It means the leader doesn’t just give orders—they show the team what “good” looks like by how they work and how they act. The goal is to set a standard everyone can follow.
They’re talking about how a team can be doing the right things even if you don’t see a trophy. Sometimes the best work is the behind-the-scenes kind that doesn’t always get noticed.
An escape road is a safety area on a race track you can drive onto if something goes wrong. It helps you avoid a crash, but it usually costs you a lot of time.
A lap car is a car that’s not on the same lap as the leaders. If you have to deal with it at the wrong time, it can mess up your pace and make it harder to fight for position.
Here, “ownership” means being responsible for the team, not just the driving. It includes financial and people-management pressure that can be stressful even when you’re not on track.
Tom Walkinshaw was a major racing team boss. The speaker is saying he and Walkinshaw agreed on how to make cars faster, but the business side of the team didn’t go well.
Craig Kelly is mentioned as a person who helped the speaker for a few years. In 2008, that support wasn’t there, and the speaker says the stress and conflict got worse.
Place
Clipsill
Clipsill is the race track where they were practicing. Different tracks make cars behave differently, so using one session there as a “yardstick” makes sense.
Power steering helps you turn the wheel with less effort. In this story, it sounds like the system started acting up so the car didn’t respond normally to steering inputs.
A torsion bar is a type of suspension spring that flexes by twisting. He’s suggesting the problem might have been connected to how the car’s suspension was behaving under load.
Tom Wilkinshaw was a well-known motorsport team leader in Australia. Here, the host is talking about the team/business group around him and how that kind of off-track involvement can affect a racing career.
John Cranon is a person Skaife says he stayed in contact with. Skaife also describes him as someone who could help make decisions fairly—while noting Cranon had another big job at the same time.
An “arbiter” is like a referee or neutral judge who helps decide what happens when people disagree. Skaife is saying he would have used John Cranon to make calls more fairly and reduce confusion.
“Semi-separate” means the plan felt like two things that weren’t fully connected. Skaife is saying he thinks it would have worked better if the partnership felt more unified.
A services agreement is a contract that says who has to do what work for whom. In racing, it can lock you into using a specific team or setup, so you can’t just switch to another workshop if you want to.
General Motors is a big car company that owned multiple brands. Here, it’s relevant because Skaife believes his ties to GM affected whether Ford wanted to work with him.
Rothmans was a sponsor brand that backed racing. Here, the host is saying that sponsorship links helped create connections that made a Ford move more likely.
Fred Gibson is a person mentioned as pushing for a switch toward Ford. In the story, his connections and relationships influenced the direction the team considered.
Rob McInerney is a person Skaife met during the Holden discussions. He’s described as a top sales/marketing executive, and the conversation suggests that business leadership mattered as much as the racing side.
Ross McKenzie is one of the people Skaife says he met at Holden. The segment implies he was part of the leadership team involved in the business side of racing.
John Stephenson is another person Skaife lists as being in the meeting with Holden. The context suggests he was involved in the decision-making group.
Person
John Lindell
John Lindell is the last person Skaife mentions as being at the Holden meeting. He’s presented as part of the executive group behind the racing discussions.
Homologation is the paperwork-and-testing process that makes a race car legal under the rules. It usually means the car has to be based on an approved production design, and the homologation work can influence what the team is allowed to race with.
TWR is a racing company that helps teams with engineering and race program work. In this story, they’re brought in to handle the “homologation” side—making sure the car is approved to race under the rules.
It means being behind and having to play catch-up. He’s saying they didn’t want to start the season late compared to teams already testing and getting ready.
This describes motorsport marketing where teams and manufacturers use publicity to outshine each other off the track. In touring-car eras, that kind of PR competition often fed directly into merchandise sales, media coverage, and fan engagement.
The Holden Commodore is a popular Australian car made by Holden. In racing, it was one of the main cars people watched and argued about, especially during the big touring-car years.
The Ford Falcon is a well-known Australian car made by Ford. During those racing years, it was one of the key rival cars against Holden models like the Commodore.
In motorsport, “poached” refers to recruiting a driver from a rival team/manufacturer, usually with a better deal or opportunity. It’s a big deal because driver moves can shift competitive momentum and also become major headline news.
Craig Lowndes is a prominent Australian touring-car driver whose career included major manufacturer-team moves. The transcript frames his “poaching” as a headline-level event, highlighting how influential top drivers were in the Holden vs Ford era.
Person
Jeff Pilates
Jeff Pilates is referenced as a key figure in the Holden-to-Ford driver move described in the segment. The mention is about motorsport leadership and recruitment rather than a technical racing detail.
In racing, "podium" refers to finishing in the top three positions (typically first, second, and third). Skaife says he was still on the podium, but felt his driving—and possibly the car—wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Clipsell is the race track where he says things went better the next day. Different tracks reward different driving habits, so it’s a big part of why his performance changed.
A press conference is where drivers talk to journalists after practice or qualifying or a race. Skaife treats it like an important moment to respond to rivals and set the story for what happened.
To "homologate" a race car means the governing body officially approves it for competition. They check that it matches the rules and is based on an allowed production car.
LIVE
The Winton Festival of Speed is back for 2026 with new dates, new events and new cars.
Over 500 racing display cars will gather across three big days as racing history takes set
a stage.
The legendary heritage touring cars are back.
There's touring car legends, touring car tributes, classic sports cars, Formula 4 historic
touring cars and the Fitzy Cup for Porsches in honour of Peter Fitzgerald.
It's an event for fans of all ages.
Get your tickets at the gate or online now via Humanityx.
Kids under 17 free, single day passes from $30, two day passes from $50 and camping's
also available.
And if you can't make a trackside, catch the two day live streaming coverage on Blendline
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Pencil it into the diary, July 24 to 26 for the Winton Festival of Speed.
