Ojas Patel - Motoring Enthusiast – Austin, Texas

I’ve been a tinkerer for as long as I could remember. Some of my earliest memories involve discecting small pull-back or battery powered toy cars, driven my curiosity to understand how these magical machines worked.

I don’t know if four year olds can have spiritual experiences, but I still remember the overwhelming awe when I’d catch a glimpse of the deus ex machina. As I grew up, the primarily milestone I looked forward to was getting my drivers license and having my own car to customize and simply enjoy the freedom of driving.

I remember reading about the soon-to-be-released supercar from Honda when I was a teenager. This was when Honda was at the top of their game. It’d be years before I’d come to know about Dieter Ram’s iconic 10 principles of good design but Hondas back were the embodiment of what I felt was good design. At that time, our 1982 Honda Accord hatchback, approaching 200,000 miles, still served familial duties. It was such a good, well-designed, and fundamentally honest car. And the same guys who made that are building a supercar! I knew the NSX – Honda’s opus – was the one for me.

This became my obsession, because I never felt I even had a choice in the matter. Financial and other barriers did not stand a chance.

The thing about being a tinkerer is that you tinker with everything. And once I convinced my parents to buy me an expensive computer (that we probably could not afford), I became quite good at programming. In my junior year, I joined the computer team at my small high school in rural Kentucky and we ended up going to the state championship. The following year, we finsished number one.

This proved to be a formative experience and led me down to degree and career in software. I was extremely lucky. This profession was in incredibly high demand as the Internet was becoming mainstream. The pay was good, but for me it was always a proxy to get what I want… the cars.

My dream came true in 1999 when I took delivery of my first NSX – a Formula Red coupe. It was identical to what debuted at the Chicago Auto Show in 1990. Everything about it exceeded even my lofty expecations. This car introduced me to a simply amazing community of other enthusiasts and took me to tracks in Japan to auto shows in Geneva.

I’ve been lucky to hone my craft in my software engineering career and witness first-hand computers transformed from a nerdy curiosity to the technology that’s ubiquitous, interconnected, and essential to everyone today.

However, the time has come to put my other obsession – automobiles – in the driver’s seat. And that’s why I joined force with José to start Auto Dojo. I’m looking forward to sharing my drive and enjoying the journey with you.

– Ojas, February 2016, Austin, Texas

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