The Australian Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar race is well know around the world. But did you know that there is another longer race that is run at Mount Panorama, Bathurst ?

The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 hour race is being held this weekend at “The Mountain”, which is about two and half hours west of Sydney. This year is the 8th running of this event. The cross section of cars is entered is huge. 

There is everything this year from Fiat 500’s to a McLaren MP4-12C. We will be bring you coverage of the event over the next few days. You can also watch the live coverage of the event over at the official event website. Here are a couple of images to wet your appetite.

 

This Ford Focus is running a Ford 5L Coyote V8 Engine, they were built to compete in the South African GT Series. This is their first event in Australia. They sound just like a V8 Supercar.

Plenty of exotic cars racing around here, this Lamborghini features four different drivers. Businessmen Justin McMillan & Ross Lilley are two of the drivers, but the teams other two driver are the 2013 Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards and the 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Champion Dale Wood. 

Gozilla is back at the Mountain. The Nissan GTR has returned to Bathurst for the first time since 1992. 

Back in 1992 the GTR won the race in very controversial circumstances. The car had crashed in the wet, but as the event was red flagged the postions of the field was wound back a lap and since the GTR was still leading at the time it was awarded the victory. 

The video below shows you what the fans thought. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYHeyg7WwX8[/youtube] 

The fans this year though are very excited to have Gozilla back at the mountain. The team of drivers behind the car are from the all across the globe. Rick Kelly (Australia) is well know in Australia as a two time V8 Supercar Bathurst Winner. His three team mates, Alex Buncombe (England), Wolfgang Reip (Belgium) and Katsumasa Chiyo (Japan),  are not as well know here in Australia  but they have all come from Nissan’s GT Academy and have already proven themselves in races overseas. 

There is one sole McLaren MP4 12C running this weekend, and it is just an awesome looking. Behind the wheel are Tony Quinn, multi time Tarmac Rally Winner, his son Klark, British driver Andrew Kirkaldy and Australian V8 Supercar driver Shane Van Gisbergen. 

Ferrari is one of the popular brands here this weekend, with no less than 4 entered. One of the favorites for the weekend is the F458 of Maranello Motorsport. It features a star line up of drivers, Ex F1 Driver Mika Salo, V8 Supercar drivers John Bowe and Craig Lowndes and team owner/driver Peter Edwards. 

The weekend finished early for one of the Ferrari teams on Friday, when the Vicous Rumour Racing and AF Corse cars collided at the top of the Mountain. AF Corse were able to get their car fixed, but Vicous had to withdrawal from the race. 

We keep bringing you updates thought out the weekend.

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