I think the thing that we could do without much drama at all is to bring back a modern
version of V8 Superstars and I think the smart way of doing it is to be regional.
Great to have you all along.
This is part two of my chat with Mark Scaife, the V8Slooth podcast powered by Parameter
Toyota, Sydney's Toyota dealer with a passion for performance and motorsport.
Now in this second half we're going to keep the big topics flowing along, specifically
when Mark knew that he was done as a full-time V8 Supercar driver and some other really deep
interesting observations about his latter years with the Holden Racing team.
But this part begins with a tough story from 30 plus years ago when he was able to make
a difference to help a father and his son when they were in real need.
Let's pick up the chat on the V8Slooth podcast powered by Parameter Toyota.
Something I want to ask you about, I don't know if you've talked about this in March,
but it's been written about in 678 years ago where it sort of came out.
So there was an accident, I think you were with the Nissan team at the time, heading
up to Winton or coming home from Winton or a test or a race meeting, that you come across
a car like off the road somewhere.
And there was a story in the news limited press, I think it was about 2019, some 30-odd
years on.
I know this is a little bit of a difficult one, but it has been out there publicly and
I was just keen to ask you a bit further about it, but you come across like this car crashed
and you eventually, the short story, the version of the story, you're reunited with the guy
and his son who were in this car crash that was really, really serious.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, it's an awkward one and I'm more could ask you, but I would only ask about it because
it is out there publicly a little bit now, but wow, I mean, that's a huge, that was really hard.
And I wanted to ask you about it too, because I think you get demonised by people online
and at the end of the day, we all have our faults and our things that we are, that we
know we are, but I think you get quite unfairly dealt with on socially.
It's a balance story that everyone has a bit of a view and opinion and they're entitled to it,
but I think sometimes that they need a bit of balance to some of these things and a bit
of perspective on life.
Yeah, and look, there's a really good point, Nins, because I've never, through my life,
tried to be a bad person or to get people offside.
If I have, trying to win a race, then so be it.
And probably if you think about the Ford and Holden rivalry, 50% of the fans are probably
always going to be a bit of skew, just how it is.
Yeah, on that day, that was a really big crash and those sorts of things,
and I'm sure other people have had very similar circumstances where you see something and you
go, well, I should help here.
And I've actually done that a few times where you see something that's really bad and there's
been a crash and you assist and I was so wrapped that the people that were involved were able to
come and see me afterwards and many years on and see what could have been a really tragic tale
could have helped in some way, which was really nice.
And I think those things, they're really personal.
I would like to think and it was a little bit like Glen Seaton.
So we were testing at Phillip Island and the Glen Seaton crash happened when we were there
and I was the first one there and I drove up and he's one of my closest mates.
This is his big test in crash in 2000.
Yeah, like a monster crash.
Coming onto the Strait at Phillip Island in the fence hard and he was so knocked out when I got
there and a few of us had to grab him and put him on the ground and he was just completely
incoherent and I was just massively worried about him because you've grown up together
and you're such great mates, you just don't want to see that stuff.
Doesn't matter whether they're a competitor or they're in a different car or your own car,
whatever it is.
Anyway, it was sort of similar in some ways to the feeling around it.
I actually, I didn't want to drive for the rest of the day.
I didn't drive the rest of the day after the Glen crash.
Yeah, it just really knocked me around.
So this was like going back to the other incident.
So this was like you were with your team, I think, were you heading up to Winton?
So I'm presuming I'll hear him somewhere.
Yeah, it's back way and yeah, so we ended up, you know, arrowing off the road and going,
helping these guys and yeah, again, I mean, I find it really awkward because you never know
in those sort of circumstances, well, you're not, you're not sort of trained,
medical or whatever.
No, it's not a normal situation to come across.
And you don't, you also don't want in any way to do something that might be integral to
them having worse damage or something.
Yeah, moving something that might have an x-interview or whatever it might be.
So you just have to be so sensible and so practical when those things happen.
But anyway, it's one of those, as I said, I'm really, really pleased that it turned out okay.
It worked out all right.
The little fella who was three at the time, it's 30 odd now, it's probably 40 odd now.
He and his dad came and saw you at the get a race sometime later on down the line and
he's been through a lot.
It was beautiful.
It worked out all right.
It worked out all right.
Just those little moments where you can make a difference in all the car racing and whether
people are a fan or not a fan, all that stuff doesn't matter when there's a situation like
that. So I think it's important to sort of offset a lot of that stuff.
Talk to you about leadership.
You've been in a lot of leadership roles with owning a race team, being a lead driver,
race team, business and motorsport and all the roles that you've had.
What's good leadership?
What does it look like?
Instead of a D&M question, really, but what is good leadership?
Because you know, you can, you see other sports, you see coaches, you see leaves of business.
What do you see as good leadership?
I'm not talking politically here.
I'm just talking about good leadership.
Yeah. So I think, and it's an excellent question because I think about it a lot and I look,
especially at other sports and I try to compare how we go about those things.
