V8 legend Mark Skaife on road to ruin amidst $3.6 million debt
By James Phelps
December 01, 2008 AUSTRALIAN motor racing legend Mark Skaife is living in a rented three bedroom flat less than 1km away from his former Toorak mansion with his wife and two daughters as he faces financial ruin.
In one of the saddest stories in Australian sport, the five-time Bathurst winner will walk away from his glittering 21-year touring car career at Oran Park this weekend in danger of losing his business empire.
A special investigation by The Daily Telegraph has uncovered details of a series of business transactions that have left Skaife's company - Skaife Sports - owing Scottish racing magnate Tom Walkinshaw $3.6million.
Had he not faced such immense business debts as owner of Holden Racing Team (HRT) he may not have quit as a driver at the age of 42.
Documents obtained from the Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) reveal the Holden icon risks losing all his Skaife Sports assets, including one of the country's greatest sporting brands HRT, should he default on the multi-million dollar loan to Walkinshaw.
Skaife, who won his first Bathurst in 1991, rose rapidly to the peak of the sport in Australia.
Enormously popular with fans and sponsors, the Melbourne-born driver is known for his aggression on the track and his outspoken attitude off it.
"It's a sad situation," a source close to Skaife said. "He doesn't deserve this."
Skaife last year sold his family home in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Toorak about the time he traded "debt for equity" with one of Walkinshaw's Australian-based companies Real Racing.
Skaife and Walkinshaw agreed on a deal that would see 50 per cent of Skaife Sports transferred to Real Racing in exchange for debt relief.
Walkinshaw - himself a successful touring car driver and former owner of HRT - then obtained 1,750,000 shares in Skaife's company.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24731182-23209,00.html
f**k YOU WALKINSHAW HOW COULD U DUD THE LEGEND OF MOTORSPORT
By James Phelps
December 01, 2008 AUSTRALIAN motor racing legend Mark Skaife is living in a rented three bedroom flat less than 1km away from his former Toorak mansion with his wife and two daughters as he faces financial ruin.
In one of the saddest stories in Australian sport, the five-time Bathurst winner will walk away from his glittering 21-year touring car career at Oran Park this weekend in danger of losing his business empire.
A special investigation by The Daily Telegraph has uncovered details of a series of business transactions that have left Skaife's company - Skaife Sports - owing Scottish racing magnate Tom Walkinshaw $3.6million.
Had he not faced such immense business debts as owner of Holden Racing Team (HRT) he may not have quit as a driver at the age of 42.
Documents obtained from the Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) reveal the Holden icon risks losing all his Skaife Sports assets, including one of the country's greatest sporting brands HRT, should he default on the multi-million dollar loan to Walkinshaw.
Skaife, who won his first Bathurst in 1991, rose rapidly to the peak of the sport in Australia.
Enormously popular with fans and sponsors, the Melbourne-born driver is known for his aggression on the track and his outspoken attitude off it.
"It's a sad situation," a source close to Skaife said. "He doesn't deserve this."
Skaife last year sold his family home in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Toorak about the time he traded "debt for equity" with one of Walkinshaw's Australian-based companies Real Racing.
Skaife and Walkinshaw agreed on a deal that would see 50 per cent of Skaife Sports transferred to Real Racing in exchange for debt relief.
Walkinshaw - himself a successful touring car driver and former owner of HRT - then obtained 1,750,000 shares in Skaife's company.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24731182-23209,00.html
f**k YOU WALKINSHAW HOW COULD U DUD THE LEGEND OF MOTORSPORT
