By BRIAN NIGHTINGALE

GARY West has already won the Australian Hillclimb Championship twice, 2004 at Gippsland Park in Victoria and again two years when the prestigious event was last held at Bathurst's Mount Panorama, but that certainly hasn't quelled his desire to find more success.

He will be back at Mount Panorama chasing his third title from November 7-9 when the Peter Rogers Real Estate 2008 Australian Hillclimb Championship is conducted by the Bathurst Light Car Club on The Esses.

The close knit West family will once again embark on the long trip across the Nullabor, towing the two-time championship winning Lola F3000 in search of title number three.

West holds the outright Bathurst record on Mount Panorama's 750 metres Esses run, a most respectable 21.46 seconds, established when he won his first Bathurst crown in 2006.

The West Lola is arguably the fastest car to ever compete at Bathurst, including those from the Formula 5000 glory days and current V8 Supercars.

It was bought to Australia in 1989 by former race and hillclimb star Alan Hamilton, who replaced the Cosworth V8 engine with a Buick V6 and subsequently went on to win the 1989 Australian Championship with it.

Since it was purchased from Hamilton by the West Australian engineer, the powerplant was changed again with another V6 Buick, but this one a genuine motor sport engine with an alloy block and different heads and crankshaft.

At Barbagallo Raceway where the West Australian round of the V8 Supercar Championship is conducted, the Lola tops 265 kph, some 25 kph faster than the V8 Supercars.

At Bathurst West and his close rivals, such as 10 time national champion Peter Gumley with his SCV and Victorian champion Andrew Howell (Gould), are clocking low 21 seconds and at this event a high 20 is not out of the question.

To set these times they are reaching more than 200 kph as they brake for the notorious Dipper and then reach the same speed again as they cross the finish line on Brock's Skyline.