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Dragos Chitulescu

1,573  ARTICLES

Personal motto:

Do, or Do Not. There is no try!

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I have been obsessed with cars and motorcycles for as long as I can remember. From agreeing with dentist appointments only in exchange for diecast cars, to buying diecast cars with my lunch money in elementary school, to spending hours and hours playing any video games with cars and bikes in it.

The Fast and the Furious series has had quite an impact on me back in the day, and Tokyo Drift made me realise that drifting would be one day a part of my life, and that I would also absolutely have to go to Japan and experience the amazing car scene over there for myself.

A few years later I was graduating from the MyWay Drift School in Hungary, and actively being involved in the professional drifting scene in Europe. Attending the SEMA Show for a few years in a row only added to my love for cars, and experiencing Japan first hand on two different occasions ultimately almost had me relocate so that I could go immerse myself deeper into the drifting scene.

Instead, I chose to follow up on two other dreams, and I ended up spending a good chunk of my life savings buying a rotary powered, 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II, which I had been actively dreaming about for more than a decade. And because the love for two wheels never faded either, I even went on to ride a few race bikes around the local racetrack, alongside with buying a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S for daily adventures.

I have been actively working on various media projects, mostly revolving around motorsports since 2009, and joining Autoevolution has come as sort of a natural progression, as I aim to share my love for cars and motorcycles with the world and further experience more of what the automotive industry has got to offer.
10 Best Hot Wheels Mainline Cars of 2023
10 Best Hot Wheels Mainline Cars of 2023

27 Dec 2023, 12:56 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I haven't made any significant steps with my Hot Wheels collection in 2023. But I've bought around 40 or 50 new items from multiple series. Still, I've kept a close eye on everything Mattel, and it would be cool to do a short review ...

 
Hot Wheels Set of Five Cars Celebrates 100 Years of Disney
Hot Wheels Set of Five Cars Celebrates 100 Years of Disney

26 Dec 2023, 19:58 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / There are a few things I love about collecting Hot Wheels cars. One of them is that you will rarely, if ever, find two people with the same line-up of vehicles. With so many items, each collection will have something that sets it apart. Plenty o...

 
2024 Hot Wheels Case E Reveals Fifth Super Treasure Hunt of the Year
2024 Hot Wheels Case E Reveals Fifth Super Treasure Hunt of the Year

26 Dec 2023, 09:48 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  A new wave of Hot Wheels cars is on its way for 2024. We will again face the difficult decision of choosing which will make it into our collection. Even if you are okay with spending thousands of dollars on diecast cars, buying every single p...

 
What's Next in 2024: Electric Motorcycles and Scooters
What's Next in 2024: Electric Motorcycles and Scooters

26 Dec 2023, 08:30 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  The world is changing right before our eyes, and there's only one thing we can do: adapt. Whether we like it or not, cars and motorcycles of tomorrow will no longer rely on internal combustion engines. Some still hope that biofuels will ...

 
5 Automotive Wishes That Came True for Me in 2023
5 Automotive Wishes That Came True for Me in 2023

25 Dec 2023, 13:05 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  2023 has been good for me, and I hope it has been the same or even better for you. Looking back, I'm almost shocked that many of my wishes have come true. I've faced a few difficult moments, too, but one should not dwell on negative...

 
What's Next in 2024: All Things Motorsport
What's Next in 2024: All Things Motorsport

25 Dec 2023, 07:47 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  Seven years have gone by since my life has taken a different turn. For over six years, I used to travel the world for pro drifting, working closely with series and drivers alike. At the end of each season, exhaustion made me eager for the win...

 
Three Years of Hot Wheels Car Culture 2-Packs: Who Is the King?
Three Years of Hot Wheels Car Culture 2-Packs: Who Is the King?

24 Dec 2023, 11:25 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  The primary objective of any company is to turn a profit. Achieving that goal requires several things. If you want to sum it up in a few words, I'd go for a good product, a strong marketing team, and a hungry sales team. Mattel has all o...

 
5 Best Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2004
5 Best Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2004

24 Dec 2023, 07:50 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I've bought way too many Hot Wheels cars this month. For the price I paid for them, I could have almost bought a set of tires for the RX-7. Juggling with two expensive hobbies is tricky if you don't make six figures a year. But toning...

