MOTORSPORT: Bathurst 12-Hour preview

The hill that is Mt Panorama is alive today with the sound of GT racing cars.

Twenty eight of them, or 42 when classes B and C are added to A -- a bigger field than the V8 Supercars had last October for the Bathurst 1000 -- practising for Sunday's 12-Hour.

There are V12s, V10s, V8s and sixes ... almost all of them turbocharged, but all restricted to two-wheel-drive.

The nine prestige brands represented in Class A for the outright contenders were assembled yesterday for the cameras at Skyline, 170 metres above the start-finish line of Australia's most revered circuit.

Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, Nissan and Porsche. Nine cars perhaps worth $6-7 million collectively.

Even after a couple of scratchings in recent days, entered in Class A for this 13th Bathurst 12-Hour are seven Audi R8 LMS Ultras, six Ferrari 458s, three Aston Martin Vantages, three Bentley Continentals, three Mercedes SLSs, two Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4s, two Porsche 911s, the McLaren MP4-12C and a NISMO Nissan GT-R making its race debut.

Then there are almost another dozen Porsche 911s in a class of their own (B), another Aston Martin, a Ginetta and a Lotus in Class C and almost a dozen other cars combined in the two invitational classes -- production and non-production.

More than ever this enduro is about the machines rather than the men who drive them (no women this year).

Even with the V8 Supercar drivers occupied at their pre-season test in Sydney this weekend, and thus denied the opportunity to compete in this event, there's still no shortage of driving talent.

Five in the field have raced in Formula One -- David Brabham, Ivan Capelli, Mika Salo, Andrea Montermini and Markus Winkelhock.

There are a couple of dual Bathurst 1000 winners -- John Bowe and Steven Richards.

Bowe was a victor too in the 12-Hour last year in a Ferrari and this time is sharing a Bentley with Brabham and car owner Peter Edwards, with whom he shared success last time along with Craig Lowndes and Salo.

Brabham, who has flown in from Britain for this race, says few of the circuits he has driven around the world in a long and stellar career bring a smile to his face like Bathurst.

He has won a Super Tourer 1000 here and has a Le Mans 24-Hour outright victory on his CV, as do Britain's Guy Smith and Monaco's Stephane Ortelli.

Others of different note are at The Mountain too, among them Austrian skydiver -- even space diver -- Felix Baumgartner, the man who achieved notoriety as The Stig in TV's Top Gear, Ben Collins, and the reborn Aussie TV personality Grant Denyer.

Baumgartner said at the Skyline photo shoot that "driving" Bathurst on a simulator had not given him the full perspective on its daunting undulation.

NISMO's GT-R will be piloted by Japan's Katsumasa Chiyo, Belgian Wolfgang Reip and a late German inclusion, Florian Strauss, replacing Brit Alex Buncombe.

While Chiyo and Reip are back after an unfortunate early exit from last year's 12-Hour, Strauss is a rookie -- and, like Reip, came into racing through computer gaming and Nissan's GT Academy.

The Aboriginal people of the Bathurst area, the Wiradyuri, know Mt Panorama by the name Wahluu, and to them it long ago was a place for initiating young men in their tribal customs.

The Wiradyuri are hoping to be allowed to hold a smoke ceremony for some of the 12-Hour drivers on Saturday to "initiate" them to Mt Panorama.

Sixteen-year-old American Austin Cindric, co-driving one of Betty Klimenko's 6.2-litre Mercedes SLSs, as a Bathurst rookie, is an obvious candidate.

The 12-Hour marks the start of Bathurst's double centenary, with mayor Garry Rush (not the Sydneysider of speedway fame) boasting that, at 200, the city is Australia's oldest inland settlement.

There are four one-hour practice sessions today for the 12-Hour competitors, then another hour's practice on Saturday before an hour's qualifying and a final 20 minutes for the outright contenders.

Michelin and Pirelli have carted 4200 tyres to The Mountain for this race, but cars are restricted to 12 sets for the weekend with the "big hitters" allowed an extra set for the final short qualifying session.

Last night both companies counted 29 cars they were supplying rubber to for the race, but there won't be more than 53 start.

There may not be many more spectators than tyres on race day -- even though the local Western Advocate newspaper has reported that the venue will be "filled to the brim in every way possible ... crowds are predicted to reach a record high, with the grandstands and corporate suites sold out" -- but the 12-Hour is growing in significance, even without V8 Supercar drivers.

The efforts the internationals are making to be in it speak volumes for it.

Sunday's race, starting at 5:50am, will be telecast on two TV channels, with the first eight hours on 7mate and the last four on the primary 7 channel.