Only one man has broken the 50-second barrier at the Legend of the Lakes hill climb and he is determined to break more records.

Dan Day has been untouchable in the last four editions of the Valley Lake classic and holds the lap record of a 49.89 seconds achieved back in 2017.

The Adelaide driver returns to defend his crown in his striking blue Subaru WRX and eyes Peter Gazzard’s record of five consecutive titles.

Despite being in pole position to match Gazzard’s feats in the red Mitsubishi Evo, Day ominously said he does not feel any extra pressure and will go at full throttle this year.

“It is the same feeling every year,” he said.

“We will just go up there with the mindset of trying to win and we always put pressure on ourselves to do the best job we can.

“That comes down to the car being reliable and myself doing a good job behind the steering wheel because just one slip up can make things pretty ugly.”

Day will need to utilise all his experience to continue raising the bar as he enters the event after minimal track time due to COVID-19.

The 26-year-old has not been able to compete in 2020, but is not too concerned with the far from ideal build up.

“The car hasn’t changed much since last year and has been sitting under a cover since December,” Day said.

“There hasn’t been any suitable events and we have been flat out at work, so we haven’t had a meeting.

“I am not particularly nervous because we know what to expect at the event and the car hasn’t changed, but there are always nerves on the first morning.”

Another consequence of coronavirus has forced Day’s nearest rival Kevin Mackrell to miss the 2020 event due to the ongoing border restrictions.

Day said it was a shame his fierce competitor will not be racing this weekend, but expects some new names to challenge.

“Unfortunately Kevin is not there this year and we have been separate from the rest of the field, so hopefully there are some other fast cars,” he said.

“Nick Streckeisen is a great driver and has his Nissan GTR well set up, so if he can string a run together I am sure he can be extremely fast.

“Kurt Wilson drives a similar car to us and has been fast over the last four years to be on the podium.

“There are definitely a few really good cars and drivers, so we will see what happens this weekend.”

Despite being the short-priced favourite to claim the honours, Day is aware of the challenges the fast 1.4km circuit presents and believes the record is within reach.

“The stand out of the event is the piece of road we get to drive on,” he said.

“From the start you have cold tyres and during the first three corners you are still trying to build tyre temp and are battling the car.

“We grab fifth gear and reach speeds of over 200kph up the hill before slowing down for the bus stop.

“The most challenging sequence is the last three corners because our car is a bit down in the low-rev range we have quite a big turbo in it, so I have to work on the last three corners.

“We will take each run as it comes and give it a good crack because we would love to reset the track record.”