Written by I won the Elizabeth Drake Award with a car that used to be my daily driver.
That still feels strange to say.
This wasn’t a purpose-built race car. It wasn’t trailered to events. It drove there, raced, and drove home again. Daylight runs, night rally, cold air, pressure building with every start line.
It was one of my most intense events. One of my best times came during the day. One of my biggest lessons came later — fuel starvation. In Romania, we call that “Pana Prostului.” When it’s not the car’s fault. It’s yours.
Race after race, mistake after mistake, I learned the car. And I think it learned me too.
But watching the footage back, something felt different.
Somewhere along the way, my daily stopped being my daily. It became the car I race. Track day. Park it. Repeat.
I turned it into a single-purpose machine.
And it was never meant to be that.
This car didn’t become special because I raced it. It became special because I lived with it — early mornings, fuel stops, ordinary roads, small moments that never make it to a highlight reel.
That’s what I’d been missing.
You don’t need a track to enjoy a car like this.
And I’m going to prove it.
