If you had the choice, would you prefer to be lucky or good?

I'd prefer to be good. I think '99 probably showed that we weren't that lucky and there have been occasions at Bathurst when we weren't lucky.

So I'd rather go out of the game knowing I did my best and wasn't just blessed.

Why are you so good at one-lap runoffs?

I don't think there's any particular reason. I just try really hard to do the very, very best I can.

There's a very fine line to being professional and not just getting carried away, and if you're professional it's a really exhilarating thing to do. I really enjoy it.

Is it true that one of your crew members has to remind you to breathe when you're on a qualifying lap?

I do that just to relax me. Just so I can think about winding down a little bit with it. You get so intent on the next corner coming up, and doing the perfect lap, you forget to do anything else.

It's something the boys bag me a bit about, but they know it works.

When you were heading for the wall at Eastern Creek in 1995, did you think you were going to get hurt - maybe die?

I blacked out before I got to the fence. That's the normal thing for people in that high-stress, traumatic situation. Any sports psychologist, through the process of getting back to normal health, will tell you never to get into those thoughts.

I know I went down to turn one, I braked and turned the wheel and nothing happened. Other than that, I remember waking up in the back of the car.

I don't remember the lead-up to the accident at all.

What is your biggest asset as a racing driver?

I think I love the game. If you really like what you're doing, you don't find it that hard. Although the game is so professional these days and there are lots of aspects to the sport, and it's become a genuine business, the thing I like to do is get to a race meeting and drive the car.

Running around in the wet in Canberra was just fantastic fun.

Do you think you have to work harder than some of your rivals?

I think anyone who says that is a poor judge. And that's not just my perspective.

If you ask the genuinely good engineers I've worked with in the pitlane, and that's Rob Starr and Jeff Grech and a couple of others, they'll tell you.

Go and ask Jim Richards, or any of the guys who are actually good. They know. What you've got to do is bring the whole package to the track. You've got to be talented enough, and over time I would have thought that's shown up, but at the track you've got to apply yourself.

That's what Senna did, he was the first one to the track in the morning and the last one with the mechanics at night, and that's what I'm like. I think he showed the way to do it.

But when we're at the track I could be blamed for being a bit intense.

What was it really like to drive the Godzilla Nissan - were you just playing with the opposition?

They were bloody hard cars to drive. They were really big power machines, with smaller tyres than we have now, and no downforce. When they were handicapped they were 1500kg without driver or fuel.

They had very high grip level, but when they got away from you they took a hell of a lot of catching. They were difficult to get the best from. When Jim and I were competing, we were pushing the cars so hard.

At certain circuits with big fast corners, I thought we could be beaten. Eastern Creek was definitely not GTR territory. You were on the limit there.

And if it stepped out it was always going to be a big one.

One of the great things of that time was driving GTR in 1991 at full boost around Wellington. We had the wastegates blanked off, it had 650 horsepower and Emanuelle Pirro in a BMW M3 kept out-qualifying me.

We were just battling all day for pole. Up the back straight on full noise, you'd hit the left mirror on the fence turning in and the right mirror on the exit.

It was going so fast you couldn't control the car. Everything was happening bloody quick that day. It was an absolutely wild device.

You were jeered on the podium at Bathurst after your Godzilla win and you used to be called unpopular and arrogant. What's changed?

In those days I didn't ever think too much about it being a popularity contest. I was a real purist about getting to the track and getting my race face on.

Over time you learn more about the whole aspect of the game. The spell coming out of the end of the Winfield era, into HRT, taught me a lot. We were seriously battling for sponsorship and it was a real eye opener about what the commercial side was truly about.

As a result, down the road, I've seen that it's so heavily market and commercially driven that I can't afford to ignore that side of the business.

I'm no different now than I was in 1992-93-94, but I never allowed myself to show that side because I was so intent on winning races.

What was your biggest mistake in racing - staying too long at Gibson Motorsport or not going overseas?

My biggest mistake, probably, was not going to HRT in 1996 when I could have. John Crennan wanted me then, but I was desperately loyal and wanted to see the Gibson team survive, and I was worried about what was going to happen to the guys who worked for me.

At the time it was the biggest decision of my life and I decided to stick it out.

Do you have any regrets?

I didn't give Europe enough of a go. With Formula 3000 it was just a toe in the water. In that series that year I was up against Coulthard, Panis and Badoer and I can recollect lots of times racing those blokes.

I was disappointed because I wanted to do a good job and fun.

It doesn't haunt me, but I know I could and should have done a better job.

Is it true you made $1 million when Fred Gibson sold out to Garry Dumbrell of Wynn's, because of a minority shareholding?

I've never sold my share of Gibson's.

I suppose Fred and I have a long-term arrangement with the business and it's something I was very disappointed about in the end, not being able to fund so we could continue the way it was.

There's a lot of hard work and effort as my equity there, and that's something that hasn't yet been resolved.

If you could pick anyone in the world as a Bathurst co-driver, who would you choose and why?

It would obviously have to be Schumacher. I don't think there's another driver in the world in his league now.

I'd love to see him drive one of our cars, see what he brought along, what he was like. It would be a real eye opener and it would be great.

Finally, do you think you forced Craig Lowndes out of the Holden Racing Team?

Absolutely not. Craig had the total support of the team and a lot of that comes from time. He was with the team from 1994 and had grown into being a fantastic talent. They helped him and he helped them.

Lowndes' decision to move away from Melbourne was probably more detrimental than any other thing. There are tough times in all good relationships, and I know there were times when Craig and I weren't getting along as well as we should have, because it's a pretty stressful environment.

I think my input into Craig leaving HRT, at worst, is minimal. At best, it was non-existent.