Because what I've found really interesting my whole life is how motorsport as a sporting
discipline correlates with other sports and leadership is a massive part of that and the
correlation because you know, you see a Wayne Banner or a Craig Bellamy or an Ivan Cleary or
you go and have a look at Chris Scott at Geelong. Originally one of the guys that I loved the most
was Bob Fulton who was my childhood hero as a rugby league player. He was arguably the best
rugby league player in the world in the mid-70s and went on to coach and well he played for Australia
but he coached Australia. And I learned a lot from watching that stuff and to try to answer your
point without making these correlations to detail is that it's the standards that you live by and
you prevail. So you want to set yourself apart by demanding the best from everybody and I've
always thought that part of the really good leadership is you have to be demanding, you have
to set standards and want for everybody to be on the same trail and when they are the people
actually really enjoy it. The people are on the bus with you on a trajectory to achieve the very
best outcomes and when you're leading that there's not much better in sport or business to be able to
go hey I can tell these guys and girls they are with me here. They know what we are demanding of
them is high, it's filled with pressure, extremes, you know they're extremes when you
think about getting the best from everyone at a Bathurst weekend. But when you do the rewards are
so cool and the methodology around achieving that is mostly about listening to those people and
ensuring that they are on the journey with you and I've always found that to be a really
you know sort of key part of getting the best from the team at the time. Is leading by example
part of that year set the tone, set the direction, set what's the expectation levels come along with
me here? Totally, I mean if you went back I think and I've said openly a lot of times I was really
lucky because I drove for arguably the three best teams of their generations whether it was Gibson's
with HRT or at the end for for Triple 8. Especially in the Gibson era and in the HRT era if you went
back and spoke to the people that were really symbolic and really influential in getting a
result at those organisations. I think other than me being a cranky prick and wanting to win so
intensely and probably demanding so much from them but they would say
man we're on the ride. So you go and see Richard Holway or Robbie Starr or Dose Fenson at HRT and
go hey what about those days nearly 2000s? Because we wanted to win so badly but we
did it in a clever, properly sculptured, architectural way that meant that you got the
best from everyone week in week out and that's bloody hard, bloody hard.
When's the time that you've led well? I mean it's easy to say you've led well because you won races
when the team won or the the the championships were won or Bathurst was won but sometimes you
probably lead well and we don't remember it or we don't see it because there's not a result that's
connected to it because generally we connect the result to oh well you must have led well and that
was all great because look there's the trophy to prove it. Was there a time where we might not
think that you would think that oh no I did really well there we just didn't have a result or a trophy
to probably show for it but in myself and in my team people that were
in my circle no no I actually did that right that day but or at that period or whatever it might be
but history doesn't really you know document it per se. Interesting because 93 comes to mind
because I was pretty much running the business at Fred's then when we changed from Nissen to Holden
and that race we had at Bathurst, Richo and I against Larry and Greg Hansford of that day
was was a epic race and leading that change from Nissen into Holden and working so hard you know
you can't believe the amount of hours that I was there knows you know first in the morning
last leave all that stuff right and and the demand on getting you know to be basically one of the
lead Holden's by the end of that first season was just extraordinary and and I remember Jim
and Richard said to all the staff in the staff meeting at the end of 1993 because Jim got caught
right at the end he had to go down the escape road with a lap car which basically stopped us from
winning not that we would have won but we were a better choice but we were a big chance to beat
Larry that day and Richo said that day that not only were all the workload and was praising everybody
from the transfer of Nissen into Holden but he said to everyone that that's the best Bathurst
drive he'd ever seen was was my drive that day and you know that was pretty high praise from
Bloodlight Richard um and then I sort of think about when I bought HRT in
2000 or the end of 2002 to go into 03 and the demand around that and having you know having
mechanics and mechanics wives ringing and calling and saying you know we've got we've got mortgages
and we've got all these things what's going to happen to this and we've got if we've got a job
you know all those things I mean it was it was such a fragile stressful period and to lead that into
into the ownership thing in 03 was was was massive so that was probably my best
overall leadership to get that done and to be able to get that into a new phase and the worst is
probably 08 when I mean again Tom Walkinshaw and I never had one single argument about a car race
or a car because we were completely aligned on how to make race cars go fast and what we needed
to do to make the team go well um he had some people involved that were were advising him on
financial things and the way that the structure of all that worked in the time and it was disastrous so
I mean I probably shouldn't have even been driving really in 2008 as much agro as there was in the
background so that wasn't good leadership by the end because um I I had Craig Kelly there for a
few years prior to that to help me um Craig wasn't there in 08 essentially and um and the amount
of agro that I had in the background was just extraordinary and and I I felt I felt the demands
of being a race car driver and owner in a way that it it kept me awake every night and it was
terrible yeah because of the when when you leave people you mentioned before you know people their
jobs their lives their mortgages their kids their families are riding on having a job in a race team
you're trying to be a race driver getting trophies and results yet there's plenty going on behind the
scenes in business land as well it's a juggle that you know Superman can't juggle all that stuff
like something's got to give somewhere sometime somehow and clearly the driving part of it you
can't keep all the the graphs up something's got to drop well but even simple stuff I mean
Mia was born in March 06 and then Tilly in October 07 so even just back at home you know you had two
little girls um uh you know in that time um you know Mitch was 13 and um you know he was sort of
going into high school and so I was driving to Mornington most mornings you know doing all the
stuff for him and and back at home you know Tony uh and I were you know doing the stuff with the
with the girls and and then each day you go to work and it was a nightmare so you know a lot of
those personal things that they just they they actually the accumulation of all that stuff ends
up being the roadmap to to unhappiness yeah to stuff that's not good from a lot of people who've
stopped you know like you love driving cars fast you said it an hour ago when we were talking
you still do but it's all the you know so many drivers get to the point where they
