News & Events
Kangan Batman TAFE students racing to success
Tuesday 9 December 2008
Kangan Batman TAFE's Hyundai Motorsport team has taken out top honours at Shannon's National Manufacturers Championships held at the Sandown International Circuit.
In the final round of the championship, Kangan Batman TAFE Motorsport Team Hyundai was awarded the Manufacturers Championship for production car racing for 2008 and had a first and second placing in Class E for the weekend. A second competition car - the Class D Hyundai Tiburon - contributed towards the championship title.
Kangan Batman TAFE automotive teacher Greg Moulden said the win was the culmination of lots of hard work - and kilometres travelled - for participating staff members and students.
"After competing on the Sydney, Tasmania and Victorian circuits, we can all be proud of our efforts in securing this championship," he said.
"It proves that Kangan Batman TAFE is number one in Motorsport training."
"Our team car started in 10 races and finished all of them displaying meticulous preparation by the students with great support from a dedicated teaching crew and partnership with Hyundai Australia."
Delivered at Kangan Batman TAFE's Coburg campus, the Motorsport program has seen the conversion of a Hyundai Sonata into a production race car by 22 participating students.
The Hyundai car made its grand debut in February 2008, taking out top honours in its class at the 12-hour Bathurst race held at Mt Panorama.
Since then, the car has helped to maintain Hyundai's position near the top of the leader board.
Industry partnerships are an important element of Kangan Batman TAFE's approach to customised training, paving the way for successful learning outcomes and transfer of ideas from the workplace to training delivery.
Technical group general manager Phill Murphy said the win was a great example of staff members going above and beyond outside the classroom to get results.
"All staff members involved in the championships have shown great commitment and dedication throughout the year, organising and preparing our students for all the events," he said.
"It is really something to run an 'outside of class', essentially weekend program for up to 30 young students with the degree of enthusiasm and professionalism that these staff members have shown.
"It's this kind of activity that puts Kangan Batman TAFE students in motor sport ahead of the pack by providing real race team environment experiences on top of their technical training in automotive."
