I am Lee Holdsworth V8 Supercar driver and hope to be driving the V8 Superdoge at the Townsville 400 AMA

Hi Lee, what was going through your mind on the last lap of Race 8 this year?

Great question. I was fairly emotional, I was actually wondering how the team would be reacting picturing them with their fingers crossed waiting for me to cross the line. Also it was funny to look up at the crowd after I passed Fabian Coulthard for the lead, they all jumped to their feet which was awesome to see while in the car!

Hi Lee, it was awesome to meet you in Texas last year!

Who is your favorite driver to battle with on track?

Also, I run /r/v8supercars hope you stop by the subreddit during your time on here.

Texas was amazing we hope to get back racing there soon. My favourite driver to battle with would be my good mate Michael Caruso because we always fight hard but fair

Hi Lee. Big fan. What was your first ever race car ?

Thanks my first race car was a Commodore Cup Car - VH Commodore it was an old jigger but it was a weapon!

Fully sick! Was it a two tone sl/e with red velour trim?

haha I actually had a red and yellow race seat. I reckon it's still had the factory fitted AM radio!

Hey Lee! My question isn't really race related but I was wondering if you get to drive all of Mercedes cool AMG cars when you're not racing? If not, what kind of car do you drive outside of the track?

Yeah one of the perks of the job is I get to drive around in a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG as my everyday ride. It's silver and goes like the clappers!

Sorry to be negative, but you don't have 1% even raised right now... What will you do if you can't get 100% funded of the goal?

EDIT: I donated 1000 Doge

It would be fantastic to run a V8 Superdoge at the Townsville 400 however we do have backup in place if we don't reach our target. The commercial team are always working on gaining new sponsors

Thanks so much guys for all the questions and I really appreciate your support. Please feel free to post more questions, if I get some more time I'll try to get back to you ASAP. It's time to go get ready for our test day which is happening tomorrow at Qld Raceway.

Thanks again and hopefully see you at the track soon.

Hi lee!

Simple enough question, how did you hear about doge?

I'm a big NASCAR fan, so when I saw Josh Wise race at Talladega that's when I jumped online and had a look. It's a great concept! Nothing better than cutting the middle man out of transactions

G'day Lee, thanks for stopping by. Couple of questions:

1. Are you happy with Erebus's progress this year, and do you think the team will be able to keep up the improvement throughout this season?

2. How are the other drivers reacting to the Dogecoin sponsorship?

1. Absolutely, the steps we have taken over the past year and a half have been huge and well beyond my expectations. I guess we didn't expect to be so competitive in the first part of this season after a really tough 2013. It's a credit to everyone and V8 Supercars is a team sport. I have every bit of faith we will continue to make gains throughout the rest of this season and become a consistent front running team by the end of the year.

2. There is a lot of interest and they all what to know what it is about seeing Josh Wise pick up the backing for his NASCAR has really lifted the recognition of what dogecoin has to offer

Hey Lee, Been a fan of yours since the GRM days, your one of the drivers in the field who doesn't need to push people of the track to pass them. Not naming any names of course. Seeing you and Craig Baird back together is awesome, hopefully you can one better then Sandown effort from last year.

This question is a bit different, but when you got broken into, why did you have a baseball bat, and not a cricket bat? Just confused me slightly!

Have a good one mate, take a leaf out of Scotty's book and give it some jandal!!!

Thanks very much for the support mate!

I'm stoked to be back with Bairdo for the enduros and can't wait for the Enduro Cup to kick off again soon.

Haha good question about the baseball bat... It's funny because I got a baseball bat as a gift from the baseball team in Austin Texas so I brought it home and thought under the bed would make a great spot for it if need be, which panned out well!

Hi Lee...the V8 Supercar Series is unique on the world stage. The 1000 is one of the most challenging races in the world. It brings out great competitors from around the world. The question I have would centers around the races you would like to run. If you could have the chance to attempt any races you wanted what events would you race at?

Umm tough question all I ever wanted to do was race V8 Supercars for a living and the Bathurst 1000 is the pinnacle for me.

However I would love to one day do the Le-Mans 24 or Spa 24 races

If you were going to race at Le Mans, would you want to capture overall or a certain class?

Overall would be the goal, after all if you're not first you're last!

Hey Lee huge fan! Do you prefer racing GT cars or the v8 supercars around Bathurst? How long do you think Erebus can operate without a consistent major sponsor?

Love the erebus Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 car but there really is nothing quite like man handling a V8 Supercar around one of the best tracks in the world, Bathurst.

Obviously it is not ideal to not have a major sponsor but we are generating a lot of interest with our results and it's only a matter of time before we have someone on board. We continue to receive strong backing from our current sponsors which is keeping us on grid. Betty is committed to V8 Supercars long term.