they stop it's the other stuff it's the travel it's the politics it's all the other things the actual
drive in the race car fast still good but it's so clouded by all the other stuff totally it just
takes the the purity and the the stuff that you know I I've said it so many times through my life
I I nothing is better than going and driving the car and the second part is nothing is better
than competing against the very best blocks when they're also driving the car so I that level of
competition is is something that you know really was probably the thing that that continued to
push me and the thing that I really enjoy the most so so when you when you've got that purity
and you you love something so much and you just for all of the reasons in the periphery for every
single other reason that you don't enjoy it you're not doing it as well as you should you know that
you're underdone you know that you're not as prepared I mean no wait I I wasn't when I turned 50
and Wynton did that 12 hour race I was fitter then than when I was 40 right because I could just
concentrate on being I'm being fit and just come along with my helmet and drive the car yeah so so
all of the stuff that that is is necessary to get the best from yourself and to actually really
enjoy it it's like it was just like this mad snowball of drama
the Wynton Festival of Speed is back for 2026 with new dates new events and new cars over 500
racing display cars will gather across three big days as racing history takes set a stage
the legendary heritage touring cars are back there's touring car legends touring car tributes
classic sports cars formula for historic touring cars and the fitsy cup for porches in honor of
Peter Fitzgerald it's an event for fans of all ages get your tickets at the gate or online now via
Humanityx kids under 17 free single day passes from $30 two day passes from 50 bucks and campings
also available and if you can't make a trackside catch the two-day live streaming coverage on
blendline tv via youtube pencil it into the diary July 24 to 26 for the Wynton Festival of Speed
was there a particular moment in that 08 where finally that snowball gets to the point where
this snowball is not worth it this is all too is there a defining moment
probably away from the track out the track that makes you go
this is it this is just all too much yeah there were there were two the two rural standouts the
first one was away at at Clipsill so I always used to use the first session of the Clipsill 500
as my marker of how I was driving or how I was comparing to everyone else because we always
got new tyres for the start of that so the first practice session always fresh tyres everyone so
all the work that might have been done in the off season all the things no bullshit we all blaze
out on fresh tyres and how fast are you and on that day the first practice session four of us
were within like 0.03 or 0.04 of a second right and and I was either third or fourth and I and I
thought oh I could feel like I'm driving okay when we got into the races we had these power steering
issues that were for whatever reason just went through a phase of power steering issues
and the power steering it was actually steering itself so you drive along a straight line
and the torsion bar or whatever that was happening with pressuring the torsion bar across the
offices of the of the main the main area of the power steer that we used to tweak
scape is doing like driving the steering things to the point where the microphones disappeared
from his mouth sorry I'm trying to explain stuff I'm trying to explain stuff anyway
the car would would move around in a straight line it was actually but not even doing anything
but not even tracking straight and I remember in the race I said to the guys I'm gonna have to
come in I'm gonna have to have a look at this and it was one of those ones where I just went
oh what am I doing this for I've been working my bum off I've got all these other dramas going
and now I can't even make this thing steer properly and it's going to fire them in the fence
right so it that was that was the first sort of marker where I went no I'm not enjoying this
later in the year by the time we got to Bathurst I I crashed wink up and I were battling for the
lead and I come into the braking area for forest silver locked the right in front
speared over the hill going too fast locked the left hand front and ended up making contact with
the wall on the right hand side and and I sort of just resigned myself to the to the thing that I
just I just don't want to do this anymore at the moment I just I just that wasn't a mistake that I
would normally make it was a it was like an unforced error of the day and it really it was
sort of evidence that I I I wasn't able to compete at a level that I that I enjoyed or I
or I thought that I could sustain and and that was sort of the reason that then I
announced my retirement before the Goldcast. Having that level of I guess it's a you talked
about before when you were injured after that Deaster Creek shut shutters up don't want to
admit any anything nothing give no one anything no weakness no vulnerability no possibilities
nothing but appreciate that you're able to now take a little bit of a step back and and pull
some of the shutters down a little bit and and process a little bit of that and share it with
us it's really appreciated but having the honesty to be honest with yourself something you've always
sort of talked about a bit so what could you have done differently now that you look back at that
period you know you had Craig Kelly in there for a time running the business the team you're
trying to drive the car you're trying to find the money you're trying to deal with the politics you've
got the Tom Wilkinshaw entity and his people involved and there's all sorts of stuff that make
it into the press at times that comes at bad opportunities what could you have done differently
when you go back over that that might have might have got you driving for a little bit longer or
got another year out of you another two because you go and do that deal to take on that team
and take on that huge responsibility I mean it's a big enough responsibility driving for the whole
generation team later on also owning it and running it when you look back on it and there's
plenty of time now since that's all happened is there anything that you look back and go
should have done that could would therefore driven longer
maybe turned out differently or better what could you pinpoint that maybe if you had your time over
you'd do again how long you got part two yeah I reckon it is part two I mean there's just a
wave of things that I probably could have or should have done differently and probably
the first one is to have left Craig in there being CEO for longer and probably secondly to have
to have really harnessed
the time involvement in a way that was sort of more sophisticated and better planned out you
know he was on the other side of the world he was getting his businesses going again
John Cranon and I obviously remained you know in very close contact the whole time of that but John
was also in a difficult spot at the same time because he was still head of HSV and that was
that was a really big part of Tom's empire building his businesses back so I probably needed to if
you just sort of set a couple of major rules would have been left net in there for longer
maybe use John Cranon more to be the arbiter and then have
done some sort of deal with Tom to well he offered to buy 40% of the business in
2005 and I didn't say no but I but I didn't say yes and looking back I probably would have been
smarter to have just basically put the welcome welcome back Matt out at the front door and
