The Whole Story // risking it all for electric motorsport dreams

Spoiler alert!! Join us for 30 minutes along the way of our 13 hour drive home from Sweden and the last round of the NXT Gen Cup. You'll get to fast forward from the current season episodes (currently in June of 2022) and hear how our championship wrapped up. ************************ This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in th...

In a rare moment, our trio is dispersed and I'm on a plane, traveling back to Dusseldorf, solo. This episode is a bit of a mental recap for me of the entire journey so far, and a moment of quiet to consider how I'm going to get the mojo to keep pushing forward. ************************ This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road...

In this episode, I'm still home alone in Dusseldorf, eating bowls of corn flakes for dinner and trying to regroup. Finding perspective. Get inside my head here. ***************** This podcast is comprised of entries from the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly authentic and always with a sense of humor, I h...

50th episode!! This definitely feels like an accomplishment. And the topic of this episode, the feeling that parenting is just the amalgam of a million tiny decisions that create a Spidey-verse of infinite possibility, seems appropriate. It all only makes sense connecting the dots in hindsight. ************************ This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since...

This episode mostly occurs inside my head in pre-dawn hours, and explores my obsessive approach to new information in the electric motorsport space. It also admits that my best writing disappears into a liminal space where, apparently, I can't manage to keep a pen and paper. ************************ This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got o...

Let me tell you about the time Ellis flew 140kph backward into a tire wall in an electric go kart, fracturing his fibula and tearing his ACL. Good times. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly authentic and always with a sense of humor, I h...

Did you know that there is another whole WholeStory to be told? A prequel to the sequel. Seriously-- this entry is induced by a comment made by a good friend after listening to the first episodes of the podcast, and touches on a real and true existence lived wholly before the Age of Light. Someday I'll tell you all about it. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording o...

This episode which was written as a journal entry in May 2022, is after I've started publishing this podcast, and I have the realization that I'm now writing for an audience. That what goes in the journal ends up in these recorded episodes, and it's a real mind fuck. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day w...

If this episode had a title it would be called FreeFall, or Terminal Velocity or Shit Sandwich. This is the first time publishing an episode that I hesitated given the information I was revealing about our personal lives. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go...

Swimming upstream and racing in the snow-- literally. I didn't even get to the part in this episode where Frank burns down a hot tub at our Airbnb. That's gonna have to be a Story and a Half. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly a...

This episode is a meander of thoughts around the process of trying to get sponsors and investors on board with our crazy plan, and the inevitable frustration that goes along with it! ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly authentic and alwa...

The start of 2022 definitely starts off with some speed bumps, including Ellis getting into his first big wreck in a kart and us finding out that our dog, Riley, was dying. Oof. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly authentic and always wi...

Welcome to Season 3! What started as a two week break from recording over the Christmas holiday turned into a 6 month recording hiatus. Eek! This episode kicks off the start of 2022, arriving home to New Jersey for a few months and getting settled in just in time for Christmas morning and all the existential dread that accompanies it in mid-life. ******************************* This podcast is the...

For the final episode of Season Two, I brought my partner in crime and better half, Francesco, in for a Story and a Half! We talk about the Grand Finals in Bahrain (which I neglected to journal about at the time) and answer some questions submitted by our Ellysium Racing community. I'll be taking a few weeks off to move apartments (yes, again!) and get to Ellis's first race of the 2023 season. The...

This episode was also not part of my original journal, but I couldn't end the season without sharing the logistical & bureaucratic drama of once again trying to leave one continent for another at the approaching end of a race season.  Lost luggage, moving out of apartments (again) and heading home for four months in the US. Listen in, and stay tuned for the final episode of TheWholeStory...

**Disclaimer** This episode entry is actually not original to my journal. I realized that I had left a gaping hole from early November through getting home to the States for Christmas, probably due to the overwhelming amount of things that happened. I had to tell this bit of the story, so I've written about it here, post facto. If you'd like to check out a short video from Ellis's weekend at the S...

And right after our wedding anniversary comes Ellis's birthday, giving me a chance to reflect on how Ellis is growing as a person and racing driver, and what a bummer it is that Halloween isn't really a thing here. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation: 'The most terrifying day of your life is when your first child is born. Your life as you know it, is gone... never to return. But they learn how to w...

In episode_35, it's our 19th wedding anniversary. I had been pitching our story to some production houses in the hopes of a Netflix deal, and was met each time with the same question: 'What's your hook?' Like we need a hook for this crazy adventure. But I lay out a few, and talk about what it's like to tip into the space where you've been with your person longer than you've been without them in yo...

At this point, we're finally on a break at home in Dusseldorf after an 8 week stint on the road, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do! Every member of Team Spiezia has a different way of unwinding, but we all agree that 'time is a slinky' during these stretches. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the r...

This episode recaps the final weekend of the Rotax E20 Euro, with a surprising twist that makes winning feel terrible. We learned that nothing is ever in the bag, and always, ALWAYS, read the regulations. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly...

In episode_32, I'm doing my best to be as honest as possible about the taboo topic of 'How the hell does anybody afford anything in motorsport?' Being in this sport has put a maximum-strength floodlight on the murky, shadow side of 'worth' in the figurative and literal sense.  ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we...

'Wherever you go, there you are.'  This episode is a reflection on how life is made up mostly of the same elements for everyone, everywhere, no matter the country.  ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road in the middle of a global pandemic to go racing. Shamelessly authentic and always with a se...

While it's usually about every 10 episodes that I throw in an interview, we thought we'd kick off the new year chatting with Team Spiezia. We talk about our favorite (and least favorite) parts of 2022 and what we're looking forward to on the Age of Light Tour 2023. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road...

Time for another special episode! This time with none other that the talented Alex Goldschmidt, Rotax Project E20 commentator and genesis of the #electricrenegade moniker. Alex joined us on track at Zolder for a Belcar Sprint Cup weekend in Ellis's trusty #128 Ford Fiesta, and we stole a bit of time in the camper to record this episode. Enjoy! ******************************* This podcast is the au...

In episode_28, I'm feeling acutely aware that my social circle is morphing, and I just plain miss my friends, along with the realization that it's taken the better part of 4 months for things to feel like they're settling in, and just how unsettling that can feel. ******************************* This podcast is the audio recording of the journal I've been keeping since the day we got on the road i...