So I met Will Davison at the Indy 500 last week. Great guy! That said, why should you be my favorite Erebus driver over him?

haha If you'd met me I'd already be your favourite ;)

Hey Lee! What has the change in team dynamic been from your days in GRM to Stone Brothers to Erebus? How would you compare your headspace now compared to this time last year?

Hope to see you cracking the top 10 in the championship at the end of the year!

The team dynamic is was very different from GRM to SBR. Although Ross & Jimmy were similar to Garry in that they are all hardcore racers. Now as erebus the personnel has remained mostly the same as SBR which is fantastic. Currently the vibe is better than ever.

Compared to last season I am in a much better headspace than last season obviously having a car that is much more competitive means it is much more enjoyable to be racing on track.

Hi Lee, which track anywhere in the world would you like to see on the V8 Supercar calendar that isn't on there already?

I think Laguna Seca would be an amazing track to drive, certainly is on the Playstation anyway!

Hey Lee,

I was sitting down at turn one at Melbourne this year, just have to say the Erebus cars looked really fine down there, nice and balanced!

How have you been finding driving the Mercs compared to a Commodore and was it an easy transition between the two? Also would you like to see the Melbourne round become a full championship round with 10 taking over the broadcasting rights of the series next year?

Big fan of you guys, can't wait to see you all at Ipswich!

Jarred

Hi Jarred I think the hardest transition had to of been from the Holden to the SBR Ford. A much different package to drive and took me a while to get used to. When I finally got used to it we then changed to a Mercedes-Benz AMG! The Mercedes-Benz is again a little different to drive than the Ford but everyone had to change to the Car of the Future which was a different style of driving for everyone.

I'd like to see the Melbourne round as part of our championship. I think it is much more likely with Channel 10 and Foxtel next year.

Thanks champ.

What cars do you drive when not on the track?

Please see answer in one of questions below. Thanks

If you don't have a ride in V8, which series do you think you would be racing instead?

If I could get a steer in the DTM series in Germany I reckon that would be another really competitive category with super talented drivers.

Did you enjoy the race at Texas last year? What did you think of the track?

As an American V8 Supercars fan, I would LOVE to see you guys visit our country more.

Ameristralia for the win!

Absolutely loved racing in Texas... I couldn't believe how much support V8 Supercars had over there from the fans!! I'm really hoping to get back there next year and have not just one event but 2 or 3 in North America.

Hi Lee, There was rumours flying around about a possible change to Vovlo in the near future? What's the chances of that happening?

PS I have a been fan of Erebus since day one and literally shed a tear when you took the checkered flag at Winton. I would hate to see Mercedes AMG leave the series

Hi there, yeah there were a few rumours floating around. Obviously our team are on the move forward so there has been a lot of interest from others to get involved. I would personally love to stay with Mercedes-Benz AMG and I know it is the preference of the team as well. I would really like to think we will have them onboard in the near future.

haha thanks for gunning for us. There were plenty of water works in the erebus camp at Winton I can assure you

Hey Lee,

I've been a supporter for many years, even though Stone Brothers was a Ford outfit. It's great to see Erebus take the step into V8 Supercars and I've been an ardent supporter from the moment it was announced. It's a different feeling being in a sea of red and blue supporters at Townsville races backing the new (best) brand in the field. No real question other then will there be superdoge merchandise at the event?

Unfortunately due to timelines there will be no V8Superdoge merchandise at the Townsville event. Thanks for your support, it's great to have fans like you guys.

Good Morning Lee! Thanks for the AMA.

Have you ever had the chance to drive the SLS AMG Black? :O

Hi, no but I would love to get my hands on one!!

My C63 AMG goes hard so I couldn't imagine how hard the SLS AMG Black goes!

What's the best reaction you've gotten from racing the doge car?

While we are yet to race the V8 Superdoge the outside interest from people not generally a fan of V8 Supercars has been fantastic. The community is a real force.

Do u have another job outside of v8supercars/Erebus? Or any projects going on?

Being a V8 Supercar driver is a full time job to be honest. I do a lot of training when I'm not in the workshop or at events with sponsors. I would love to have another project on the side but driving requires 100% focus on the job so I don't need anything taking away from that.

awsome mate! good to hear! will be seeing u at ipswich and goldy races!! go hard mate!!!

Great, see you out there mate

Hey Lee, Big fan - Do think it sucks that commodore cup has disappeared too? Some great guys to come out of that class - No doubt Old Ray is missing it too!

Yeah definitely, Commodore Cup was a great class for guys like myself and my brother who didn't have the big dollars to get into Formula Ford or Formula 3 etc. The problem was the cars were getting too old and there were a lot of people coming in spending a lot of money in the end so it became too hard to sustain as a cheap category.

No doubt Ray is missing it. He was the face of that category!