Even in retirement, FIA World Endurance champ Mark Webber stays involved in the automotive world, especially in the country known as Porsche.
Longevity does not equal love. Doing something for a long time doesn’t mean you enjoy doing it. If you asked 100 people who work in an office job whether they’d continue doing it if they won a huge lottery jackpot, it’s safe to say more than 90 of them would laugh at you and ask, “Are you kidding?!”
Mark Webber spent decades training and risking death as a professional race car driver. He drove for teams ranging from Red Bull to Porsche in series such as Le Mans, Formula One, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. According to Webber’s site, he spent 12 years competing in Formula One. He drove for Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship series the last three years of his career, retiring at the end of the 2016 season.
Clearly, Webber hasn’t grown tired of cars. He’s not riding around in a golf cart on a sprawling course or playing bingo. He’s doing retirement the car guy way. Just take a look at the video above in which Webber hosts a brief tour of the new 911 GT3 RS. Of course, it’s kind of his job to be into cars…again. Particularly those with their engines in the back because Porsche made Webber, who ended his racing career behind the wheel of the Porsche 919 Hybrid, a brand ambassador.
We have a feeling his new job doesn’t feel like work, especially because he reveals in the video that he gets to spend a weekend driving the ultimate naturally aspirated 911 for more than 1,200 miles around Europe. Sounds like one hell of a business trip…and it looks as if Webber made a great career move after it officially ended.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
