Motorsport: Mount Panorama at Bathurst

I count myself privileged to have raced around one of the world's most famous race circuits - Mount Panorama at Bathurst.

The long straight, steep climb and complex corners make it exciting and daunting. It's impossible to gear any vehicle for the entire circuit as it climbs more than 170 metres from the lowest part of the track to its peak. You either lose speed going up or downhill. That's the trade-off teams have to make.

From the start on Pit straight, there's a short blast to Hell corner, where everyone is funnelled through a 90-degree left before the long climb up Mountain Straight.

The quick right hander at Griffins has a negative camber if you drift wide, putting you into the wall on the exit. Shortly afterwards you enter the Cutting, a pair of left handers, where it's almost impossible to overtake. After the apex, it's flat out to the next three corners, Reid Park, Sulman Park and McPillamy Park.

These are very fast, with a steep drop leading into a climbing left-hander heading to the highest point of the circuit. Barrelling along the top of the circuit towards Skyline requires the utmost faith in your driving ability and vehicle setup. The reason it's called Skyline is that's all you see - the track just disappears down a right- hand plunge and everything gets very light and twitchy. You're now approaching The Dipper, which is not unlike the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. Going through here at high speed can gain you ground on others, but the trade-off through the elevation changes is an unhappy, unbalanced vehicle. The nearby walls bear testament to that.

After another high-speed chicane you approach Forrest Elbow - named after a motorcycle racer, Jack Forrest, who scraped away his elbow after a crash through this descending left hander. The line causes you to drift towards the outside of the track and it's all too easy to clip the wall.

Now you flatten it for the downhill Conrod Straight. This is the fastest part of the circuit where you can get up to 300km/h. The straight is interrupted with a very fast right-hand bend at the beginning of The Chase, a series of corners aimed at slowing things down before the short straight that leads to the 90-degree Murray's Corner. Here you'll see some of the best braking duels before drivers enter Pit straight again to begin the adventure all over again.

* Herald journalist Eric Thompson is a former professional Superbike rider who raced the circuit four years running.