Cristian Gnaticov

Growing up in the communist regime, little Cristian knew the local cars, whose models you could count using the fingers on one hand, by their sound. Scale models were a luxury back then, so he turned to old magazines for glimpses of famous models sold in the West.

Shortly after the regime fell, he started school and got his first four-wheeled toys. Not long after, he experienced the "brute force" of an old Dacia (long before the current Renault era) far away from public roads - and he instantly knew that his life won't have any meaning for the next 10 years or so, when he could get his license and take on the roads on his own.

As years slowly passed, his father started teaching him the basic parking and turning maneuvers. And before he knew it, he turned 18 and got his prized license.

He spent the next few years going to car meets and the occasional drag race, as part of local clubs, and when he finished school and started earning his first money, he knew what he had to do: modify an old Dacia (his first true love) and go rallying.

So the arduous process began. Finding a good engine, transmission and suspension, upgrading the brakes and reinforcing the chassis. An old Renault 5 Alpine supplied the power unit, whereas the suspension and brakes came from a Dacia factory rally car.

Countless sleepless nights later, his baby was almost ready to hit the asphalt, gravel and other fun surfaces. Unfortunately, a string of events that included a garage fire, among others, killed his dream. So, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living, and the rest is history.

He worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s.