Skaife's brush with F1 in Adelaide

Mark Skaife has enjoyed great success on the Adelaide streets, and is twice a 500 winner.

This year’s VALO Adelaide 500 marks 20 years since Skaife’s first event triumph.

Supercars Hall of Famer Skaife won the 2002 and 2003 events for the Holden Racing Team.

One of his more unique Adelaide experiences came nearly exactly 30 years ago.

Heading to the 1992 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Skaife was the man in Australian motorsport.

In 1992 alone, Skaife won the Australian Touring Car Championship, Bathurst 1000 and Australian Drivers’ Championship.

Skaife, then 25, capped his year with what proved his only drive of a Formula 1 car.

Victory in 2002

The young driver was given the opportunity to drive a Jordan Formula 1 car at the Grand Prix’s demonstration day.

Skaife took the wheel of the car at Colonnades shopping centre a week out from the 1992 event.

For the record, the Grand Prix — held on 8 November 1992 — was won by McLaren’s Gerhard Berger.

Skaife’s F1 cameo was arranged by the Australian Grand Prix Office.

In front of a big crowd, he took the wheel of a Jordan 192 Yamaha, the team’s spare car for the 1992 race.

Skaife completed a six-lap demonstration, with a litany of other cars also turning laps.

In the years following, he described the nimble car as "an Arnotts biscuit with an outboard on it".

Victory in 2003

The Jordan was a far cry from his Nissan touring car, which was replaced by a Holden Commodore for 1993.

From 1993 to 2011, Skaife won 80 races, four championships and four Bathursts in Commodores.

Adelaide will be the scene of Holden’s Supercars farewell, with the Commodore to be replaced by the Chevrolet Camaro in 2023.

For Skaife, arguably Holden’s most famous driver, the forthcoming VALO Adelaide 500 will be a seminal moment for Australian motoring.

"It's the final time you're going to see Holden on the race track," Skaife said recently.

"We think it's utterly supportive of not only the Holden fans, but appropriate for a Holden town like this one, to have the last race for Holden.

"It's a massive moment in the history of our sport, but a massive moment for South Australia."