Skaife set to retire

The six-time Bathurst winner takes over as V8 Supercars Commission chairman for two years from October after he races with Craig Lowndes at Mt Panorama.

"Whilst I'm chairman of the commission I can't drive in V8 Supercars competitively," he says, stressing the last word and gesturing enthusiastically with his hands.

"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'm going to drive the Car of the Year (the 2013 V8 Supercar) not this test, but the one after."

Racing is also still on the cards for the six-time winner of the top touring car category in Australia.

"I've also been approached to do some other racing next year which wouldn't conflict with this at all," he says. "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."

Skaife stunned the V8 Supercar world when he announced his retirement from full-time racing on October 29, 2008. But like John Farnham, he has been attracted back for more.

First it was an unsuccessful tilt at Bathurst with veteran colleague Greg Murphy in 2009, then it was a classic reuniting with his old Holden Racing Team partner Craig Lowndes for last year's Bathurst where they held the trophy aloft at the end of the day.

Even Lowndes thinks that at the age of 46 Skaife could be too old and rusty to return even to part-time racing in 2014. "Clearly as an absolutely outright professional race driver those days are gone," Skaife admits.

"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. "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 lot 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."

But even if he hands in the keys to the V8 Supercar, there are overseas racing possibilities on the horizon for Skaife who 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.

"Some of the ones that still turn me on 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," he says.

When it comes to partnering Lowndes in these events, he replies, "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."

Skaife is confident he is still competitive. In fact, he says he is far better prepared for the endurance rounds at Phillip Island and Bathurst than he was this time last year after having driven the TeamVodafone 888 car at first practice sessions at most venues this year including yesterday's first two practices at Queensland Raceway.

"I've had more time in the car this year and I'm fitter," he says. "I've had my trainer with me for the last two-and-a-half months and we've worked rally hard and will work harder the next couple of months leading into that race (Bathurst).

"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.

"I've been lucky all my racing career to work with the best. 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 around now in pit lane."

But Skaife is under no illusion that V8 Supercars is a tough sport. "If you walk down pit lane there is not an average team or average driver in any of those cars," he says. "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."

Skaife has just stepped out of a four-hour commission meeting but is still firing on all cylinders and keen to talk about his new role in the sport he loves.

"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."

The commission deals with the regulatory side of the business, judiciary matters, rules, race formats and the nitty gritty of the sport. Skaife says it will improve the sport for fans and drivers, alike, providing more consistency with penalties and rulings.

"What people want is good fair consistent decisions," he says. Skaife also points out that the sport is always trying new things such as the two-race format for today (SATURDAY) which, if successful, could be rolled out at other events.

"From an event billing standpoint I can confidently sit here and say the V8 Supercar race that we will put on this weekend is as good if not the best quality sedan car racing in the world," he says.

"The new format on the Saturday will have 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. In addition I love the 4x2 concepts," he says, referring to the round of the Australian Superbikes being run at the Ipswich event this weekend.

"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."

Although Skaife seems just as passionate about his administrative roles, his attention keeps going back to racing at a time when he is staring down the barrel of retirement.

"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.

"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."

MARK SKAIFE'S BEST
Best driver: Craig Lowndes. "He's the best all-round driver, but you would have to say Jamie Whincup is the benchmark in the sport at the moment."
Best team: TeamVodafone.
Best track: Bathurst. "No doubt."
Best event: "Either Clipsal (Adelaide) or Sydney."
Best engineer: Craig Lowndes's race engineer, Jeromy Moore. "He's a really impressive young man. He's got a great future in this sport.
Best young racer: Daniel Ricciardo who won the British Formula 3 Championship in 2009.

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