In South Australia, the loss of the Grand Prix to Melbourne has acquired the status of a local legend that fits neatly into the much longer saga of the state's cross-border rivalry.

Two decades on, the tale is often recounted as one of treachery, in which villainous Victoria reached over and stole the state's crown jewel.

For some it remains a sore spot, but pundits have at times tended to overstate its significance, not noticing that the sting has largely gone.

The truth is, many South Australians have long since ceased to care and taxpayers may even be grateful, given the cost of hosting it.

In the minds of some - including a former premier and the current Tourism Minister - Victoria may have actually done South Australia a favour because the loss led to three key benefits for the state.

1. Clipsal 500

James Courtney celebrates after winning race three of the 2015 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500. ( Getty Images: Robert Cianflone )

The Grand Prix's departure was a major blow to the state's ego and created a hole in the local events calendar.

Liberal premiers Dean Brown and John Olsen were left with the task of filling it.

Mr Olsen remembers his disbelief when Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett phoned him up to inform him the event had been poached, days before the decision was made public.

But, with two decades worth of hindsight, Mr Olsen said the loss's legacy has not been all bad.

"It made us get on our bike, made us focus on filling the void," he said.

"Having lost the Grand Prix to Melbourne, we focused on what we needed to do to re-engineer and build events for South Australia."

The first priority was the season's opening V8 Supercar race, now known as the Clipsal 500, which made its debut in 1999 on the street circuit vacated by the F1 cars.

In the words of its organisers, it is now "Australia's largest domestic motorsport event", and has flourished into a four-day carnival.

The total attendance at this year's race exceeded 285,000, a figure for many other events to envy.

2. Tour Down Under

The Tour Down Under has gone from strength to strength since its debut in 1999. ( AAP: Dan Peled )

Another event to emerge in the wake of the Grand Prix was the Tour Down Under cycling race, which was also first held in 1999.

In 2008, the race became the first outside Europe to be granted World Tour status by the sport's governing body.

It now attracts some of the world's best riders and "has gone from success to success", Mr Olsen said.

He admitted he was sceptical at first and considered it a gamble.

"When the proposal was floated ... my initial response was 'explain to me who goes to a bike race', because it was an investment of several million dollars to put the first event on," he said.

"The risk, both with the V8s and the Tour Down Under, has paid off handsomely for South Australia for a decade-plus since."

The Tour is now so successful that there is speculation every year that Melbourne will "do another Grand Prix" on South Australia and try to steal the race.

But the current Tourism Minister, Labor's Leon Bignell, said he was confident the race would remain in Adelaide.

"We work closely with the international body, the UCI," he said.

"I'm back in Europe next month and I'll be over there again meeting up with the UCI and I'll meet up with the head of the Tour de France."

3. Value for money

Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi veers off the track during an accident at the start of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16, 2014. ( AFP: Saeed Khan )

The financial impact of losing the Grand Prix was felt sharply at the time.

Mr Olsen said it denied South Australia vital tourist dollars that could have helped build up the budget following the state bank collapse, but said the cost of the race had since become "prohibitive".

Mr Bignell said while he had "never subscribed to that 'kick a Vic' mentality", he agreed South Australia had fared well without the Grand Prix.

"Our entire tourism budget is $50 million and the Victorians are paying more than $50 million for one event," he said.

Asked whether SA would ever consider trying to get the race back, Mr Bignell replied "you never say never" but said "while Bernie Ecclestone's running Formula One, I wouldn't be interested."

"He just paid $US100 million to get out of a court case in Germany.

"Formula One cars - we had one out on the track during the V8 Supercars last week - they're fantastic," Mr Bignell said.

"But the thing is, the guy running the sport - do we really want to give him over $50 million a year of taxpayers' money? I don't.

"I think we're much better off spending a fraction of that across a number of different events that give you a bigger economic benefit."

Mr Olsen said in the long term, taxpayers had been spared the ever-burgeoning burden of hosting the race.

"We get these major events that have national and international focus at a quarter of the price of the Grand Prix," he said.

Sour grapes? More like the last laugh.