sort of said hey why don't we do this together rather than it feeling like it was semi-separate
and and in a way what people didn't understand is that
the services agreement so I had a sponsorship agreement with Holden and I had a services agreement
with Holden Motorsport when Tom went from managing Holden Motorsport to owning Holden Motorsport
I had no option I was contracted to use Holden Motorsport which became a welcome show performance
group or whatever totally totally so I couldn't if I didn't like what they were doing I couldn't
go to I didn't have a deal and I and I couldn't go to Larry Perkins and say hey Larry can you
prepare the cars for me so so it was a really difficult and complex structure and it was a
lots of reasons and as I said if you if you've got another two hours I'll take this one we'll come
back for another chat another time yeah you you are so strongly identified with Holden because
of the the era that you drove there HRT and of course Nissan prior to that was there ever a time
I can't imagine that there was but was there ever a time that someone from the blue side of the fence
said hey how about it we've got a deeper we'd like to do this we can see that was there ever a
time that they're in a position because they threw some money they threw a lot of money around it
a lot of guys teams lounge angle all sorts did Ford ever come knocking for you no no
they didn't no they didn't um I think a lot of that was just because of my stance with General
Motors I mean remembering that when we finished with Nissan we were close to going to Ford because
of the Rothmans connection so of the day Fred Gibson wanted to go to Ford and Rothmans company
Carfleet was a couple of thousand cars were all with Ford yeah so it made a lot he has a Ford history
and had a Ford factory driver and he had great relationships still with Ford so so he was definitely
on the Ford bandwagon and I and I sort of convinced him to to not and which we ended up in in
GM in Holdenland um what what what swung the vote what what convinced so in cash we had no it wasn't
we basically the money part of it was probably worse going with Holden than it was with Ford
there weren't many Ford teams it was Glen's and Dick's and that was it exactly and when we met
with Holden um Rob McInerney who I loved it was just a sensational bloke um he was the executive
director of sales marketing um Ross McKenzie John Stephenson I think John Lindell was also there
but we had a big board meeting discussion Fred was doing the you know pros and cons
uh we had another sponsorship bloke with us and I basically sat in the room didn't say anything
and this big imposing guy Rob McInerney looks across at me at the end and he says so
you haven't said anything in this meeting Mark what do you want to do and I said Rob it's really
simple I just want to win the races and he laughed and he said well I think we can help you with that
right which meant it was money so I walked out and said Fred I really like that bloke um and we
and we spoke about it a lot and the next part of the puzzle was who's doing the amologation
and it was TWR and I sort of sold the concept of TWR doing a better job than what Glen and Dick
because they were all out there already testing I said we're going to be behind the eight ball behind
those guys that are already running their cars um I think it's smart if we go with TWR and we know
that these holding blocks are you know they like us and all that stuff so that's that's how we went
there and and I'll always remember so my first win I got this amazing big big um it was from
Lakeside and uh it was it was my car firing under the bridge down in the hungry at Lakeside
wheel yeah wheel up in the air that's the era and um and that was the first win um and Rob McIneri
got that framed sent it to me Mark I just want to win the races um and uh and that was the start
of it just an unbelievable relationship because remember in 1994 when I won the championship
for them they hadn't won since Peter Brock in 1980 yeah so 14 years been a while of not
of not doing that so yeah so no I I never other than that time where it was really very precarious
as in Ford or or or Holden um I never I never uh had a another offer from Ford and it's
funny because a lot of the time I got on really well with a lot of the Ford heavies of the day um
and and I really respected you know how they ran stuff and what they did because you know I always
used to look at the industry and look at what they were doing and and a lot of the competition
that was happening off the track you know about how Holden and Ford were trying to beat each other
off the track just just like they were on the track so there was a lot of there was a lot of
really good memories from you know just the level the level of car company intervention
which you were part of obviously you know in your in your Holden PR days just thinking about
how hard they worked off the track to get to get a game literally it was war
totally like we'd win a race we'd have a full page ad the next day you know all those things yeah
the uh the famous headline posters which people got a bit over them after a while but now that
they've been gone for a long time people like oh actually that was yes because the manufacturers
were so heavily involved totally not just in the promotions and that but you know the PR teams
are trying to one up one another yeah you guys on the track are trying to beat one another yeah
there's huge sales of Commodals and Falcons on the line at the time there's
punters buying merch left right and center I mean HRT's merch you know it was huge I mean I still
see people in red jackets and oh yeah that's 2001 well you know totally like you still see it around
it's totally it's crazy but it was and you know they were moving pawns across you know you know
Holden did it with you know all right that guy's unhappy at that team he's unhappy all right well
let's help facilitate a swap let's get you know team in the air or if wants to go there or you
know I don't think people these days quite understand because it's not like that anymore no it was a
huge part of that early mid late late 90s into the mid 2000s late 2000s that was that was huge
well you think about it I mean Craig Lowndes being poached by Jeff Pilates and Fred Gibson and Co
to go from Holden to Ford like that was just massive huge front page of every paper yeah
and it was sort of it was it was probably since Colin Bond moved across it was probably the biggest
motorsport news thing that you'd ever seen yeah and and Pilates it's not 60 minutes I got to that
point you know totally exactly 60 minutes you at the time you're transcending aren't you for sure
and his mainstream and I remember Pilates I really liked him because you know in the end he was a
he was a sales bloke he used to be the salesman or the head of City Ford and you know he got drafted
in to to be the head of head of Ford and he was a remarkable man really loved his sport he was
really heavily into the swamps yeah was it yeah yeah yeah but he I remember really clearly
in 2003 I didn't drive very well on the Saturday and we were at the press conference and Pilates
was up the back where was this this is at Clipsell all right yeah and I I was really unhappy with the
way I drive and you know I was obviously still on the podium but I just knew that I didn't drive that
well and we probably didn't have the car that was that great either anyway um he knew that I was I
was on the podium but I was fairly aggrieved it was pretty easy to spot when you were and he
he shook heads with me on the way out and I said to him I said it'll be different tomorrow
and the next day was one of my best drives at at Clipsell and and fortunately we won and he'd come
