WHEN it comes to participating in the Bathurst 12 Hour, nearly every driver has to travel a significant distance for their chance to compete.
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For some, though, it’s not as simple as hopping in a car or taking a quick flight.
They need to cross oceans.
This year's 12 Hour field will feature more than 170 individual drivers across 51 entries, and many of them are representing countries other than Australia.
One of those international drivers is 25-year-old Maximilian Buhk, who will be driving a Mercedes AMG GT GT3 for Team Strakka Racing.
When he isn’t travelling the world to compete, he can be found living in Hamburg, Germany.
Australia is a lot further away from the countries he normally races in, but the travel hasn’t got to him.
He said the plane journey can be tough, but watching a movie or sleeping helps to pass the time.
This weekend marks his third appearance in the 12 Hour, having competed in 2014 and 2015 with mixed results.
“In 2014, we finished second overall and in 2015 we had to retire,” he said.
Buhk said he was excited to return to Bathurst and chase down the win.
“The track is pretty special and unique and it is always a great event to be part of,” he said.
International drivers often see Mount Panorama as a particularly difficult track, with the turns and constant changes in altitude.
Being nervous or scared driving through some parts is understandable when you’re travelling at more than 300 kilometres per hour, but Buhk isn’t intimidated.
“I’m not scared of any track,” he said.
Also taking on the challenge this weekend is Patrick Long, who will pilot a Porche 991 GT3R for Competition Motorsports.
He said that, being from Los Angeles, he is comfortable coming to Australia to compete.
“Australian motor sport is a great blend of some of the cultures I know from my home country and some of what Europe brings to motor sport,” he said.
Making the trek to Australia for the 12 Hour, Long said, has become a tradition for him and his team.
“We stay at the same hotel, I’ve been with the same lead driver, David Calvert-Jones – who’s a Los Angeles-based Melbourne guy – and it has become an annual trip that I look forward to every year,” he said.
For Long, it is the opportunity to race on a track like Mount Panorama that makes the 12 Hour stand out to him.
“It is a track that is on every driver’s bucket list,” he said.
“They want to be here to experience it, to race in it and to tell the stories of what Bathurst really presents as a race and a track by itself.”