Adult star Renee Gracie is rekindling her love for motor racing, but concedes the ‘door is closed’ on her dream of racing in a Bathurst 1000 again

After six years away, Renee Gracie is rekindling her love for motor racing. But she doubts she will ever realise her dream of a return at the Bathurst 1000. Here is why.

Renee Gracie loves to dream of a Bathurst 1000 return, but the adult star has conceded the “doors are closed” to her hopes of competing again in the Great Race as she took a swipe at what she described as the male-dominated “gentleman’s world” of motorsport.

After almost six years away from the track, Gracie has relaunched her racing career behind the wheel this year, racing in the GT World Challenge Australia championship.

A two-time Bathurst 1000 competitor, Gracie walked away from motorsport to make a fortune creating adult content on subscription platform OnlyFans.

The platform is supporting Gracie’s racing comeback, sponsoring her Audi R8 LMS, which she is steering in a support category to Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend.

As she reignited her passion for racing, Gracie said she still harboured dreams of competing in the Bathurst 1000 again, but did not think she would be welcome back.

“I have lots of dreams. I am very good at having my head up in the clouds sometimes and always dreaming of what I could do and what I could be,” Gracie said.

“I do think things like the (Bathurst) 1000, unfortunately, those doors are closed. I don’t think the reception has been great from Supercars unfortunately.

“It is disappointing. It’s 2023, everyone move on and get over yourselves.

“But that’s motorsport, it hasn’t changed much from when I left and that’s the sad reality of it.

“When I left six years ago, it was a male dominated, negative environment towards women and it’s still that way, unfortunately.

Renee Gracie and Simona de Silvestro of the Harvey Norman Supergirls Team. Picture: Getty Images

“I think it is just a very gentleman’s world, it is run very old school, there are people in there, unfortunately, who won’t change their way and have certain views and things.

“I knew that I could get back into motorsport, but to the level I wanted to and what categories would have me was questionable. Not many people were putting their hands up saying ‘We’ll run you with OnlyFans on the car’.”
Gracie thanked the GT category for accepting her back on track and for allowing her to race with the OnlyFans branding, saying she had been welcomed with “open arms”.

The former V8 pin-up girl famously made her Bathurst debut in 2015 in an all-female line-up alongside Swiss former IndyCar racer Simona de Silvestro.

The pair returned to tackle Mount Panorama again in 2016, finishing 14th, but Gracie only raced in feeder series Super2 for one more after that before she quit the sport, largely due to a lack of funding.

Gracie, 28, doubted she would ever race again as her off-track career in front of the camera took off, but she has enjoyed recapturing her love for the sport.

“Initially when I left motorsport I did not think that I would want to get back into it, even though I loved it, I did not think that I would enjoy going back,” Gracie said.

“But obviously with everything that happened, my career taking off with OnlyFans and falling into a position where I was financially able to, I was in a much stronger position mentally.

“Getting the racing brain working again has been a challenge, but I’ve loved it. It’s what I’ve longed for the past six years, it’s what I have so desperately wanted to reignite again.”

Gracie said she was excited to see how her former teammate De Silvestro would perform when she made her return in a Dick Johnson Racing wildcard at the Bathurst 100 this year.

But she said unless De Silvestro found a way back into the category full-time, she doubted there would be a female on the Supercars grid full-time in the near future.

“All the fans are going to be over the moon that (De Silvestro) is back and just to have a female back in the sport is what the sport needs to be completely honest, it needs a bit of excitement and something else to talk about,” Gracie said.

Renee Gracie’s Only Fans mobile.

“It’s perfect timing for her, it’s going to be a great story and it will be very cool to see her return and see how well she does.

“We are really limited for females in the country at the moment in Australian motorsport.

“I know there are a few in Porsche, there are a few around, it’s just the pathways are just really tough.

“In a way it’s great that people don’t open doors and make it any easier for us, but at the same time I feel like there should be an extra push to make sure any successful females racing in Australia at the moment are getting the help and the support to hopefully get a female full-time back in the category.

“But, as of now, I would think that it is many years away before that happens again in all honesty.”

Gracie is still pursuing her adult content creation and said she was likely to continue racing GTs.

“The GT category has been so good to me, I can’t fault them, I’m forever grateful for having them in my category,” Gracie said.

“I don’t think anywhere else would be as accepting, (with) open arms like the GT category were towards me and having OnlyFans on board with me this year.

“It’s that support … that I need to do this, that’s what makes me love it and what makes me want to race again.

“I do not want to jeopardise that, I do not want to lose that, I don’t want to go anywhere else where I don’t get that support and that love and that feeling that I get from them, so the GT category for now is my main focus.”

Originally published as Adult star Renee Gracie is rekindling her love for motor racing, but concedes the ‘door is closed’ on her dream of racing in a Bathurst 1000 again