Boy racers told - you can be heroes
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Ong Boon Keat (left) and Francis Lai sit with the reality show's executive producer and creator, Raja Mazli Raja Mohar, before April's Malaysian Rally. Photos by Andy Boey.

Malaysia is tackling its boy-racer problems in a way that resonates with today's youth, reports Catherine Pattison.

Malaysian reality television series Zero to Hero is taking on that country's boy-racer problem, using a rallying opportunity to combat illegal street-racing and teach discipline and driving skills.

Soon entering its third season, the show is Raja Mazli Raja Mohar's brainchild. She has been chairwoman of the Malaysian Rally Championship for the past decade and has expanded that role over the past six years to encompass the Malaysian Rally's inclusion as an Asia-Pacific Rally Championship round.

As the title suggests, the contestants really do start at zero, as one of the conditions is they must never have held a competition driving licence.

Raja Mazli says some of the applicants, aged between 18 and 31, "don't even know what rallying is''.

They are male and female and come from various races, religions and economic backgrounds. Chinese, Malaysian and Indian, they are all strangers at the beginning.

"But in the end they become fast friends and part of the rallying community,'' Raja Mazli says.

In her executive producer and creator role, she comes from the "layman's point of view'', while her husband, Tengku Shaharin Abu Bakar, a seasoned organiser of international and local motorsport events, has the technical knowledge.

"We feel especially for our general Malaysian public that they need to be recognising that Malaysia is becoming recognised internationally for rallying,'' Raja Mazli says.

In 2008, when the first auditions were held, 40 co-driver/driver teams tried out and 15 were selected for the eight-month shooting schedule. This included two weekends of training per month, involving basic driving tuition, road safety training and defensive driving in extreme conditions, before the rally hopefuls were upgraded to advanced driving on gravel.

There were points-scoring challenges after every training session but unlike other reality shows crews were not eliminated every week. Instead, they stayed on until three-quarters of the way through the show, when the field was cut to three pairs. Even then, eliminated contestants could remain as crew members.

Until this stage, the co-driver and driver switched roles regularly, but after getting this far they had to decide who was the driver and who would navigate.

Raja Mazli refers to Zero to Hero as a "youth development programme''. It is sanctioned through both the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Automobile Association of Malaysia.

"Discipline, self-motivation and teamwork are the three most important things.''

Tutorials are held teaching the contestants how to handle the media, with the catch that they must answer questions in English. FIA officials posing as journalists throw questions at them, even going so far as to use New Zealand and Australian slang, Raja Mazli says.

Making a presentation to potential sponsors is another challenge for competitors, proving a test for those not computer-savvy.

The effort pales before the prize, which in the first season was a rally-ready Proton Satria and after the second year, a Peugeot 206. The winners are not allowed to sell the cars and must complete the four-round Malaysian Rally Championship before they can take full ownership of their vehicles.

Raja Mazli believes the programme's success - viewership jumped from 1.1 million viewers in the first season to 2.4 million in season two - lies in its broad target audience.

The series doesn't run on a sports channel, airing instead on a lifestyle and entertainment channel.

Let's not forget reality TV is half entertainment, so there are the obligatory tantrums, tears, arguments and crashes.

The first winning crew, Faidzal Alang and Hazwan Fauzi, finished seventh overall in the 2009 Malaysian Rally Championship and gained sponsorship with the GSR Pennzoil Racing Team for 2010.

Freshly victorious from season two (for which 200 teams auditioned), Francis Lai (28) and co-driver Ong Boon Keat (27), were taken under the wing of the five-car MRU Motorsports team.

Friends from their university days, they realise their good fortune in not having to run as privateers.

"For us, it's like competing for a works team. It's like a dream come true,'' Boon Keat says.

The pair grew up watching World Rally Championship events on television and before Zero to Hero they drove drift cars for kicks.

This year's Malaysian Rally was only their second foray into national-level competition and before the tough, slippery event, they were solely concentrating on crossing the finish line.

After 16 stages - punctuated by soaring temperatures, body-sapping humidity and tropical thunderstorms - the duo finished an impressive fourth after other more experienced teams struck problems.

Now they are one rally down and have three to go before they can claim the Peugeot prize.