Holden Racing Team's "Golden Child" goes up for sale – at $2.8 million

Say "Golden Child" to any Team Red supporter and they'll know what you're talking about.

Holden Racing Team Chassis #045 is one of Australia's most iconic touring cars – and now, it's up for sale.

Having started life at the beginning of 2001 as a Holden VX Commodore, this chassis went on to win 20 Supercars races at the hands of Mark Skaife across the next three years.

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Skaife and Golden Child (in VX trim) battle with Craig Lowndes's "Green Eyed Monster" at Sandown

Built by the then Tom Walkinshaw-owned outfit in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton, the VX entered service for the 2001 season off the back of Skaife's 2000 title win in a VT, going on to take four rounds that year en route to the title – including a Bathurst 1000 victory with Skaife and Tony Longhurst.

The car remained in the HRT stable for 2002 and with Skaife behind the wheel, it carried him to his fifth Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as yet another Bathurst 1000 win with Jim Richards – one of only two chassis to win the Great Race twice.

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Following the move to Supercars's "Project Blueprint" regulations for 2003, and Holden's incoming VY Commodore hitting showrooms, the car HRT dubbed 'Golden Child' was one of few to receive the comprehensive update – starting the season with a bang by winning the Clipsal 500.

After a new chassis came into play just a few rounds later, 'Golden Child' was relegated to spare chassis status, only coming back onto the track in 2004 after Jason Plato bent the team's second car at that year's Bathurst 1000, with Skaife taking pole around the streets of Surfers Paradise.

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Although it has been restored in its 2003 VY livery and body, this car is still the one which helped Skaife take 20 of his 90 ATCC race wins and close out the final two championship-winning years for HRT.

There's an added bonus for prospective buyers, too. Under the bonnet is HRT Engine 25 – the '18-degree' Chevrolet V8 which propelled Greg Murphy to his "Lap of the Gods" Bathurst shootout pole in 2003.

The price of this piece of Australian motorsport history? In excess of $2.8 million, or roughly three times as much as Murph's '03 Bathurst winner, which went up for sale in 2018.

According to the listing on My105, the car will be sold with "extensive documentation, original Chassis 045 artworks, race suits and winning laurels."