The PETRONAS Motorsports Museum in Bangi was literally "raided" by more than 350 enthusiastic primary school children last Saturday when they spent the morning inquisitively picking, touching and asking every imaginable question to the engineers and mechanics of PETRONAS Motorsports Technical Centre.

The Year 1 to 6 pupils of Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Taman Melawati 1 & 2 were all members of their school’s Motorsports Club and had visited the Centre and Museum as part of a programme to inculcate awareness towards the motorsports industry among school children. In addition, the children were also exposed to the various facets and career possibilities within the industry.

According to Encik Hassan Saad, who came up with the idea to visit the Museum and Centre, “When we talk about motorsports and the dream of having a local champion, many don’t realise that we need to start them young. But, we also need a team to support that world champion and everybody should also realise that we need qualified engineers and mechanics more than we need the drivers. With PETRONAS’ vision of bringing the motorsports technology to Malaysia, we thought a visit to this tech centre and museum would be the ideal opportunity for these kids to learn.”

“We are trying to educate the kids that motorsports involves a lot of self-discipline and commitment. It sharpens their minds through mathematical computations and increases their awareness for safety. But even if they don’t grow up to be racing drivers, I hope at least they would grow up to be better road drivers,” he added.

For the children, getting a cockpit view of Karamjit Singh’s rally car and having the opportunity to scrutinise Sauber C22’s steering wheel was everything they had wished for.