division's head honcho, Albert Biermann, spent time at Bathurst with the team to help fine tune the new hot hatch.

The former BMW M division boss said, "It’s a very good experience to drive here at Mount Panorama and include the data we gather into our tuning that we will continue in Europe.

"I think the right driver on this track would have a lot of fun with the i30 N," he said of Bathurst.

We have had an early drive of the prototype car and scored the Hyundai i30 N very highly, praising its potent turbo engine and direct steering.

The Hyundai i30 N will be paired exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission but a dual-clutch automatic transmission is understood to be in development.

Several more Hyundai N performance vehicles will arrive after the i30 N, including an i30 N Fastback in 2018 and potentially a new version of the Veloster.