For 55 years, hundreds of drivers have tested their mettle on Mount Panorama, its twists and turns given the worrying monikers of Hell Corner and The Dipper, cars reaching speeds of 300km/h as they fly down Conrod Straight.

The pinnacle of the Australian Supercars calendar, Bathurst is more than just a test of speed and V8 engine muscle, it’s a 161-lap endurance race that can take anywhere from the 2013 race record’s six hours and 11 minutes to almost eight hours, as clocked the following year.

It’s not just the vehicles that are pushed to their limit in the race; the strain on drivers takes a physical, mental and emotional toll. Fabian Coulthard, 36, knows this better than most.

Plug the name of this UK-born, New Zealand-raised, Gold Coast-based driver into YouTube and a montage of clips appear showing his heart-stopping crash at the 2010 event.

He clipped his left rear tyre while powering past a competitor, busting a valve and opening up a small leak that caused a spectacular tyre blowout on the opening lap. At 290km/h.

Coulthard’s VE Commodore rolled six times on a part of the track known as The Chase, finishing with three 360-degree spins before coming to rest in the sand.

For a few stunned seconds there was stillness but as the dust settled, Coulthard rolled out of the wreckage, gave the cameras a thumbs-up and the crowd a cheeky wave then walked away, declaring at a press conference later it was “better than any ride at Dreamworld”.

That physical hit was almost eclipsed last year when Becky Lamb, his partner of seven years, delivered an emotional punch just before the final practice round.

Pregnant with the couple’s twins, Lamb, 30, was watching the Bathurst 1000 telecast from their Hope Island home when she went into labour, six weeks before her due date.

“I drove myself to the hospital on Saturday morning in labour but they stopped the contractions and I stayed in for a few more days,” the model-turned-television presenter recalls.

With Coulthard back at home and racing in his local derby – the Gold Coast 600 — a fortnight later, the couple took precautions and Lamb was admitted to the Gold Coast Private Hospital.

“That meant, for me, going away to do my job was a lot easier knowing that Beck had the right help if anything was to happen,” Coulthard explains.

“I was just down the road at the racetrack and could go there if need be, but I didn’t have to worry how Beck was going to get to the hospital if she went into labour again.”

Mackenzie Rae Coulthard was born on October 23, the day after the Gold Coast 600, taking the chequered flag from her brother, Carter Steven, by a solid three minutes.

THE FAMILY MAN

Two weeks out from this year’s Bathurst 1000 and a month away from the next Gold Coast 600, Coulthard’s race preparation with DJR Team Penske is without the drama of 2017.

The young family is enjoying a snatched moment together in the waterfront home they bought in 2015, a rare break in a packed racing calendar, when Qweekend visits.

Coulthard and Lamb work in sync to change and feed their twins, singing to them and feeding them bites of homemade banana bread as their two French bulldogs Bronte, 6, and two-year-old Pierre – affectionately called Mr P – waggle and skittle excitedly nearby.

“We never really put a date on it,” Coulthard says of starting a family. “We both decided we wanted to have kids. I was happy with one, Beck wanted three, so we met in the middle! It was pretty cool the way it all happened.

“I was racing at the Grand Prix in Melbourne, we’d won the round, I came off the podium and Beck whispered in my ear, told me that she was pregnant.”

They’d barely had time to process the baby news when a routine scan at seven weeks revealed two healthy heartbeats.

“Nothing can prepare you for that shock,” Lamb says, adding there was no family history of twins.

Coulthard was due to fly to Tasmania that afternoon to compete, their drive to the airport conducted in near silence as they both tried to grasp what they’d been told.

The life of a race car driver is a transient one with races, training and sponsorship commitments requiring frequent travel so the lion’s share of parenting falls to Lamb.

“When the (2018 racing) calendar first started and the twins were between three and five months old, you’d spent 42 out of 60 days away,” she reminds her partner, explaining her family lives in Newcastle and Coulthard’s in Auckland.

The constant travel is hard on the Ford Falcon FG X driver too.

“Being a dad you miss out on some things: their first words, rolling over. You want to be there for those milestones,” he laments.

