Shah Alam 25th November 2016 – The TOC-Aylezo Racing Academy’s (TARA) second course running, since its instalment early this year, came to a fruitful end with a total of 17 passionate participants completing the course successfully.

TARA is a collaboration between TOC, one of the early pioneers in automotive education, and Aylezo Competizione, a successful local professional race team with a long track record of competing in the international scene.

The academy’s eight-week course was designed to give students an insight into what it takes to be a race driver; together with an understanding of on-track race engineering and co-ordination between driver and technical crew.

On graduation night, Zen Low, the founder of Aylzo, talked about his excitement and pleasure in witnessing the achievement of the TARA’s students. “The best time clocked, from the moment you guys joined to the day you guys graduated – the biggest jump was one minute and that is incredible. The average is between 20 to 30 seconds and that is a big improvement.”

Zen also pointed out that the students’ own will and passion were vital in helping them achieve remarkable results. “You believe in yourself, that’s why the results are there. Well done.”

After presenting TARA’s certificate of completion to the students, Zen went on to award the Top Student and TARA Kart Competition trophies. The top student trophy went to Afiq Bin Azman (also TARA kart champion), Mohamad Hans Adam and Jeff Chong; while the top three finishers of the TARA kart competition were Afiq Bin Azman (1st), Anik Gaohar Ashik (2nd), and Mohammad Malleibasir (3rd).

Top student Afiq Bin Azman thanked TARA for the opportunity to continue learning racing. “I joined TARA because I used to race when I was 12 years old and I stopped; then I wanted to still go on because it was my passion… Thankfully I have the opportunity to continue learning racing.”

Mohamad Hans Adam, who aspires to follow his uncle who owns a kart racing team, pointed out on the diverse areas of learning which had benefited him. “At TARA, I learned how to properly drive on the track, and to visualise the track before I take on the track…How to set up the car, when to turn in, when do we take the APEX and when to break.”

Jeff Chong highlighted on the importance of professional learning for the safety of drivers. “In TARA I learned many things, like the basic knowledge of how to set up a car, sitting position, racing position, racing line…the most important thing is how to handle a car. Because if I don’t know how to handle a car, I might get into a very serious accident. So, after I complete TARA course, I got the idea, I got the knowledge (on) how to handle the car.

The night came to an end with the taking of pictures and sharing between the participants and trainers amid the decorated backdrop of TARA’s headquarters of championship trophies and accolades won – all of which were achieved after years of dedication, hard work and professional training.