Steve Ross, of Dunedin, was walking the Phillip Island track in Australia for the first time yesterday, trying to imagine keeping his lightning-quick McRae GM1 under control.
"It's very, very fast, I can tell you that,'' he said.
The New Zealand F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series leader going into the penultimate round, Ross estimated his classic, stock-block V8-powered monster would clock about 320kmh along the straight.
Another hair-raising observation was the elevated Lukey Heights corner, which dropped downwards into a right-hand hairpin.
He has exchanged last season's campaigner, a Lola T142, for a later-model monocoque chassis 1973 McRae and the latter's more advanced aerodynamics will help as he fights to extend his 16-point buffer.
However, defending titleholder and Auckland veteran Ken Smith (Lola T430) has dominated the last two meetings and will be trying to overhaul Ross before the season finale at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix meeting in a fortnight.
"We've told Kenny that we are going to thrash the [pants] off him,'' Ross said, when asked about his chances of holding one of New Zealand's most seasoned drivers at bay.
This year's Historic Racing Register classic event has attracted a record number of entries - 584 cars - and what spokesman Ian Tate called "the greatest line-up of famous Australian drivers ever assembled at an historic race meeting''.
Heading it is three-time Formula One champion Sir Jack Brabham, with support from Kevin Bartlett, Alan Moffat, Bob Jane, Colin Bond, Alfedo Costanzo, John Bowe, Jim Richards, Fred Gibson, John French, Harry Firth and Alan Hamilton, among others.
The F5000 cars will be on track for practice and qualifying today, a pair of seven-lap races tomorrow and a 12-lap final on Sunday.
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