“I wanted to have the kids with me while I was racing. When they were six weeks old I took (imprints of) Mackenzie’s left hand and Carter’s right hand and they’re both on the back of my helmet so every time I hop in the car to race, I can see their handprints on my helmet and know they’re riding with me.”

Mackenzie and Carter will be trackside when their dad races at Surfers Paradise next month, their first taste of the Australian Supercars series coming when they were six months old, watching him compete in Darwin.

Has the arrival of the twins and the upheaval that comes with a young, instant family affected how Coulthard approaches motorsports?

“It sounds selfish but you put your helmet on and you’ve got a job to do and that’s all I focus on,” he says, jiggling Carter on his lap as the two recline on a grey leather couch in their family room.

“Either I’m very good at putting things to the back of my head and blocking them out or it just doesn’t affect me.”

In fact, Coulthard recorded his best results to date in the 2017 Australian Supercar series, finishing the season third overall and also celebrating his first podium finish at Bathurst.

Lamb, however, misses the action and the camaraderie of the motorsports fraternity.

The couple met at Barbagallo Raceway during the Perth Supersprint round in 2011; Coulthard was driving for the Holden-aligned Walkinshaw Racing team, Lamb was a promotional model for Rockstar energy drinks.

“I only missed three or four (races) in the years before these guys were born,” she says, coaxing Mackenzie into a pink headband. “It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been to Bathurst, even as a spectator, you’re just excited.”

Her knowledge of the motorsports scene, genuine passion and cool confidence landed Lamb several television presenting roles including live broadcasts, pit lane reporting, interviews and commentary which she hopes to resume in the 2019 Supercars series.

Coulthard also credits her as his chief confidante.

“If he comes home after a win or podium, we’ll talk about it and celebrate it but if he hasn’t done that well, after seven years I know exactly what he’s going to say,” Lamb says. “I know what I need to say and when I need to say it because timing is everything.”

“You don’t poke the bear!” Coulthard teases.

BORN TO RACE

The only child of Rikki and Carol, Coulthard first got behind the wheel of a go-kart when he was four years old but it took two years until his mother allowed him to start the engine.

“Dad used to race go-carts when he was growing up and there was a garage under the house with go-carts floating around. I didn’t have any gear that would fit so I’d just sit in one and make the noise,” he recalls.

He began racing at six – “it started as a hobby but became a good family bonding exercise” – before progressing to the New Zealand Formula Vee Scholarship at age 12 and Formula Ford racing at 16 where he competed against drivers with decades of experience.

“The childhood dream for me was Formula 1 but it’s so expensive to try and raise the funds to get to Europe from New Zealand. I didn’t come from a wealthy family: my dad’s a toolmaker by trade and mum’s a hairdresser.

“You can only do it so long before the money runs out and you have to come back home and try and find the next thing.”

Is Formula 1 still an itch in need of scratching?

“I’d love to do more European racing but not Formula 1,” Coulthard responds.

“I’d love to do more endurance racing at some of those famous tracks around the world – the 24 Hours of Dubai, (Belgium’s) Spa 24 Hours and (France’s) Le Mans – but there’s plenty of things I want to achieve in Australia first: a Bathurst win and a series championship win.”

Lamb had a similarly adventurous upbringing, dance classes giving way to national BMX racing and modelling making way for a career as a firefighter in New South Wales.

It seems inevitable the couple’s young progeny will follow their high octane lead.

“I would never pressure them,” Coulthard says.

“The kids will do what they want to do and a set of golf clubs, some rugby boots or a tennis racquet is far cheaper than going racing!

“At the end of the day, if I’m still racing when they are at an age where they understand what’s happening and what dad does, I don’t think I’ll have much choice.

“Hopefully it’s a lot easier to get sponsors for a girl than it is to get one for this little guy,” he jokes as he tickles first Mackenzie’s belly, then Carter’s.

“It’s not going to be any harder with their surname, I don’t think,” Lamb pipes in.

“Whatever they want to do, we’ll support them and encourage them so long as they’re enjoying it and they’re prepared to commit to it for at least a year. I won’t be buying football boots if they only wear them three times.”

The Australian Supercars Bathurst 1000 races are from October 4-7 and Gold Coast 600 from October 19-21.

Watch the Supercars Championship on the dedicated Bathurst channel live from Thursday October 4 on FOX SPORTS 506