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  You wouldn't have said even five years ago that Craig and I would be driving at Bathurst together.

IN retirement, Mark Skaife is still winning races.

Fresh from a win at Phillip Island last month, the five-time V8 Supercar and Australian Touring Car champion is a hot tip for his seventh Bathurst title this weekend.

He retired from full-time touring racing in 2008 and has since been a commentator for Channel 7's broadcast, designer of race circuits, boss of the Car of the Future project and will become V8 Supercars Commission chairman from this month which means he has to give up racing for two years.

We put 10 questions to Skaife on the eve of the Great Race:

1. Is this your last Bathurst?

"Whilst I'm chairman of the commission I can't drive in V8 Supercars competitively, so I won't be able to do Bathurst next year. But things that I would be able to do is test some cars and still keep my hand in. It's important for me to stay current with these things. I don't want to rush to make a decision that this might be my last Bathurst because that's a pretty big thing to say. It's something I'll think very hard and very carefully about."

2. Are you able to keep up your race skills?

"I've been approached to do some other racing next year which wouldn't conflict with this at all. I can't say what just yet, but there are a couple of overseas opportunities plus some local stuff. I wouldn't mind doing that so long as it's not too taxing and it wouldn't take too much of my time. Clearly as an absolutely outright professional race driver those days are gone. What I'd like to do though is pick the eyes out of the events which suit and then I'll contemplate how that works."

3. You've raced extensively in Europe in the 1990s at Le Mans, the category under F1, French touring car championship rounds and the world cup for touring cars in Monza as well as events in Asia. What races would you still like to do?

"Some of the ones that still turn me on a bit are the premier ones; some of the really good quality international events like Le Mans and Nurburgring. I know Craig enjoyed the stuff he's been doing this year and under the right circumstances if it wasn't too time consuming I would like to have a look at those."

4. Would you partner with Lowndes in these events?

"You never say no do you? It's a weird world, motorsport. You wouldn't have said even five years ago that Craig and I would be driving at Bathurst together. So things are always a moving target in this game."

5. Are you still competitive?

"I've had more time in the car this year and I'm fitter. I've had my trainer with me for the last two-and-a-half months and we've worked rally hard. When I drove in Townsville in the co-drivers section I ended up second and at the last test day I was only a couple of 10ths of a second away from Craig. I also feel more at ease about it this year because I know the team now. I know everyone's names and Craig and I have a real camaraderie going."

6. Are you still firing on all cylinders about V8 Supercars admin?

"I'm really turned on by this sport and industry and as time goes by I've done more and more of those things in the sport like TV commentary, track design (he designed Sydney and Townsville and re-designed Gold Coast) and now the commission so there are a lot of the elements of the business I really enjoy."

7. What does the V8 commission do and will it improve the sport for fans and drivers?

"It deals with the regulatory side of the business, judiciary matters, rules, race formats and the nitty gritty of the sport. What people want is good, fair consistent decisions. The sport is always trying new things such as the two-race format at Ipswich which could be rolled out at other events. The format has excitement and theatre. It's essentially a bit of a rally concept in some ways with a service time in between two stages which I think has some novelty and uniqueness about it.

8. V8 Supercars has had the Australian Superbikes at several events this year. Will that continue?

"I love the 4x2 concepts. Over the years Australian motorsport culture has had a lot of synergy between bikes and cars, whether it's been Wayne Gardner finishing riding bikes and coming back and driving cars or it's been the same sort of fans. I go to Phillip island for the MotoGP. I love the event and I see the same people there who attend our car races. So there's a lot of crossover between the fans of those two motorsport arenas."

9. Who is the best V8 race driver, best team, best track, best event and best race engineer?
"Lowndesy is still the best all-round driver, but you would have to say Jamie Whincup is the benchmark in the sport at the moment. I've been lucky all my racing career to work with the best teams. Gibson Motor Sport was the best team in the '90s and Holden Racing Team was the best in the 2000s and it's good late in my career that I can join the best team (TeamVodafone) around now in pit lane. Bathurst is the best track, no doubt. Best event is either Clipsal (Adelaide) or Sydney. Lowndesy's race engineer, Jeromy Moore, (CORRECT!!!) is a really impressive young man. He's got a great future in this sport."

10. When will you hang up your boots finally?

"If you walk down pit lane there is not an average team or average driver in any of those cars. While I'm happy that I feel more prepared this year, I don't want to linger and sort of run past a time when I feel competent and competitive. Driving is something I have been really passionate about and love. It has been my life, so stepping away from it is difficult. But things change. Things don't go on forever. You are still better off to say I might call it quits while I'm going all right. I chose to do that with my full time career and I would rather do that after winning those races with Craig last year and doing the races this year. I'm not far from making a decision on whether I actually retire from V8 SC racing per se. I've been thinking about it quite a lo t and I went and had a couple of weeks holiday and I probably still have a couple of sessions with my wife (Toni) before I decide that totally. Because if I'm not in the car and not competitive I wouldn't want to do it and couldn't physically do it at a level that would make me happy."

MARK SKAIFE BIO:

Born: April 3, 1967 in Gosford
Racing: Started in karts in 1980s and moved to cars in 1984, joining then Australian Touring Car Championships in 1987. Retired from full-time racing in 2008.
Career: 5 touring car championships; 6 Bathurst wins; 218 races; 41 round wins; 85 podium finishes; 87 race wins; 41 pole positions
Awards: 2004 Medal of the Order of Australia