ON THE racetrack, Melvin Choo exceeds 200km/h regularly in his Porsches, Aston Martins and BMWs.

But when he is on the roads in Singapore, he prefers to go slow in an "underpowered" car such as his Volkswagen Golf.

"I like cars that are underpowered," said Choo, who recently became the first Singaporean and South-east Asian to race in the World Touring Car Championship.

The competition ranks third behind Formula One and the World Rally Championship in terms of prestige.

Choo qualified in his debut in Japan last month and finished 20th and 23rd out of a field of 29. He did not qualify in the Macau event last weekend.

"I believe all we are trying to achieve is to have this sense of control over the car, that you're actually controlling it at its limit," added Choo, who turned professional three years ago.

"You probably have to corner a powerful car at 150kmh to feel excited, and it is extremely dangerous," said the former property investor.

"But if you have an underpowered car, you can have the same sensation cornering at 60kmh, so I actually think that having an underpowered car with skinny tyres is entertaining."

Choo feels that racecar drivers satisfy their need for speed on the racetracks, so there is no need to take it to the roads too.

"People say that racers are dangerous because they probably will drive fast on the road," he said.

"But we get all the adrenaline from racing on the track, and you've got to be driving pretty fast to duplicate that on the road."

And since safety is one quality that Choo feels is imbued in all competitive drivers, they will practise that value on the roads as well.

"If you make a mistake and jeopardise the safety of yourself or fellow drivers you would be black-flagged really quickly and your racing licence might even get suspended," Choo said.

"That is why risking our lives is not in our nature, so I don't drive fast on the road.

"Therefore people should send their children to go-karting because it actually makes them safer drivers," he added.

"They will have a better respect for speed."

The karting track was where Choo fell in love with racing some 26 years ago, when his parents moved to San Francisco for work.

There, he found that he had a natural talent in front of the steering wheel, and started to win races.

But national service and disapproving parents impeded Choo's budding racing career.

"My parents said, 'No way you can be a professional racer. You go to the army, you go to the university and then you get a job'," he recalled.

Thus he put motorsports in the backseat, until he moved to Kuala Lumpur some five years ago, after marrying a Malaysian.

There, the low cost of racing at the readily-available tracks piqued his interest for life on the fast track again.

"The temptation was too great, with friends asking me to go racing, so I picked it up again in 2005."

He turned professional the following year, and won the gentlemen's category in the Malaysian JPM Integra Cup in his debut season.

He then finished second in last year's Asian Touring Car Series, Division 2, driving a Honda Integra.

Results-driven

And he went one better this season, finishing second in the series' top division.

"Where I am today is actually results-driven," he said. "Good results allowed me to move on to the next higher level, and along the way sponsors came in as well.

"The fact is if I hadn't won the Malaysian JPM Integra Cup I probably wouldn't be a professional driver," added Choo, whose annual race expenses run into a six-figure sum.

"If I hadn't had sponsors then my career would have been quite short," he said. "It would be silly to use your own money to go and do so many races.

"In professional racing, it's all about results; that makes sponsors happy and would lead them to sponsor a driver again."

Which is why Choo takes his race preparation seriously.

The father of two runs every day, and settles all family matters before jetting off for one of his many races.

"The fitter I am, the better I can think in the car," he said matter-of-factly.

"You would be used to your heart pumping very fast if you're fit, and that allows you to concentrate on the race when you're driving.

"It's important because a result in a race could be down to a split-second decision.

"So you need to be ready, physically and mentally."

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 21, 2008.