Live Blog: day 1

Sixteen cars, a bunch of car nuts and one helluva a week. Welcome toMOTOR's Performance Car Cup 2011.

Day one: Morning

We've assembled the fastest, baddest and meanest cars of the past 12 months, from screaming turbocharged four-pots, sweet sixes, atmo and turbocharged V8s and, for good measure a V10 too.

While it's a public holiday in Victoria, today sees the cars travel through Victoria's Gippsland for photography as we make our way to glorious Phillip Island. Follow the crew via twitter @MOTOR_MAG and on Facebook motormag.au

Day one: Evening

The AMG SLS may be getting the most attention in traffic, but even the smallest and most humble of the 2011 field cause a stir as they posed for photographer Brunelli. They may not have 420kW, but the Audi A1, VW Polo GTI and Citroen DS3 are not to be overlooked for performance fun.

Nobody is over the twin-turbo V8 in the CLS 63 and its growl, but there's debate as to whether it's better than the C63 Coupe's 6.2 atmo V8...

The on and off rain has played havoc with our photography, which we've planned by splitting the 16-car field into two. That means the Nissan R35 GT-R is split from the Audi RS5, but they will all lock horns when we hit the track tomorrow.