How to become a race car driver?

Romanian motorsports has seen some rare records, including from the sport's legends.

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 28.10.2025, 14:00

Romanian motorsports has seen some rare records, including from the sport’s legends. One such example is Mihai Alexandrescu, a car engineer and race car driver in his youth, from 1976 to 1983, who, once he went back to his old hobby, has made headlines in professional publications, setting many records:

”I started racing again in 2011, I took part in many competitions, I set participation records, there were years when I took part in 40 races in five championships, I was made a sports master, and I still race today. There are many championships at the moment: circuit speed racing, rallies, hill climb racing, drifting, parallel slalom on gravel racing, city racing on street circuits, and that’s only if we talk about the main championships of the Romanian Automobile Federation, which are awarded at the end of the year, when the National Championship titles are awarded. But Romanian Automobile Federation are around 15 different disciplines.”

We asked Mihai Alexandrescu what cars he uses in competitions in Romania:

“All kinds of cars can be used, from one-seaters, barchettas that are only for the circuit or for hill climb racing, or cars that have been modified from street cars, or cars specially made for rough terrain, such as off-road racing, which involve cars with the ability to overcome all kinds of bumps and obstacles, cars that are adapted for dirt roads, in parallel slalom races, which take place on rough terrain, or in autocross races. So there is a very wide variety of cars. There are also vintage cars that participate in these competitions, there is also a Historic Cars Championship, both for hill climb racing and for speed racing on the circuit, and cars that are over 30 years old participate in this championship. And they are also divided into all kinds of categories: by cylinder capacity, age groups, there is also a category of Dacian cars that have also become vintage and are very successful, and there’s quite a lot of them taking part in races.”

The year’s final speed circuit race was held in October at Adâncata, involving over 25 vintage Dacia cars, our interlocutor told us before the race, adding:

“In this speed competition on a circuit of vintage cars I’m racing with a 1974 Dacia, with a powerful 125 horsepower engine. Adâncata has a racing circut like those of Formula 1, and is located near the town of Urziceni, 70 kilometers from Bucharest.”