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<\/p>\nMick Doohan does not stop. He cannot stop.<\/p>\n
A monster crash might have put a red line through his career as a MotoGP racer, but what it also did was to spark the start of his second life as a super-successful businessman.<\/p>\n
Doohan now splits his time and his life between the monied world of Monaco and his home base on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where you might expect him to throttle back to enjoy the surf and sunshine. Not likely.<\/p>\n
He is still flat-out on the next deal, as well as guiding the motorsport career of his son Jack and looking for junior\u2019s next opportunity after Argentine Franco Colapinto stole his seat at Alpine before he got a fair crack at Formula One. He is an aviation entrepreneur, a financial wizard and more. The phone never stops.<\/p>\n
Doohan has recently turned 60 but is still super-fit, focussed, and chasing success.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m happy, but I\u2019m not a billionaire. I enjoy what I do, and that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d Doohan tells Wheels. \u201cThe game of business is what I enjoy. I was fortunate to race bikes, and I enjoyed that. I grew up racing bikes. But do you want to finish third and be happy, or do you want to win? I enjoy business and I get as much buzz out of doing a deal, and winning a deal, as I did when competing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doohan is spending the southern summer months in Australia as usual with his wife Selina and will be joined at some point by Jack and their daughter Alexis, who works in IT.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re enjoying spending time here. I spend anywhere up to six months a year still in Europe. It\u2019s for business and with Jack,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Their home base is a sprawling compound at Coomera, at the northern end of the Gold Coast,
although there is also a beach house that Jack has often used for surfing.<\/p>\n
Bright new houses are marching up from the M1 freeway towards the virgin bushland surrounding the Doohan home, which was once an isolated oasis along a narrow country road. But the driveway still looks more like the entrance to a luxury resort, and it opens out to the multi-storey main house with pool, smaller houses for guests or workers, a tennis court, a huge shed that includes his office and even a go-kart track.<\/p>\n
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Apart from the Doohans and a string of their family guests over the years including Michael Schumacher, the home is well known for hosting A-list celebrities during Australian visits for movie making. Johnny Depp was one, also Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who Doohan flew in his personal helicopter.<\/p>\n
The house was finished back in the mid 2000s and has been on the market for a time, with a price tag somewhere over $30 million that would set local real estate records, but that\u2019s no longer a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not on the market. If somebody wants to buy it, then it\u2019s for sale. It\u2019s mostly only Selina and I living here these days,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The garage houses a couple of AMG master-blasters, as Doohan has been a brand ambassador for the go-faster division at Mercedes-Benz for more than 20 years, although his upside-down exit from Targa Tasmania is not something to re-visit. There is a MotoGP inspired Honda road bike, too.<\/p>\n
The house also includes Doohan\u2019s trophy room, a vast shiny collection of championship winning
motorcycles, cups and plaques. There are also a few special helmets swapped with mates, including one from Schumacher, as well as the evil-looking contraption that was attached to Doohan\u2019s leg \u2013 to be wound out every morning to try and lengthen his smashed bones \u2013 through his final recuperation.
It\u2019s been a couple of months since Doohan, a Gemini \u2013 \u201cI guess so, I don\u2019t take too much notice\u201d \u2013 passed his 60th milestone but he barely seems to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel the same as 59 really. It doesn\u2019t bother me. So long as I\u2019m still mobile and healthy,\u201d he casually says.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s a big deal for Doohan, whose legs still look like they\u2019ve been through a meat grinder after a series of evil crashes on the wicked two-stroke Hondas that delivered him his five world titles and the cash to transition to life after racing (above). Is he still in pain?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. At the moment, everything seems ok so hopefully that continues for a while,\u201d he responds. \u201cNo doubt I will slow up at some point. Although my legs and the scars look pretty bad, eventually the doctors who put me back together did a good job. Continuing to do some activity helps with that. Stretching is the main thing as you get older. You become a little bit stiffer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still living life as I always have. I\u2019ve got a gym here. Normally I try do things here in Australia,
cycling if I\u2019m in Europe. Just enough so I don\u2019t rust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Physical status accounted for, he was keen to move on to other topics.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemaining nimble is the key,\u201d he said, talking about business as much as exercise.Winding back, Mighty Mick was forced to retire in 1999 after another monster crash when the back wheel of his bike skidded on a white line and he was flicked off. Most people think it was leg injuries which stopped him, but there was also a shoulder injury \u2013 a bolt from a sign penetrated his back \u2013 that compromised his ability to ride. Does he still miss it?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, not at all,\u201d Doohan begins. \u201cWhilst you\u2019re doing that, nothing else seems important. To be that focussed is important. I enjoyed what I did, but I only enjoyed winning. You could tell if I wasn\u2019t happy. You can\u2019t be good and not like what you\u2019re doing \u2013 you\u2019ll burn yourself out.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I did it for 10 seasons, and that is a long career in motorcycle racing, sport is a pretty narrow window of your overall life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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What came next was predictable for anyone who had seen Team Doohan in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike anyone in sport, when it\u2019s been your profession, there is always a transition. But having good
