BATHURST It looks as if anybody can enter the V8 Supercar Championships in Australia these days.

The race in round eight of the competition is called the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, a seemingly apt name, when it appeared that someone had decided to forego the usual financial outlay associated with motorsports and enter a kangaroo instead of a car.

The marsupial - top speed 30mp/h (50km/h) - caused mayhem when it appeared on the track at Bathurst in New South Wales.

At least ten speeding V8 cars swerved and braked to dodge it, including one which spun off the track as it clipped the animal. The kangaroo eventually bounded off, seemingly unharmed.

Colin Sieders, who finished eighth in the race for the Sieders Racing Team said: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The boys told me over the radio that there was a ’roo on the track. When we got there, everyone started braking and swerving. I was very lucky not to have a big accident.”