A voyage of discovery

LEE Holdsworth has just completed a 2979km trip across the desert for this weekend's V8 race in Darwin.

V8 Supercars

LEE Holdsworth has just completed a 2979km trip across the desert for this weekend's V8 race in Darwin, where he aims to rack up his first win for Stone Brothers Racing.

He and fellow Ford teammate Tim Slade spent three days peering out of a window on famous passenger train The Ghan, watching the seemingly endless red earth rush by at 115km/h and preparing themselves.

"We began in Adelaide and ended in Darwin and it left plenty of time to think about racing and what I want to achieve," Holdsworth said.

"It gave me a lot of time to consider my ambitions, where I am and what I need to do."

Holdsworth and Slade studied video on the 710m long train.

"It is hard to describe how red and beautiful it was," Holdsworth said. "But it gave us plenty of time to bond and study the job at hand. We took a heap of video and studied what we have been doing and poured over data."Sladey also took a bike, so we pedalled our butts off too. We had no reception on the train, so it was good to watch last year's race while we were cycling away. It did get us both pretty pumped for the weekend."

The trip also gave Holdsworth time to reflect on his much talked about move to Stone Brothers Racing from the Gary Rogers stable.

Approaching the mid-point of the season, he is sixth in the drivers' standings but hoping for much better.

"I am in the fight and the most positive thing is I am in sixth despite not having the pace to win races or challenge the top guys," he said.

"I have been close but I am not at that stage where I am really comfortable with the car or the set-up.

"That is really encouraging because I know the potential is there."

But is victory in Darwin realistic?

"I thought about it a lot on the trip and there is no reason it can't be this weekend in Darwin," Holdsworth said.

"Then again, it could be six months down the track.

"It is just a matter of nailing the set-up this weekend and to do that we may have to try something different and step out the window into the unknown."

Holdsworth has already seen plenty of new things this week out of his window on The Ghan.

"Maybe that is our inspiration to try some new things," he said.

"Draw on the experience and go into the unknown a bit.

"We need to find the speed and we are working hard to get there."

The terrain at Hidden Valley Raceway is just as red, but far less alien.

"We have had good results here in the past," Holdsworth said. "So hopefully that will help.

"It would be nice to finish off a memorable journey with an unforgettable win."

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