Under The Hood With Bobby McAlpine

Introducing Bobby McAlpine, our Porsche Centre Gold Coast Service Operations  Manager

Born for the tracks with a need for speed, Bobby McAlpine has never done life in the slow lane. Racing Porsches across the frozen lakes of Finland, flooring motorbikes across perilous tracks, or working trackside at the biggest Motorsports races across the globe - Bobby has rarely shifted out of fifth gear. 

Working in a backstreet garage in a small Scottish town in the 80s, Bobby found his passion for performance cars. It wasn’t until an advertisement for a sports car mechanic in Edinborough caught his eye that Bobby inadvertently found himself standing in the foyer of Porsche and Ferrari’s workshop. 

“When I pulled up to the interview, I had no idea that the role was with Porsche,” says Bobby. “I thought - I can’t go in there, that’s too much for me. My mate who had dropped me off told me - in no uncertain terms - to get out of the car and go in there. So, in I went. I’ve never looked back.”

Bobby secured the mechanic role and spent the next 30 years following the brand across race circuits, world tours and marquee events. Bobby admits it’s hard to pick a highlight from his adrenaline-packed adventures, but says there are a few standouts. 

“Winning the Dubai 24 Hour Race in 2007 was definitely a standout. To even finish a 24 hour race is a really good result - but to win it? That’s something else.” 

Today, Bobby heads up the Service Operations at our Porsche Centre Gold Coast. 

Having spent 20 years in the Porsche Centre Gold Coast workshop, Bobby has recently made the transition to the office, stepping into a customer-focused role. It’s a decision he admits he is adjusting to, as he gazes longingly over his shoulder into the workshop and tools on the bench. 

But it was a new challenge too tempting for the thrill-seeker to turn down as he embraces his new position, swapping spanners for emails. 

“It’s great that I now get more interaction with the customers. It’s not hard to find common ground when we share a language of cars. I get to spend my day discussing my passion with like minded customers and I couldn’t be luckier.” 

“Now I also get to oversee the progression of the team in the workshop that I have known for years, so that is really rewarding too.”

When he’s not in the workshop or office, the Scottish revhead can be found at the racetrack. Alongside his customer duties, Bobby is one of the instructors at the Porsche Track Experience Australia. As the only recreational race experience of its kind in the country, the Track Experience operates under one philosophy: you tell us your driving goal, and we ensure that you achieve it. 

“It’s a lot of fun being able to instruct people on how to get the best out of their cars. Make them drive a bit faster, a bit safer. One of the really good things about it for me is meeting a lot of different people that come from across the globe to do the Track Experience,” says Bobby.

“I used to do a lot of mechanic work in car racing overseas and this helps me stay close to that action. It’s really cool.”

For the man that has spent 30 years growing with the evolving Porsche brand, he is surprisingly quick to pick a favourite. 

“It would probably be 993 GT just for the sheer driving experience of that car. It really was the very last of the air-cooled 911 models,” he says. 

“I don't think it's the best Porsche by a country mile. But when you had to drive it fast, that's when you still really had to drive.”

And driving is precisely where you’ll find Bobby when he’s not tending to the vehicles or chatting with a customer. Be it on the back of a motorbike or behind the wheel of his beloved Porsche, you can rest assured that somewhere rubber will be flying over asphalt with Bobby McAlpine at the controls.