An interview with Oli Webb

Cheshire born Oli Webb, 25 is a British professional racing driver. Oli began his career in karting at the age of nine and has since gone on to win the European Le Mans, Dubai 24 hour championship and the Asian Le Mans. In an exclusive interview, Oli talks to Wirral Life about his career, dream cars and plans for 2017.

Oli Webb

You began your racing career aged 9 when you started karting, how did you get into it?

I started karting as a child whilst I was away on holiday and at karting parties with friends. I then progressed up to karting at Daytona Manchester regularly before qualifying for a licence to compete on a Pro Level. I won the championship in my first year of main stream competition.

It looks like your motor sport career followed the popular pattern of moving up from karting to Formula 3 (like Lewis Hamilton) but you then switched to serious endurance racing at a young age and you’ve become very successful – what made you choose this road?

I loved the single seater route, it was fantastic to get spotted as a young talent and BMW helped fund my young racing career before being with Mercedes in F3, much like Lewis. But then as the F1 world changed and financial situations with sponsors became the focus it was time for me to look elsewhere into a career that was long lasting and substantial. Endurance racing seemed the key and Le Mans being the main focus.

Amazingly, so far you have won 2014 European Le Mans championship, 2015 Dubai 24 hour championship and in 2016 you were the Asian Le Mans champion, which of these victories meant the most to you?

For me 2014 was my best year. Winning my first ever year in endurance racing for the French brand Renault Alpine. It was my first time I had ever been there and to stand on the podium at Le Mans was truly amazing, I’ll never forget it and I can’t wait to get back up there.

Apart from motor sport, you are a keen athlete and keep yourself ultra fit – What is your fitness regime and how disciplined are you?

I love to keep fit. Whether it be specifically for racing where I do gym training for the neck and upper body exercises, all the way through to triathlons that I try to compete in regularly. I actually did my first ever triathlon having never ridden a proper clip in bike, that was interesting! I train every day for 2 hours with one rest day most weeks. With the amount of travel I have to do, it’s very hard to keep up the routine but we have trainers at the tracks and a lot of help along the way!

I understand that you are also a budding film maker – what kind of films do you make? Is this an area you’d like to move into after your racing days?

Yes I enjoying making the odd YouTube or Instagram short film of my travels as well as some car related content. This is mainly for fun and also to make the most of the fact that I’m so lucky to do all this cool stuff and I feel I should film it and share it with family, friends and of course fans.

What is your favourite film?

That’s a hard one as I have so many but I love ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’

Who is your hero?

I think Zinardi the old F1 driver who lost both of his legs in an horrific F1 racing accident. He is now winning many Olympic gold medals as a paralympian and I find that very inspiring.

Have you been lucky enough to meet any racing legends?

I have indeed – I guess I’m now at a point in my career that I meet most of the legends at awards nights or TV work/Track functions that we do. However, the one legend that I have never met but would have loved to is Ayrton Senna!

What are your 3 dream cars?

Shelby Mustang GT500 1967
Porsche GT1
Ferrari La Ferrari

You’ve been to many different places around the world – which is your favourite and why?

If it had to be a city centre then it would be Tokyo in Japan. It’s beautiful, clean, the people are polite and I’ve although I’ve been there a number of times, I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface.

Where do you like to holiday? Do you unplug from work or do you always keep your tech with you?

Unfortunately I can never fully unplug. However, I like to go to new places all the time, adventure and document it, meet new people and explore places that I’ve not seen!

You are the test driver for Liverpool’s Supercar company BAC Mono, so when you are in town – what are your favourite places to eat?

I love my work at BAC Mono and it’s great to be in the area. I love eating at Neighbourhood on Castle Street in Liverpool – the vibe and food is right up my street.

You have a very busy schedule for 2017, but apart from “work” what other thing would you like to achieve this year?

I’d love to extend my stunt driving career – I’ve worked on two films so far and I would like to do more in 2017. I’d also like to further develop my personal company, Supercar Days, a specialised track day company. It’s all great fun and car related stuff away from my main focus of the motorsport calendar!

For any partnership, media or motorsport enquiries with Oliver Webb, please contact info@oliwebbracing.com or @OliverJamesWebb.

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