up to me afterwards and you know weird because you know the level of of of combat between Ford
and Holden those days and the rivalry was just extraordinary and and but he actually came up
pretty zoned around me gave him like half a man hugging said well done good drive
because he just knew that I'd put that much effort in after being disgruntled on the
Saturday to to come out and and win on the Sunday and he just he was just a real hardcore competitor
and I really I really like the way he went about it I used to love those 2000s in those press
conferences before the days of social media and YouTube and you know it's so fragmented now but
the press conference after a Friday practice or a Saturday qualifying or if we started to have a
Saturday race or the Sunday races whoever the top three of the period were whether it was you, Marcus,
Russell, Murph, Richo, Radicits, Cerdo, Lounds, yeah a list of cast of possibilities of thousands
that you know so many Hall of Famers or Louis Hall of Famers or Bathurst winners or champions or
whatever I reckon you all took I'm interested in your thought on this the press conference was a
great opportunity to steer what you wanted whether you had a shot to fire at another driver
a political point to make about parody or homologate whatever the technique or you all
were smart enough and wised up enough that there was a chance with the platform and look at those
days the media pack was bigger following the circus but I loved the the theater of those press
conferences and rotto and when I watched I love watching you in these because if your knees started
tapping and going up and down that meant whoever was saying whatever they were saying you were
disagreeing with and then you'd get in what you could see you ready to respond and ready to fire
I reckon some of those press conferences would make the best TV that they were broadcast back in
the day I think the big pond days they started to cover a bit of that stuff but they were epic but
do you remember taking those as opportunities as platforms to
you know get an narrative going have a go at someone have a say on something because
I reckon there's still that opportunity that the current blokes this is not a criticism it was just
the way the world might not look at them the same way because of the way that it's all been
fragmented now there's an opportunity pretty much here they're in everywhere to say whatever they
want to say about whatever it is. I could not agree more I used to love
I used to love them and they were wild like we had some really wild wild exchanges there were lots
of funny ones too but they were really wild and they were there the journals were great
journals of the day and that made it better too you know it looks like Pete Cogoy from the Australian
or Michael Lynch from the age right I mean they they were serious proper journals that were reporting
for the biggest papers and and it was it was on so there were times when we were selling something
you know in Holdenland that might have been topic of the day whatever the topic de jure was
but there were times where you used it as a as a little bait to advantage whatever you were doing
or to give someone like a whack for whatever he was doing or I mean they were great they were
absolutely fantastic. Barry Oliver who used to be the series commentator for so many years you
know as well very very proper very structured very ordered and then when you blokes would go off on
tangents or have your little say on something you oh I have to get out of this yeah exactly and I'd
see him he's got bright red he had the RSL suntan going because he was he was not good he RSL said
and he didn't he didn't like it when we'd go off crap yeah it's like this is not part of what we
were expecting exactly but but but again I think it's about the characters too and I think you
know if we're bringing robust and we're actually just being factual a lot of the character stuff
so I would like to see the things that come out on podcasts these days you know when drivers are
doing their own podcasts and all these things I don't know why they wouldn't say similar things
in a press conference to a greater platform to a to a greater platform but to actually to actually
advantage their cause because you can give up like a clip which is going to be on all of the
papers for the next day and he can say well he's done the wrong thing he's hit me again and don't
worry there'll be a square up with this one or whatever it is right doesn't matter what the topic
is there's a thousand ways of of all that being the gamesmanship and that's what we did so you
think about I mean we didn't used to get on I mean Greg Murphy I didn't get on with Murphy I never
got on with Tanner I never get on I didn't get on with anyone right they're all rivals they were
trying to take you that slot they were all what we were weekend week out desperately trying to beat
each other yeah and but they still are and I still that's I still are but you but they don't take the
same advantage of what those are they're free kicks so if you can give up like a
whack or you you can say a little drive by the way through or a little message to the opposition
because of X who was your favorite to give a drive by because you knew it was going to land
you knew you would get a rise well you knew you'd get a bit of a take well it was sort of a bit
of a combination because remember we had the superstars shows you beat them where I was going
next to yeah because channel tended a great job of of there at superstars was that just a simple
formula of get you all in a room feed your five beers and let you loose yep pretty much well
VB of the day and it was really easy to get us to get off the bike
and and guys like Nerf were great Rosalinda was great I mean Brad Jones would start to give us a
lesson on aerodynamics or something so we'd have to pull him up you know I mean it was it was a
really good way of bringing the characters out but what actually ended up happening was that
that that sort of rapport energy animosity sometimes that would come out
in the press conference too so so it it built if you if you just went and had a look at the field
and you looked at those say top 15 guys they they all had a pretty good score sheet meaning
they were very well credentialed racing drivers but they actually had enough personality and enough
now to know that whatever we drove on those weekends and whatever happened as a consequence
of the storyline and the narrative of that weekend it made it to the papers it you spoke
at the start of this about the cycle and the cadence and all the things we did a really good job
we didn't have to make it up because it was real it was it was authentic yeah it was it
has to be that big it's got make it up and the punters are too savvy for that yeah yeah that
that doesn't work yeah it doesn't work you can take threads even that's starting to stretch it
literally but there needs to be an element of authenticity and a organic DNA to the whole
thing to begin with for it to be able to be built upon but for sure I take the current
driver's point though that it is a very different world now that people you know if if someone back
in the day really didn't like what you said or did on the racetrack they had to go to an effort
to tell you they had to write a letter to Gibson's or HRT or whoever the team is of the day
there wasn't that direct connection to you to your phone because you wouldn't have had a
phone that did these things back in the day where they can get to you we like literally send you
what they think straight away which so it's a different world now but I'm sort of discussed
this on our undercut show a little while back that uh where were we New Zealand Brody Koseki
