At Bathurst he will face a massive physical test as he guides his streetluge down The Esses and The Dipper and hit speeds in excess of 100km/hr, but Lally is no stranger to pressure.

Aside from his streetluge skills, Lally has also competed in America’s NASCAR series and as a road racer.

It was two years ago that Lally made his NASCAR debut in both the Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) and the Craftsman Truck Series (now Camping World Truck Series).

He had his first start in the Sprint Cup Series earlier this year at Watkins Glen International and finished a respectable 27th.

Lally’s road race credits include first in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, second in class at the Petit Le Mans, third in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a second overall in class at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring.

It is a resume that reads in a similar fashion to many drivers which line up for the Bathurst 12 Hour event, but when he arrives at Mount Panorama this week there will be no engine dramas or fuel strategy.

Streetluge was born in Southern California as downhill skateboarders found they could reach faster speeds by lying down on their skateboards.

Since the first professional race was held in 1975, the sport has grown and equipment better developed. The current streetluge stretchers are made from many materials including steel, aluminum, wood and carbon fibre.

Competitors also wear equipment such as kevlar suits and gloves – but even this won’t stop any crash at Mount Panorama this weekend from being a painful experience.

Still, Lally can’t wait to show what he is capable of in Bathurst.

“Of all the different kind of racing I have done in my life, streetluge is one of the things that puts the biggest smile on my face,” Lally said.

“I was supposed to be relaxing a bit this winter but when the car racing season started winding down a bit I was able to pick up a few streetluge races and things went really well. We were able to win both luge classes at the September IGSA World Cup event held in Maryhill, Washington and then went to California last week for the National Championships and I was fortunate to win that against some very good guys and close competition.

“I see this trip to Australia as a rare opportunity to try an accomplish something not a lot of people get to do so I’m going to go for it.”

Lally will be one of over 50 racers trying to qualify for the 32 spots available.

“The pressure is certainly on not to mess up qualifying. There are some extremely talented riders entered from all over the world,” he said.