Renee Gracie may look like she belongs on the runway but it's on the racetrack she feels at home.
She started racing go-karts at 14 and graduated to touring cars on her 18th birthday. She spent two years in the Porsche Carrera Cup, the first female to do so.
Then this season, she moved into the V8 Supercars development category - the Dunlop Series. But rising through the ranks hasn't been easy.
"You've got people who will love you or hate you, you had people who were on your side or completely against you and it's not just the kids you race against it's their dads their brothers their sisters."
Now she's preparing to debut in the main game at the Bathurst 1000, teaming up with Swiss driver Simona De Silvestro.
Renee Gracie. (SBS)
Gracie is spending a month in a gym outside Melbourne building up her endurance for the 1,000-kilometre race.
"She's an animal, she loves it," said trainer Joshua Webb. "She attacks everything head on and she never whinges, which is very critical."
Gracie and De Silvestro will become the first all-female driver team to race the Bathurst 1000 since 1998. The best result ever achieved by a woman on Mount Panorama has been sixth, meaning the pair are likely to attract a lot of attention.
But Gracie wants to turn heads with her speed not her looks.
"I'm lucky enough [that] I get enough attention as it is, I don't think I need to seek any more than what I get. I get plenty of it and I think we milk it when necessary."
"She attacks everything head on and she never whinges, which is very critical."
And what is unnecessary she says is showing flesh for endorsements. Gracie may be considered the glamour girl of racing, but she won't be glamour modelling anytime soon.
Despite many female athletes branching out into modelling for sponsorship deals, Gracie's manager Chris Jewell says you won't be able to buy a swimsuit calendar of Renee Gracie anytime soon.
"You won't see any hair blown back bikini shots of Renee that doesn't fit the brand," said manager from Velocity Management Group Chris Jewell.
The Bathurst 1000 begins October 8th.
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