Pretty self explanatory, was thinking I would have to wait until I had a maxed out Class D vehicle before I could get this by just replaying one of the early first season races, but managed to unlock it with the Audi R8 (you purchase early on) during the 4th level "Nevada - Elimination".
As far as upgrades, I only had level 1 items added to the car and just focused on not wrecking / trying to steer the AI cars into the walls to knock them out / wreck them.
- Mini