Welcome to ‘The Drive.’ This page is my biography version of me becoming a businessman, investor, and athlete. And I like to connect Motorsport, aka my passion, with real life. I believe life is not just one single race but a series of practice sessions, qualifying, races, championships, and seasons.
Why Motorsport?
On a 1995 summer night in Italy, I convinced my parents to let me ride a bumper car. That night, my dad knew that I would become a racing driver sometime in my life.
While it sounds wild to me that a 3-year-old kid can define his future that soon. However, as it turns out, my dad was right.
In late summer 1998, I turned 5 and was old enough to step into a Go-Kart to race official races. This was when my passion began to evolve and define what I wanted to become when I was older.
A few years later, in May 2001, I watched an F1 race and met my hero, Mika Häkkinen. This was when I knew I wanted to be involved in racing for the rest of my life.
Now, I was very fortunate that my dad had done everything possible to let me drive in championships in Germany.
Later in life, I realized that many people cannot find out what having a passion feels like. And this has become my mission. Show people what’s out there so they can decide what to do in their life.
What has Motorsport to do with Real Life?
As mentioned above, I connected everything from Motorsport to real life. So let me explain what is what so you understand it too.
Let’s start with simple analogies and go to more complex ones.
A Championship is made of several races throughout the year. In other words, challenges you have conquered over the year. Whether it is to pick up a hobby, build new friendships, make habit changes, etc. Some of them were successful, while others were not.
A season has one championship and two breaks, one summer and one winter break. But, in real life, it’s the evaluation process. First, you evaluate what changes had a positive impact and which ones hadn’t. Then you take the time to define what changes you have to make to get closer to your goal.
Your team is a group of people that guide you through each season to finish as high as possible. This can be a little tricky, especially because you depend on them to succeed & you have to hire them for the outcome you desire. Now, here it gets tricky. Your team is not just people. It’s also the books you consume, podcasts you listen to, TV shows you watch, people you surround yourself with, etc.
The driver. Well, this is simple. You are the driver, AND you are the team leader. You put in the work, and you are the one who’s observing the entire operation. You need to feel how the car behaves under pressure. You need to sit down with your team and discuss what the car feels like in specific circumstances.
Lastly, the team boss. A team has about 500 people that leads your car to success at the end of a championship. Unfortunately, spectators only see 10% of people during a racing weekend. So, you need to hire, fire, and maintain your team members to deliver 100%. Every day, all year round. This means you make new friends, let other friends go, get new books, and watch a different genre. So that you as an individual become better and closer to your goal.
Niclas Haritos 