Bill Gates Once Racked Up 3 Speeding Tickets On One Trip—Now He's Driving A Red Electric Fiat That Tops Out At 100 MPH, A Birthday Gift From Bono

Bill Gates once tore down highways in turbocharged Porsches and stacked speeding tickets like trading cards. Now? He's cruising around Seattle in a cherry red Fiat 500e with a top speed of just 100 mph—because Bono gave it to him.

Yes, that Bono.

In a CBS News interview last month, the Microsoft co-founder opened up about his past—and his car history is every bit as telling as his software legacy. Long before he became the face of global philanthropy, Gates was the guy with a heavy foot and a serious thing for fast cars. His favorite back then? A Porsche 911 Turbo. And he drove it like he stole it.

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"It was driving from Albuquerque up to Seattle that I got three very serious speeding tickets," Gates told CBS. When asked if that was on one trip, Gates confirmed with a laugh: "On that one trip. But, it's a long trip!"

Gates has long had a love affair with engineering brilliance. Alongside the 911, he famously owned a Porsche 959—so advanced for its time that it was actually illegal to drive in the U.S. for years. Only after lobbying efforts and the 1999 "Show or Display" law did Gates finally get to enjoy it on American soil. The thing could hit 197 mph.

That's a long way from the 100-mph max of the Fiat 500e RED he drives now. The car—an all-electric compact EV—was a birthday gift from Bono, part of their shared mission to combat AIDS and other global health crises through the charity (RED). A portion of every sale goes to the Global Fund.

"We've been working together on this global health stuff for a long time," Gates told CBS.

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So, what does it say about Gates that he's swapped German muscle for an electric Fiat with a philanthropic twist? A lot, actually—and it's exactly what makes his latest project, "Source Code: My Beginnings," feel so different from your average billionaire memoir.

This isn't a rags-to-riches rehash or a victory lap. Gates takes readers back to the early wiring of his brain—his analytical, socially awkward, rule-testing younger self—and shows how all of it, even the reckless speeding, led to something much bigger. 

"Here is the set-up, the source code that almost certainly was going to lead to some pretty amazing impact," he said of the book.

It's clear that Gates isn't just telling stories for nostalgia. He's piecing together the building blocks—coding in reverse, if you will—to help explain how a Harvard dropout ended up with $80 billion in philanthropic grants under his belt. And sure, he's still the Microsoft guy in most people's minds, even though he stepped down as CEO 25 years ago. But now, he's more at home behind the wheel of a modest electric car than launching Windows 95 to the tune of the Rolling Stones.

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One of the most human moments in the CBS segment came not from a speech or a global health stat, but when Gates pulled into a Seattle drive-in—BurgerMaster, a local favorite—and looked every bit like the kid he once was. Not a billionaire. Not a tech icon. Just a guy who still remembers where he came from.

"My social skills were very slow to develop," he admitted. "So, except for a few boys similar to me, I didn't have that many friends."

He's not asking for sympathy. He's just being Bill—precise, analytical, and a little awkward in the most relatable way.

From Porsches to philanthropy, Gates' journey has always been about momentum. These days, it just happens to run on electricity.

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