Mark Skaife knows better than most the incredible highs and the despairing lows the Mount Panorama circuit can deliver.

He won the Bathurst 1000 six times, and was in position to do so on several other occasions.

In 1997, Skaife was driving with Peter Brock.

In his last Bathurst 1000 as a full-time driver, Brock’s famous No.05 was the fastest car all weekend and was comfortably leading the race when an engine let go with Skaife at the wheel, robbing Brock of what was his best chance at a 10th crown.

Even the following year in 1998, two punctures during the day put Skaife and Craig Lowndes out of business.

Skaife won it three times in five years between 2001-2005 driving for the Holden Racing Team.

But then came the 2006 race, held barely a month after Brock’s death.

Despite having won in 2005 with Todd Kelly, Skaife would instead team up with Garth Tander.

Together, they were the lead Holden factory car. Spiritually, stretching back some three decades, that was Brocky’s car.

The entire team was under immense pressure to deliver. Supercars announced the winner of the race every year would be awarded the Peter Brock Trophy.

Skaife and Tander were quickest all weekend, and Skaife took pole in Saturday’s top-10 shootout by three tenths over Jason Bright.

“It was unbelievable,” Skaife told Wide World of Sports.

“I mean, if you think about all the background, Peter Brock’s passing, we had a tribute livery on our factory cars for him.

“We were fastest in every session, qualified pole, shortest-price favourites in the history of the sport.”

But as the start lights went out, Skaife went nowhere. He had suffered a clutch failure, and his Commodore crawled towards the first corner as the field literally gobbled him up.

Up Mountain Straight, the engine continued to free-rev as the clutch continued to slip.

Eventually, just as Skaife went over the blind crest, he was hit from behind by Jack Perkins – totally unsighted by the traffic around him and the steep hill.

The impact all but destroyed the right rear corner of the car, and also pushed him into the concrete wall on the left hand side just for good measure.

The fairytale was over.

“After all the fan engagement and the pressure that was around our team that weekend, it just demonstrates the cruelty of the place,” Skaife said.

“If you’re lucky enough, fortunate enough to put it all together and win it, there’s nothing better.”

It all adds to the story of the Bathurst 1000 and why the race is revered the way it is.

The 2023 race marks the 60th anniversary of the event, which began as a 500-mile race in 1963, and was extended to a 1000km race a decade later.