 
2024 Hot Wheels Ultra Hots Mix 1 Is a Winning Combo of Eight Cars
2024 Hot Wheels Ultra Hots Mix 1 Is a Winning Combo of Eight Cars

23 Dec 2023, 20:39 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I sometimes measure the success of a new Hot Wheels series by how fast it sells out. If I never see one in a store near me or for sale from a local collector, that has to mean something. I fell in love with the Ultra Hots Porsche 934.5 from Mix...

 
Hot Wheels Celebrated 10 Years of Treasure Hunting in 2005
Hot Wheels Celebrated 10 Years of Treasure Hunting in 2005

23 Dec 2023, 07:53 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / Some of the biggest companies on Earth today have been around for decades. They've passed the test of time, failed many times, but always rose to the occasion. The more I learn about Mattel, the more impressive I find its story. The diecas...

 
5 Best Hot Wheels Collector Edition Cars of 2023
5 Best Hot Wheels Collector Edition Cars of 2023

19 Dec 2023, 20:01 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / Having a good memory can be crucial to a collector. Once you've accumulated several hundred items, how else can you remember them? You will need some tracking, as knowing every tiny detail can be downright impossible. I pride myself in kno...

 
Hot Wheels Elite 64 Version of an Audi RS 7 Will Cost $20
Hot Wheels Elite 64 Version of an Audi RS 7 Will Cost $20

18 Dec 2023, 18:29 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I went shopping for Christmas presents today. But as I passed the Hot Wheels aisle, I had to stop for a minute. The store had restocked hundreds of cars, and I found a replica of Vaughn Gittin JR.'s old drift-spec Ford Mustang. We're ...

 
Diecast Collector Owns More Than 800 Cars, Worth More Than a Small House
Diecast Collector Owns More Than 800 Cars, Worth More Than a Small House

17 Dec 2023, 06:49 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / People develop affinities towards certain brands for multiple reasons. And I've found that these reasons are often rooted in childhood memories regarding cars and motorcycles. "My dad had a car like this," "This was the bike I l...

 
6 Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2005
6 Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2005

16 Dec 2023, 08:14 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / Ten years ago, I felt like kids no longer cared about cars. But that is different today. More and more youngsters are interested in getting cool vehicles from 20 years ago, and I'm especially aware of this phenomenon regarding the Mazda RX-8. ...

 
Exclusive Matchbox Version of a Jeep Gladiator Will Cost $25
Exclusive Matchbox Version of a Jeep Gladiator Will Cost $25

12 Dec 2023, 19:42 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / Do you remember being at school and realizing you hadn't done your homework? Then, you ask one of your classmates if you can copy it from him, and he says: "Ok, but change things up a bit so that nobody can tell." It's incred...

 
5 Best Hot Wheels Subaru Cars
5 Best Hot Wheels Subaru Cars

10 Dec 2023, 07:27 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu /  Today, I spent $20 on Hot Wheels cars. I finally found the Mazda RX-8 from Tokyo Drift at a decent price and bought two. One goes into my collection, and the other is straight to a fellow RX-8 enthusiast. The third car is the new black FC3S, ...

 
5 Porsche Reasons to Spend $7 Million
5 Porsche Reasons to Spend $7 Million

9 Dec 2023, 21:52 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I often hear people say that money doesn't bring happiness. And for the most part, I agree. You can still be unhappy even if you have millions of dollars in your account. But then again, you have many more options to forget about your day-to-d...

 
5 Best Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2006
5 Best Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Cars of 2006

9 Dec 2023, 13:58 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I finally decided to pull the trigger on the new Hot Wheels Mazda RX-8 earlier today. For weeks, I opted against paying almost four times the market value. Scalpers bought every item in stock from all the stores in a manageable reach, and I wanted ...

 
New Matchbox Case of Tiny Cars Reveals a Porsche 356A and Six More Items
New Matchbox Case of Tiny Cars Reveals a Porsche 356A and Six More Items

6 Dec 2023, 19:20 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / For some reason, I haven't found any new Matchbox cars in any store around me for months. Either retailers in the area don't care about these products, or someone has bought them all before my arrival. Either way, more of these are in...

 
Ken Block's Secret Final Stunt
Ken Block's Secret Final Stunt

6 Dec 2023, 14:00 UTC · By: Dragos Chitulescu / I'm a big fan of Frank Herbert's Dune series. And if I would summarize the entire media franchise into one sentence, it would be this: Fear is the mind-killer. Most people are afraid of death, but should we let something that's guara...

 

Stories by Dragos Chitulescu