A frighteningly fast Mount Panorama scared David Reynolds at first look, and on Friday, it bit him hard.

The rear of Reynold’s Ford was ripped to shreds after it smashed into a concrete wall at over 200km/h in the first 10 minutes of qualifying for the Bathurst 1000.

The Ford Performance Racing (FPR) driver was trying to avoid traffic when a dirty piece of road near the top of the mountain got the better of him – spinning into the barrier and losing his right rear wheel.

The 29-year-old emerged unscathed, but not his car.

His team are confident of getting the Falcon back on track for Saturday morning’s sole practice session and firing for Sunday’s Great Race – which he’ll start from last on the grid.

“It’s the biggest race of the year, but it’s also the longest race of the year, so you’ve got to look at the positives,” he said.

“People can win it from last – I definitely think I can.

“I definitely have the car to make it happen.”

Reynolds had been among the fastest men on the freshly-resurfaced track this week, setting a new practice record on Thursday.

The grippy tarmac allowed him to slash nearly have a second off the mark set by Craig Lowndes in 2010.

He bettered the time in the final practice before qualifying, but was outpaced by FPR teammate and defending Bathurst champion Mark Winterbottom.

“I started out pretty scared about the whole idea of racing a V8 Supercar here,” Reynolds said on Thursday after posting his record time.

“I nearly bit it a few times; it was really really edgy.”