Duck flies around Sandown
16 Sep 2015
Former AFL star and media personality Wayne Carey was in awe of V8 Supercars drivers after being strapped in for a hot lap with Lee Holdsworth at Sandown Raceway yesterday.
Carey - who says he keeps up with the V8 Supercars, particularly Bathurst - jumped into Holdsworth's Preston Hire coloured VF Holden Commodore yesterday at the 3.1km Sandown circuit, which has top speeds around 270km/h.
The lap has Carey pumped for next month's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, and he says Holdsworth will now be the driver he follows.
"There was fear and excitement at the same time," he told v8supercars.com.au.
"It's blown me away, I absolutely loved it.
"I'm not sure I'd want to do it for a living but just the intensity of it - to be able to keep that concentration levels lap after lap after lap, corner after corner, is just quite incredible and the reflexes are just in another world.
"It's a whole new level of respect for what these guys do."
He and Holdsworth talked fitness and training before the lap and while Carey said he knew the drivers were extremely fit, it was the level of focus that seemed to impress him most.
"We speak to Greg Rust on a Saturday morning and Mark Howard [on Triple M] who obviously have a lot to do with motorsport and they constantly tell me how fit these guys are.
"But it's not just fitness, the reflexes and concentration - I'm not sure there's too many sports where you have to concentrate as much as these guys have to."
Carey's experience comes ahead of the year's biggest race, which kicks off on October 8, with the 1000km classic on Sunday October 11.
"Absolutely I'll be tuning in," he said.
"I watched last year, it was an exciting race last year and I'll be tuning in again for this year for sure, and obviously now Lee will be my man that I follow. Really looking forward to watching."
While Carey's name has been in the media recently, he was pleased to hit the circuit yesterday and looks forward to the footy finals unfolding over the next few weeks.
"I'm all good, everything is going well, looking forward to the finals this week and glad I got through a couple of laps on the Sandown race track," he said.
Holdsworth will tackle Bathurst with international star Sebastien Bourdais, after finishing seventh at Sandown on Sunday.
