Mark Skaife predicting action-packed Sydney 500 as V8 Supercars title goes ... - The Daily Telegraph

Track review of Olympic Park, Homebush

Whincup (L) and Winterbottom will be fierce foes this weekend. Source: News Limited

LEGENDARY V8 driver Mark Skaife scans his Sydney 500 blueprint with a knowing grin.

"Fairly basic square, isn't it?" he laughs. "But you ask any of these guys walking the track today if they think it's basic, if they think it's easy - they'll tell you there isn't a tougher street circuit anywhere in the country."

Having played a key role in the Sydney Olympic Park circuit design, Skaife is predicting Homebush will once again explode today in a chaotic mix of flying steel, battered concrete and the closest V8 Championship title race in recent memory.

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Redbull Racing’s Jamie Whincup, engineer Mark Dutton and Craig Lowndes walk the race track of the Sydney 500 in preparations for the race. Picture: Craig Greenhill Source: News Limited

Despite the Sydney 500 being in only its fifth year, these 3.5km of Homebush bitumen are now considered the toughest on the V8 Supercar calendar - thanks largely to Skaife's course design coupled with a December humidity that last year saw Frenchman Alex Premat almost killed when his cool suit failed.

SKAIFE: WHINCUP COULD BE BEST EVER

Indeed as the drivers took their traditional lap of the course on foot, Skaife predicted three days of absolute mayhem for a predicted Sydney 500 crowd of almost 200,000 fans.

And why?

V8 Supercars championship contenders Jamie Whincup (1), Craig Lowndes (888) and Mark Winterbottom (5) race at the Phillip Island 360. Source: Getty Images

"Because on this course, we haven't taken the bumps out,'' he continues. "Yes, on paper, the course looks basic.

"But ask the drivers how it looks going down that rollercoaster past the Novotel Hotel. Or through the area that, for the rest of the year, is a bus stop.

"There are so many rises and falls on this course, so many tight corners and little nuances that there's no tougher street circuit anywhere when it comes to posting a winning time.

"And in racing, that means mistakes are made. If you want to talk about racetracks where it's easy for things to go wrong, this is it."

Holden’s Jamie Whincup takes the chequered flag at the Phillip Island 360. Source: Getty Images

According to official V8 Supercar statistics, the Sydney 500 is officially the most unpredictable event on the championship calendar.

In four years and eight races, only Red Bull Racing star Craig Lowndes is a repeat winner. All up 15 different drivers have finished on the 24 available podium positions while, somewhat incredibly, three times the winner has come from 10th or worse on the grid.

The staggering statistics may explain why on Thursday, on their last day before the practice rounds begin, Sydney's favourite tattooed billionaire Betty Klimenko took her Erebus Motorsport drivers for a relaxing tour of Taronga Zoo.

Apart from pouring plenty in her V8 racing team, Klimenko is also a major supporter of both zoo welfare programs and individual animals.

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Jamie Whincup has had plenty of ups and downs in the 2013 V8 season, but he remains a contender to finish on a high in this weekends final race at Sydney Olympic Park.

This weekend Craig Lowndes will hope to end a 14 year drought with a win in the Sydney 500. Here's a look back at his season so far.

Despite a disasterous start to the year, Mark Winterbottom heads to the Sydney 500 in V8 title contention. Here's his year so far.

The closest V8 Supercars championship in history will be decided on the streets of Sydney with an unprecedented nine drivers a mathematical chance of taking out the title. Will Davison is one of them and here is his season so far.