[Video] Mark Webber on driving the first ever Porsche 917 | GRR
Being a professional racing driver must be awesome, mustn’t it? Travelling across the country, perhaps even the world, driving fast cars on some amazing tracks – what a way to live. Being a former World Endurance Champion, though, has perks beyond the normal world of professional driving. Driving the very first Porsche 917 has to be right up there.
Mark Webber, nine-time F1 race winner, eight-time WEC race winner and 2015 WEC champion might not have won Le Mans during his time with Porsche but he’s one of the world’s most recognisable and friendly drivers, and it’s fair to say he can be trusted behind the wheel of any car on the planet. It’s understandable then that at the 77th Members’ Meeting he was strapped into Porsche 917 chassis 001, the first 917 made and the car that was shown on Porsche’s stand at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show.
The car had just had a full restoration to celebrate its 50th birthday, and its adventure on track at Goodwood was its first proper run. Mark was the lucky man behind to jump into the cockpit. Not a bad set of weekend wheels, wouldn’t you agree?