Mark Webber meets fans in Shropshire
He is one of the fastest men on Earth, but former Formula One driver Mark Webber slowed down into a more relaxed gear when he met fans in Shropshire.
Webber, who finished third in the F1 World Championship in 2010, spent yesterday evening in Oswestry talking about the highs and lows of his career – which saw him take nine wins, 42 podiums and 13 pole positions from 215 race starts.
About 300 people packed the school hall at The Marches School in Morda Road and the racer signed copies of his new autobiography, Aussie Grit, for fans. Webber said: "It's great to be here. I'm pretty stoked to hear it's a sell-out.
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"It's a long way to come up here but worth it to see all these fans turn out on a cold, windy, rainy night to hear me rabbit on."
He spoke to the audience about his favourite tracks, describing Suzuka in Japan as the most challenging, while describing Monaco as "a bit like driving around Oswestry – or at least it was tonight".
Tim Morris, from Booka bookshop in Oswestry, which organised the visit,
said: "It's not every day a genuine F1 star comes to Oswestry and the buzz that surrounded it was fantastic. The event sold out in two days and we could have sold it twice over.
"Mark is only doing two speaking events in the UK and then he is off to race in Bahrain. We have been incredibly privileged to have him here."
