Kashash Vina Motorsports Racing is a father and son racing team

As much as racing is about pursuing his passion, it is more importantly about creating memories for Dato’ Shanmuganathan Arumugam who now has the opportunity to compete alongside his son Ashen in the 2025 Vios Challenge.

Fielding a 2-car team under Kashash Vina Motorsports Racing, both father and son are racing in the Sporting Class for amateur drivers. One of the longest competing racers in the Vios Challenge, Shanmuganathan has grown with the series since the very first season began in 2017.

“Driving is my passion and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has given a platform for people like me to pursue and experience what professional racing is all about. It’s a platform for me to understand what racing is. I actually started very late – about 49 – but I’ve had fun. I’m 56 this year,” said Shanmuganathan.

“Racing is all about competition and I thrive on this. Unfortunately, due to work commitment and with Ashen focused on his studies, it is very unfortunate that we cannot devote 100% of our attention and time to it,” he added.

“For instance, every race weekend is like starting afresh trying to understand the car and the track. We do not engage any professionals in preparing the car and in fact, this is entirely done by my company’s personnel. In a way, we are shorthanded – if we had professionals assisting in terms of the car’s setting and technical information we can improve but because we are not spending enough time for the race we’ve not explored this,” he explained, adding that they will see how to address it in future.

Shanmuganathan revealed that their race crew is actually drawn from the factory mechanics who are employed to care for the company’s trucks. “They are not in motorsports at all and everything is prepared in-house. It’s like a family thing. At the end of the day, we enjoy the race and it creates a lot of memories for everyone,” he said.

For 19-year-old Ashen, competing alongside his dad has indeed been an opportunity of a lifetime. “I’m grateful to my father for his support and encouragement for me to get into racing. This is an extremely valuable opportunity for me,” said Ashen, who is currently awaiting intake to pursue a career to become a commercial pilot.

“Seeing my dad go racing has always been something I’ve wanted to do. Now that both of us are racing in the same class, there is some form of competition on the track between us but as far as who is the faster driver – that’s a very delicate and subjective matter,” he said with a wink.

“If there’s room for me to improve and if the opportunity arises in future, I would certainly like to go further into the higher classes of racing.”

Like many of the other racers in the Vios Challenge, the father and son team have been able to enjoy racing because the aim of the one-make series has been to make participating in motorsport more accessible to a wider audience. And as all the cars are of identical specifications and power output, it is more a matter of driver skill, strategy and endurance that makes the difference. This provides motivation to participants who can improve their skills and become more competitive, without a high cost.

Young Talent Development Program
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia and UMW Toyota Motor also have a Young Talent Development Program. The program was started in 2021 to bring new blood to the sport as part of UMW Toyota Motor’s contribution to developing the sport at grassroots level. Young Malaysians with racing potential had an opportunity to be trained as racers, going through an extensive program and also being provided cars to use.

The rookies (there’s a different batch every year) have proven to be very talented when they got behind the wheel of the Toyota Vios. Many come from a background of simulator racing or karting and are skilled at these sports. The realism of sim racing today has prepared them for real-world racing as they are already familiar with racing techniques.

To date, 22 drivers have graduated; over 10 currently competing in local races, with 4 entering the international stage. Many of the graduates over the 4 years have moved up into other classes and are presenting strong challenges to experienced drivers. Clearly, with the support of the program, they have been able to pursue their dreams.

GR – from racing team to performance brand