EXCLUSIVE: Renee Gracie is living a teenage boy's dream. So why don't they want to drive with her?

Renee Gracie is arguably living the dream of every teenage boy the world over.

She drives fast race cars, has more money than she knows what to do with, and her lucrative work as an OnlyFans creator means she gets to have all the R-rated fun she wants.

"I'm not complaining, right? I'm pretty happy over here," she told Wide World of Sports.

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"Things are good. Nothing can tear me down"

So it's perhaps surprising to learn finding a co-driver in such a male-dominated industry is hard work. Is it jealousy?

"Maybe. It comes with the territory, unfortunately," she said.

"It's nothing I'm not used to. With everything I do and the backing I have from OnlyFans, there's always sensitivities, questions, queries, concerns from everyone."

She announced this week she would be driving with Supercars veteran Will Davison as she makes the step up from the Am to the Pro-Am division of the GT World Challenge Australia.

While Davison was among her first preferences for a co-driver, when she started putting feelers out in December, she got several rejections based on either her backing from OnlyFans, or possibly the optics of driving with a woman working in the porn industry.

She believes the co-driver challenges are likely more down to sponsors not wanting their drivers associated with her, rather than the drivers themselves not wanting to work with her.

"I know there's commercial things involved, I know the politics behind motorsport. I understand it. I'm not naïve to what I bring and what I offer.

"I understand I'm not for everybody - I'm not a straightforward entrant as such, and I know there's complexities with that," she said.

"I know that there can be clashes between an open-minded driver willing to do it, versus them having commercial partners and sponsors and teams that might not agree with it."

'A female driver will upset the dynamic'

Gracie is in a damned if she does, damned if she doesn't situation.

One of the most common criticisms she got in the early part of her career was that she only got to where she was because she was a woman.

"Everyone thinks because I'm a girl I have things handed to me on a silver spoon, but it's absolutely not the case.

"In my past career, it was still really difficult because no one wanted to back a female. No one wanted to have a female in the team … I had multiple people say 'Oh, a female driver will upset the dynamic'."

Gracie didn't have a huge amount of funding in the first part of her career, which also wouldn't have helped.

Fed up with the industry and more or less broke, she retiring from racing in 2017 and started her OnlyFans journey.

Over the next five years, she became one of Australia's top earners on the platform. She also rediscovered her passion for motorsport and love of going fast.

In 2023, Gracie made a return to racing, but the struggles remained.

Now she had the budget, but the traditionally conservative views of the motorsport community meant struggles continued - they just took a different form.

Gracie eventually managed to find a team, an older model Audi R8, and she went on to win the Trophy class for amateurs in 2023.

'They can't make it past the sponsorship'

Still an amateur under the global rankings system used by GT3 championships globally, Gracie had to find a co-driver to step into Pro-Am for 2026.

She was sure, by now, she had done enough to prove to the category, the wider motorsport industry and sponsors she was there to compete.

But still, the rejections rolled in.

"I understand the nature of what I bring, (but) I've worked really hard over the last four years to change people's minds, and to earn a bit of respect for myself and the program I run," she said.

"I'm here to take it seriously. I am just a normal racing program, and I'm a very good racing program.

"If you come with me, you know I'm competitive, I've got a great sponsor, I obviously have the budget, I'm obviously getting a lot of attention, I do get a lot of media, I get a lot of press, I'm here to win and I'm here to do well.

"To most people, that's desirable. But to others, they unfortunately can't make it past the OnlyFans sponsorship."

'It's just a sponsorship'

Will Davison is a veteran of more than 600 Supercars starts.

He's also the picture of a traditional family man - married with a young son. Several of Davison's peers in similar family situations turned down the chance to drive with Gracie.

But Davison said her background or sponsor was never a consideration.

He and wife Riana - who is Supercars' lead pit-lane reporter - have known Gracie since she was a girl racing karts.

"At the end of the day, it's just a sponsorship and an amazing opportunity to go racing," he told Wide World of Sports.

"There's not much else to it ... her heart and soul is being a racing driver and she's gone and got herself back into the sport.

"People will blow things up as they will, but ultimately it's just the sponsor of a car, and I'm just there as the professional driver to try and help the program.

"I can see she wants to do really well. She's really been hustling hard the last couple of years ... I just say kudos to her.

"Two years ago, people were maybe laughing. But now they're probably all quite jealous.

"The opportunity she's creating for herself, and even for me, I'm bloody grateful. I don't care what people say at all."

'It's my life'

If the adversity has taught the 31-year-old anything, it's to march to the beat of her own drum.

Like every young girl is told, she's doing exactly what she wants to do with her life. She's found a way to make a crust she loves, and it supports a lifestyle that leaves her feeling fulfilled.

"It's my life, I'm living it, and I'm so proud of it," she said.

"Regardless of any other opinions … I should be able to do what I want, and everyone else's opinion is irrelevant.

"I'm doing everything I said I was going to do, but I'm doing it ten times better than I dreamt I'd do it.

"I got here by not giving up, not caring what people think, not taking no for an answer, and probably being a little bit stubborn."

The GT World Challenge Australia series begins at Phillip Island on March 27-29.