Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
One of the best parts of writing for a site like MBWorld is the ability to justify watching clips of awesome vehicles on YouTube. (“I’m not goofing off. I’m working!”) A great source of automotive footage is Marchettino, who always seems to be around exotics with a video camera in hand. The car porn paparazzo […] More »
Mercedes-Benz has cooked up a snack-sized container of alphabet soup: the 2015 GLA45 AMG. Its hand-built, direct-injected and turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine serves up 355 horsepower and 332 lb.-ft. of torque. Those figures make it “the most powerful series-production four-cylinder engine in the world.” AMG’s 4MATIC all-wheel-drive and SPEEDSHIFT DCT dual-clutch seven-speed transmission digest that […] More »