Unicorn may be an overused term these days, but it says here that new EcoAthletes Champion Ellis Spiezia warrants that designation.

After all, Spiezia, who calls New Jersey home, is a world class electric kart driver who will be switching to EV car racing in 2022. He’s also an advocate for electric mobility as a significant driver of a #ClimateComeback. And he came to motorsports, not through family connections as is often the case. Instead, his path began virtually, through video game consoles.

Oh yeah, Spiezia is just 16 years old.

As you will see, he’s been extremely busy these last five years.

“When I was 11, I had a video game console with a wheel that allowed me to drive virtually,” the Jersey City resident recalled. “My grandpa rigged up a system that had a stick shift strapped to a kitchen stool. Over time, I upped my virtual racing game with a better wheel and pedals. I learned racing strategy this way.”

He graduated to Go Karting at nearby indoor tracks when he was 12.

“Think of karts, whether gas or electric, as cars without a suspension or a body,” explained Spiezia. “We would reach top speeds of 35, 40 miles per hour, racing against people of all ages. Key for me is that you can drive them without a license. Back then, I had a booster seat so I could see over the wheel!”

He took to karting quickly, getting to the finals of the Autobahn Regional League in New York state where he broke the track record four times. That qualified him for the AEKC national championships in Chicago, finishing 12th overall when he was 13.

His mother Michele and father Frank, who both run a video production business, while having natural parental concerns, have been supportive from the get-go.

“We saw that Ellis was passionate about racing and that he was really talented,” Michele Spiezia shared. “Of course, when I watch him race, I get terrified, but I can’t imagine him not doing it. And we wanted to see where he could go with this.”

Where he went next — in the summer of 2019 — was Aragon, Spain and one of the best outdoor kart tracks in the world.

“This was an incredible step up for me,” recalled Ellis. “The karts went double the speed — about 80 or 90 miles per hour — with triple the power. The competition was also top level. My first races were a 1-on-1 against a Formula-4* driver from Spain and a former UK karting champion!”

He came in a solid fifth and returned to New Jersey, looking forward to 2020, when he would finish 8th grade and go back to Europe. Despite being in the midst of the first wave of the pandemic, the family, thanks to Michele’s indefatigable persistence, was able to navigate the myriad of COVID travel restrictions to find its way to Germany where Ellis got more valuable racing experience.

“I saw all sorts of track conditions that summer, learning a ton along the way,” Spiezia said. “We raced all over Germany, sometimes on very bumpy tracks. I crashed one time, hitting the wall, but I was able to keep on going. Overall, I steadily moved up as the season went on, getting a 5th place in the last race, finishing 10th overall.”

Fall 2020 saw Ellis start home-schooled high school and then make a trip to Belgium to visit the headquarters of the Electric Racing Association (ERA) Championships, the world’s first electric junior formula car series — its first race is set for this May.

The operative word there is car as Ellis is ready to make the transition from karts.

“My future is in EV car racing and the consensus was that it was best to make the switch as soon as possible,” he shared. “Also, I had done some car racing training and found that I was better at it than I was in the karts. Karting is tighter and more aggressive. Cars are faster, more strategic, and the tracks are better. And while most karts are gas powered, I’ve been driving electric karts for three years and so am familiar with EVs. I can’t wait for the new series to start.”

Before the new EV car series starts, Ellis still had a 2021 kart season to race. And race he did, karting in 12 countries from July to December, from Bulgaria to Germany to Italy. He reached the podium 70 percent of the time, including his first win at a race in Mulsen, Germany. But to Team Spiezia, the season was more about improvement than results.

“I became more comfortable from early in the season, the races slowed down for me,” Ellis offered. “The season culminated in December at the Grand Finals in Bahrain with 400 of the best kart drivers in the world. It was mainly a gas karting event but Project E20 debuted with 18 EV karts. I had two good heats but got a penalty in the pre-final which made it almost impossible to get to the podium. I was able to finish 6th, which wasn’t bad considering everything.” 

Next May, Ellis and his Ellysium Racing team will embark on a season that combines EV karting and car racing. He will do so as the first EcoAthletes Champion from the motorsports world, allowing him to build on his ‘Passive Activism’ approach to the #ClimateComeback.

“Once we committed to EV racing, we also asked ourselves ‘what can we do to make a difference?’,” noted Ellis. “What good is winning races if we don’t have a habitable planet on which to live? So, we promote EV racing and electric mobility more broadly in positive ways, not hitting people over the head with it. I’m excited to be an EcoAthletes Champions because I will be exposed to new ideas and will learn new ways to communicate on climate, impacting other racers and fans.”

EcoAthletes founder and CEO Lew Blaustein believes that Spiezia will make a significant impact as a Champion.

“The future of motorsports is electric, and Ellis will be a big part of that future,” said Blaustein. “And it will be forward thinking and acting young athletes like Ellis who will maximize the impact of the Champions network now and down the road.”

*Launched in 2014, Formula 4 was created to offer young race car drivers around the world the opportunity to take the first step from karting into the world of open-wheel racing.

You can follow Ellis on Instagram and Twitter. And click here to watch Ellis’ 2022 launch video.