Watching a V8 Supercar go around Mount Panorama on TV is a spectacle.

Driving your own car on the iconic stretch of Australian road is breathtaking.

Hitching a ride in a Formula One car? That is something else.

Exhilirating. Terrifying. Nauseating. And then some.

I can’t tell you what the mountain looked like from the specially-built two-seater Minardi – I didn’t see much of it.

With every turn, every rise, every dip, so went my head. And my stomach.

It’s a tight squeeze behind former F1 driver Zsolt Baumgartner.

Legs splayed either side of his, chest strapped in enough to reduce my lung capacity to that of a chain smoker.

Just enough room to bounce my helmet off the back of Zsolt’s headrest. Multiple times.

Down goes the front jack, then the rear.

On goes the engine and off into pitlane.

Damn, this feels fast. And we’re only doing 80km/h.

The turn into Hells Corner comes and goes, then the climb up Mountain Straight begins. Bam. 250km/h. At least.

Bam. Griffins Bend throws my head around like a rag doll. I see blurred sponsors’ names on the barrier, that’s about it.

The Cutting. Slow – 120km/h maybe – and steady up the steep and narrow section. So I have a peek out the side. Bad idea. There goes my neck.

Reid Park, Sulman Park, McPhillamy Park. They’re no easy rides, as the track changes direction and drops. Quickly.

I wish I could’ve savoured the famous view of Bathurst from Brock’s Skyline, but I was too busy shutting my visor as the G-forces hit and lifted it up.

I catch my breath but lose my heartbeat as we enter the Dipper and bend our way through the Essess – among the toughest parts, Zsolt later tells me, trying to keep all four wheels on the tarmac and into Forrest’s Elbow.

I’m ready for Conrod Straight. Well, so I thought.

The acceleration on this thing is incredible.

The sound – closer to that of last year’s F1 cars not the silenced 2014 version – is even better.

We head towards 300km/h and into one of the fastest corners in the world, The Chase.

I don’t know if I or my neck can handle it. Nor going through Murray’s Corner.

Thankfully, but also unfortunately, Zsolt pulls into pitlane and brings me home.

I’m sweating. And shaking. But smiling.

The V10 Cosworth-powered machine was in Bathurst to promote next year’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park.

Can we go again?