didn't give much in the aftermath of the Chas Moster thing and I remember thinking well just
going to use podcast next week because I reckon that's where I'm going to get it so there's there's
going to have to be a little bit of a I understand that there's a want to hold some of that for your
own platform and program totally no problem but there's got to be a bit of give on you know the
bigger platform on the broadcast because at some point the zone will go hang on a minute the panel
is money for these blokes to not say stuff on the broadcasts and it's we've got to wait three days
to hear it somewhere else so there's just a little bit of a you know not a complete 180
but just to move the graph a little bit so as everything's catered for in a a bit of a better
way but no doubt and I think it's incumbent on the sport and and the sporting people that the
storyline is based around to provide that for the host broadcaster essentially right because
they're paying the money well they're the biggest stakeholder they paid the money
they deserve to be able to get the news whatever's news worthy should be that and and and see I
think what actually happens with with that is that shouldn't inhibit or affect the commentary for
instance off the back of what the press conference was and what that incident
might have been so then all those comments come out you capture that that builds all the things
that we just spoke of which is like yesteryear but then more insightful stuff can come out of the
podcast so you can actually say in the podcast later on well the reason I was so aggrieved is
because of this this and this if you went back to tassie two years ago he hit me because of that and
we've never really got on that well and he fed me a wheel or whatever it was or you know I don't
like the way he's gone about that racing or whatever the thing is right whatever the topic is
you I think there's ways of expanding on stuff but it should not inhibit the storyline or the
narrative of the particular weekend yeah there's more to build off it you could go deeper you can
go further you can go wider yeah in all sorts of possibilities and all sorts of places
yeah we get us so often through our platform from fans you know they want more races they
want to race more often it's not that simple to do there's financial constraints there's the
the charters with the teams there's you can't just click your fingers and go all right let's
have another race over here on that weekend this doesn't work quite that way but taking
into account what we've talked about with the cadence with the rhythm with the things that
so we've got this period of New Zealand where we've got cars on boats we've got a bit of downtime
each side of a kiwi trip thinking about it doesn't there's the opportunity probably for events that
don't have to be racing events I've spoken a little bit about I'd love to see a one-off standalone
super 2 round like they used to do way back in the day if ta2 can do a co-driver race with some
supercar blokes super 2 should be able to probably do that at some point too there is an events arm
of supercars that'd be a great thing to do at winter or something like that but another thing
that's spring to mind here could we split out the hall of fame from the gala dinner and have a hall
of fame focused dinner event somewhere in that quieter period to put some spotlight on the legends
the legendary drivers team owners cars because at the moment you know there's hall of fame as you
inducted one of those gala dinners over the years they're quite a part of the end of the year I reckon
they get a bit lost and not celebrated enough how about we pluck it out and make the hall of fame
its own dinner in April or somewhere like that and there's a you know I only thought it because
NASCAR do a really good job of that stuff and they have a list of possibilities and they get
honed down to who were the group that year I don't know it's another event it's another focal point
it's another part of storytelling that can fill a spot in a calendar that we don't have a car race
maybe couldn't agree with that could not agree more absolutely and I think it's it's even bigger
than that I think we as a sport do not celebrate the heroes well enough and whether it's the team
or the driver or the car and I don't think we we handle that with the same level of notoriety
and respect as other sporting codes and who does it well well I think the AFL do it really well I
think AFL AFL is the best but having said that I think NASCAR is a good example that you've used
and and probably sets some targets for us as to how we should and could go about things you know
that memorial weekend is just one of the most beautiful things you'd ever see done I don't
know why we wouldn't do a similar thing here with our defense forces for instance I think the other
thing that happens and you know even out of the weekend you know where we saw the big freeze you
know that's that's actually going to be and I heard Craig McCrae say last night it really needs to be
an MND weekend yeah right well it's growing so much it's got to have somewhere to grow too because
everywhere because every game that everyone's got the beanie on and everyone's paying tribute so
so I think there's things like that that we can do I think we should be really savvy about the way
we handle that I think the thing that we could do without much drama at all
is to bring back a modern version of VAT superstars and and I think the smart way of doing it is to
be regional so why wouldn't we do because they were events more than they were tv shows
weren't they that's exactly right we used to sell tickets he used to book out the hall and it was
five or 600 people he used to have a few dramas down the back after they'd juiced themselves
up but but but that's but that's the fun yeah and to me what what we don't do is we don't
necessarily embrace the regions well enough and and therefore we don't cater for that well enough
so for instance we know that they're there we know that there's so many people in the regional I mean
we've done events regionally that people pop up out of nowhere and you might think we're in the
middle of nowhere here but there's people who want to know and care and come and spend a night and
listen to some drivers and tell some stories and have a few frothies and have a night out and you
know we've sort of done a little bit of that but it could be done at a higher level totally so so
just think about you know we go to Tasmania which which I obviously love the concept of us being
truly national we go to Tasmania our events in Launceston so why wouldn't we do a great function
in Hobart that either the week before or leading in somehow that just embraces the whole town you've
got the whole thing going with getting the island on board a lot of people would drive up you know
it's only an hour and a half so so a lot of those sorts of things if you start to to really
interrogate what are the areas and what are the things that we need to do to help that cadence
they're just all wins they just I mean they just be able to fill gaps
totally to do yes through yep um appreciate the time we're nearly wrapped up
we've we've delved into all sorts of stuff here today so I really appreciate it right but
one of the questions that went around in our office when I told them I was coming to sit down with you
the boy said have you ever thought Mark of doing your own podcast
well we already know we've got some content from the HRT days there that we might need to go again
but in all seriousness though you got plenty to talk about there's a long career of motorsport
involvement I mean we've only touched this is our third sit-down we've probably done four or five
