THE three-ring racing circus known as Formula One does not land here for another year, but motorsports fans may be interested to know that Singaporeans already have a home-grown race team to root for.

When 23-year-old Singaporean driver Hafiz Koh was competing at China's Zhuhai Circuit late last year in his first Formula V6 Asia event - representing the top level of open-wheel racing in Asia - his businessman father, Helmi Abdullah, noticed that his son was consistently improving on lap times and holding his own against more seasoned competitors.

By the end of that race weekend, after Hafiz had bagged fifth position in the sprint followed by sixth in the feature event, Mr Helmi, 51, was convinced that his son had the requisite skills to properly handle the 3.5-litre, 370 hp single-seat Formula V6 cars. So Mr Helmi, a former amateur rally driver for Borneo Motors in the late 1970s, hatched a plan to put not only a Singapore-owned team, but also a family-owned team, on the race map.

Mr Helmi negotiated a package deal with David Sonenscher, CEO of Motorsport Asia, the company that owns race organiser Afos (Asian Festival of Speed), to buy four race cars complete with technical equipment and a container to transport them.

In March this year, Team TaraDTM was officially formed to take part in this season's Formula V6 Asia race series as well as the Formula BMW series, which run from early May to early December.

'After going through the numbers, I agreed on the set-up cost for the whole team,' says Mr Helmi, who paid over US$1 million to become an instant player on the Asian race circuit. 'I saw the potential for Hafiz to do well, and I knew that there is nothing like owning your own team because you have the control.'

Mr Helmi then proceeded to hand over that control to his three children, who are the shareholders in TaraDTM. Apart from Hafiz, elder daughter Juliana is managing director of the team. Younger daughter Nadeera is in her final year of medical school in Australia.

The team is named after Juliana's three-year-old daughter, Tara, while husband Adam Shahnaz is team manager and handles logistics. Rounding off the key personnel are technical director Fabien Fior and race engineer Patrick Roberts.

'Formula V6 is the most advanced form of racing in Asia - this is the training ground for F1,' says Mr Fior.

One of the main reasons for forming the team, says Mr Helmi, was his desire to fly the Singapore flag in the sport of motor racing.

'Being based in Malaysia most of the time, I saw Malaysian GLCs and private sector firms supporting motor sports and supporting Malaysian drivers,' he says. 'I want to kickstart the Singapore effort with GLCs and the private sector here.

'I took it as a personal challenge - why can't Singaporeans do it? Malaysia now has a few potential F1 drivers and one of my main objectives is to develop Singapore driving talent. We have supported two young local drivers and I'd love to have them drive for us in the Formula BMW support race during the F1 in Singapore.'

According to Mr Helmi, the team spends about US$60,000 every race weekend - about a third of what it would cost to race the same cars in Europe - and although the learning curve is steep this first season, he has an ultimate goal in mind.

'Given the opportunity, we want to work our way up to owning an F1 team,' he says. 'Realistically, though, we hope the team will grow to be the best in Asia and eventually to be competitive in Europe.'

Hafiz, who started racing go-karts when he was in his early teens, is supremely fit and trains by running up to 30 km daily. He also swims, meditates, works out and is extremely careful with his diet.

'When you're fit, you are able to multi-task and have a faster reaction time,' he says. 'To be fast, it's not just driving the car but outside the car, you do things like mind-mapping - imagining the race in your mind. Focusing is both physical and mental. It's driver skill and an engineering game.'

Each driver is responsible for finding the funds to pay for his drive and TaraDTM charges about US$200,000 per car for the entire season (compared with about US$5 million for some of the smaller F1 teams). Hafiz's current sponsors include companies such as Societe Generale and real estate firm ERA, and his father has provided considerable financial support.

But he says that his father has told him that if he doesn't do well, there is no guarantee of a drive. 'It's a lot of money and you need to perform consistently,' he says. 'Of course, I'm driving for myself so I want to do well.'

Sister Juliana, the managing director of the family business, says that being in a male-dominated business has its challenges, but the basics are the same in managing any type of business - you need to be passionate about what you do and you need to have determination.

'Working with family members has its pros and cons,' she says. 'I know where to draw the line and I treat everyone the same whether it's my brother or husband.'

But any differences that emerge at work, 'we make sure not to bring it home', she adds.