people around me, I was always aware that I had to plan for an exit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some stuff going on here and also in Europe, because that\u2019s where we were residing predominantly in the mid to late 2000s.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what does winning look like in 2025?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a businessman,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it depends how you want to clarify a businessman. I\u2019m very focussed on what we do, which is investment and aviation. But my occupation is more than just an investor.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days Doohan is a senior executive with Jetcraft, after buying into the international aviation powerhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought into the company years ago, but it\u2019s been going for 62 years,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt started in the US but is now based in the UK. There are sales, charter operations, managing aircraft here in Australia. We\u2019ve got aircraft flying around the world. This year we\u2019re on track to sell 190 corporate aircraft. We\u2019re a global business. We\u2019ve got about 130 staff. Thirty offices around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
His passion for aviation is reflected in the scale models of helicopters and private jets dotted around his office. He can quote the specifications of all the front-line private jets, their range and running costs, as well as the prices. He talks about aircraft the way most people talk about cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aviation takes up a lot of time on what we do. And then there\u2019s the investment group, which is run out of Brisbane. We have a company called City Finance, and I\u2019m one of the investors in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doohan also owns FBO operations \u2013 it stands for Fixed Base Operator and covers fuel, parking and hangar space \u2013 at the Gold Coast and in Melbourne. He was once a certified jet pilot and owned a series of aircraft but has wound back a bit. He retains his helicopter licence and had been flying just a couple of days before the Wheels visit, although the giant hanger below his office is missing the Airbus helicopter which once filled the space.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now dominated by a giant mural painted on the back wall showing Mick and Jack in action. Mick is on his Honda 500cc GP bike and Jack is at the wheel of the Alpine F1 car he briefly raced. There are also go-karts and road bikes, as well as the cute Fiat 500 that Alexis used while learning to drive. Can he tell us anything about what\u2019s happening with Jack (below)?<\/p>\n
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Doohan is reluctant to provide any detail, as rumours swirl in the F1 paddock that Jack will be the reserve driver for the Haas team in 2026 and could also be racing powerful single seaters in Super Formula, in Japan, to keep sharp.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack is highly regarded within that industry. Unfortunately, there are only 20 seats in Formula One,\u201d said Doohan. \u201cHe was a paid F1 driver with a three-year contract. Unfortunately, the leadership of the team changed and some other things changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s fine. He knows he wasn\u2019t ousted because of performance. He out-qualified Pierre Gasly in China in only his second race. He was already there. He just needed a bit more time, luck, and some mileage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doohan said Jack\u2019s long-term plan is still in motorsport, although when the subject of Supercars in Australia was raised, he quickly replied with \u201cI wouldn\u2019t think so\u201d.<\/p>\n
How does he rate his son?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re winning consistently\u2026 he put himself in that position. I\u2019ll let the statistics write the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Australia\u2019s bona fide sporting legends, Doohan now seems in a fulfilling place leading dual lives in motorsport and business, in Australia and Europe.<\/p>\n
His condominium in Monaco overlooks the start-finish straight and the harbour, and is a familiar home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my adult life has been in and around Monaco,\u201d he reflects. \u201cI know everyone there, I know which restaurant to go to. If I\u2019m in Europe that\u2019s where I will be \u2013 I\u2019m not a big fan of London.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [Monaco] is as central to everything today as it was when I was competing. You can go everywhere, and in the summer the motorsport is there, and in aviation, a lot of our clients are around. You\u2019re much more connected with business.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in Australia, you\u2019re a lot more isolated. There are 17,000 corporate aircraft in the US but only 240 in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Doohan is still the master of the stare-down, and he uses it to answer \u2013 or avoid \u2013 questions about his friends, his business associates, and even his personal bucket list. But he fires up again when the talk returns to Jetcraft.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe create opportunities for people, both selling and buying,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
It all boils down to the same thing that took him to the top of MotoGP racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fully transparent. We never over-promise and under-deliver. We just don\u2019t mess people around.
\u201cIt\u2019s all about \u2018How do we do this?\u2019 and then getting the result.\u201d<\/p>\n
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