Even Porsche Works driver Mark Webber can’t text and drive
By Paulo Acoba
Watch as Mark Webber tries to negotiate a track while texting and driving. Suffice to say, it doesn’t end well.
In the 90’s it was all about buckling up. In the early 2000’s and long before that PSA’s reminded you that you should never drink and driver. But this decade has seen the rise of texting while driving and every motoring authority and car manufacturer has had their hand in this awareness campaign in one way or another now including Porsche. Earlier today (Nov. 12, 2015) Porsche teamed up with EX-F1 pilot and current Porsche works driver Mark Webber to find out what happens when you text while trying to navigate a racecourse. Check out that video below.
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First we get a glimpse of a fully kitted Mark Webber enter his Porsche 911 GT3 RS racecar ready to hit the track. Green lights are go and we’re in for a track time walloping right? Wrong. Webber gets a notification from his Wife Ann a couple of times and Webber’s bouncing all over the track with the guy reading his telemetry data shaking his head in disappointment.
And this isn’t the first time that a racecar driver has had a cellphone in his car during an actual race (not staged guys.) Back in 2012 NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski tweeted during the Daytona 500 causing a ban of all cellphones in the cockpit as far as NASCAR is concerned. That tweet is still available in one form or another online for everyone to enjoy.
1st tweet from a Driver during a race... Ever RT @keselowski: Fire!
— Brian Hoyt (@OhioBrian) February 28, 2012
My view pic.twitter.com/wMWVaVkb
It’s obviously staged and we’re more surprised that he’s using a blackberry more than anything, but the message is pretty clear. No one should be using their cellphones while driving. Heck, even pro-racing drivers can’t pull it off.
H/T- Road and Track