hours a chat across the three chats and there's heaps more where we're not out there's money
left in the tank would you ever do it would we have to twist your arm would someone have to do
all the bits for you and you sit down and talk or I actually reckon that there'd be people who would
tune into the scapey show there'd be there'd be content for years well it looks funny when all
this stuff was going on in the in the first part of the year and you know we weren't sure about what
was going to happen I I probably would rather bring back stick shift 2.0 I didn't know if you're
going to say panel readers or stick shift then yeah yeah so I would rather do something like that
because I really enjoyed the radio show with with Neil and we were doing you know all
sorts of motorsport but we were doing a lot of car company stuff too and we covered a lot of a lot
of ground we had a great rock hall of celebrities you know all those great stories of celebrities
walks with their first car for instance and you know who taught them to drive and what's their
first crash and all that sort of stuff I love all those things because they're they're mainstream
and you never know where they're going to go because they generally lead to another good story
totally totally and and so much of of the personality of people enjoying driving I find
really interesting noons that you know I always say you know and I've just had my two daughters
come through their L's and P's and they've both got their license they're off and running but
you know I I would say to them all the time it's one of the only things you can do in your life
where you have got complete control of this thing this device all right but where else is there in
that all right you're sitting in this thing and your job is to drive this thing properly so you
don't hurt yourself or the people that are with you or the other people that are on the road
and and you know what it should be fun right you should you should actually get in the car every
day with a smile on your face you should actually get in go oh I'm going for a driver because what
you do is is your target is to be so proficient competent that you only think about what's
going on outside that you can drive the car so well that you're not trying to work out where the
controls are or dear I'm not really sure how I should drive the car well I should be so good at
this that that I know the things that will hurt me are the things outside and I I'm going to I'm
going to do it so I get my kids and I'm going to drive the Brisbane I know that when I get the
Brisbane I'm fine I'm not going to do anything dumb I'm not going to hurt anyone else I'm going to
love the thought of being able to have people enjoy the driving experience and actually think
about driving in a completely different way and every time I talk to government about stuff like
this because it should be we should just like swimming between the flags we should be teaching
kids to drive totally where it is a complete joke the way the way government approach road
safety is a complete joke right has been for you and so bad it's not competency based at all it's
how slow do we need to go to protect everybody right I mean it's just a complete by the way
not equip them with any skills when we let them thank you many no skills that's no two parallel
parks and and see and see how we go yeah exactly so that mentality is just completely rubbish and
when I think about that and I think about us as a society trying to actually make sure that we
teach young people properly I'm really enthused by by that sort of stuff you know so so in answer to
podcast or a radio show or whatever I find the road safety part and the and the affinity with
the industry really important you know just just the car industry stuff that isn't told and the
quality of the journalism is nowhere near as good as it used to be I mean a lot of original
motoring journals actually race cars like they were so good at it
David Mackay did he win he was the first century car champion there you go yeah
journal Pete McKay yeah Pete McKay Superstar Drive all right so so much of that needs to
sort of come out in a better way and be done in a more sophisticated modern modern way for sure
so you are open to your own show but if you can serve the purpose of helping pass on the
message about driver training road safety if you tie all that into content of motor racing stories
are back in the day stuff that's going on currently now it's a pretty powerful tool yeah well it could
be so let's let's take care he said could didn't say no but he didn't say yes
could is could to me that's maybe in the middle um thank you mate I totally
appreciate the time we've covered a bit of ground we've zipped around here there and everywhere
and dive to some some deeper meaningfuls and some some fun stuff too so thanks really appreciate
we'll we'll be back for part four in a couple of you stop thank you Mark Scave now a three-timer
three-time guest on the V8 Sleuth podcast powered by Paramatta Toyota there's still wow there's so
many more topics that we've not touched on with Mark all the more reason I guess for another visit
with him sometime in the future search back through the place that you're listening to this podcast
and you can catch my previous chats with him from 2019 and 2020 we've got plenty more great
ups coming your way I'll catch you next time on the V8 Sleuth podcast powered by Paramatta Toyota
the winter festival of speed is back for 2026 with new dates new events and new cars over 500
racing display cars will gather across three big days as racing history takes set a stage
the legendary heritage touring cars are back there's touring car legends touring car tributes
classic sports cars formula Ford historic touring cars and the fitsy cup for Porsches in honor of
Peter Fitzgerald it's an event for fans of all ages get your tickets at the gate or online now via
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on blendline tv via youtube pencil it into the diary July 24 to 26 for the winter festival of speed
About this episode
Winton Festival of Speed returns for 2026, and the conversation shifts into Mark Skaife’s later V8 Supercar years and Holden Racing Team leadership. Along the way, they unpack how rivalry and online bias can skew opinions, then zoom in on crash moments—like Glen Seaton—where practical, sensible decisions matter more than racing fandom. Skaife also gets technical and strategic: power steering failures, homologation choices, and how media/press conferences shaped the Ford-vs-Holden era. The hosts close with ideas for regional events and better ways to celebrate motorsport heroes.
HE’S back! Kicking off the new season of the V8 Sleuth Podcast powered by Parramatta Toyota, Mark Skaife is back for his third appearance with Noonz, once again retelling some mega stories from his four decades in the sport.
In this two-part special, the five-time champion talks about the prospect of Supercars on the Central Coast, his formative days in the sport, driving a Toyota Supra at Bathurst, the current TV situation, Darrell Eastlake memories, his massive 1995 Eastern Creek testing shunt, some special programs at HRT, and that Bathurst 1000 race start in 2006.
The second leg covers when he knew he was finished as a full-time driver, leadership, and his latter years at the helm of the Holden factory team, plus being first on the scene of multiple major accidents, both on the road and on the racetrack.
Buckle up, it’s story time, and Skaifey is at his very best!
The V8 Sleuth Podcast is powered by Parramatta Toyota, Sydney's Toyota dealer with a passion for performance and motorsport. Check them out today >> https://www.parramattatoyota.com.au/
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