Local firm building lightweight car for fans to race on the Zhuhai circuit

Ferrari has nothing to fear just yet, Nigel Farmer says with a smile, when asked about the car that Hong Kong company Track Torque (TT) is developing for the racetrack in China. The director of TT, which organises driving lessons, track day experiences and corporate events for budding racers at the Zhuhai International Circuit, says the project made sense for reasons of cost and convenience.

Amateur motorsports is not for the light of wallet, but in Asia it's particularly expensive, says Farmer, himself an experienced driver. "For club racing in the UK, you buy a trailer; you work on the car yourself; you drive to the track. You race on Saturday and you're back in time for dinner on Sunday."

The lack of a race track in Hong Kong puts amateur motorsports even farther out of reach for many local enthusiasts. This means either taking the car to and from the track for use, or paying to keep it there. But red tape complicates matters.

All of the mainland's racetracks are classified as bonded customs spaces, and every six months the car has to be temporarily shipped out and returned to its port of origin.

This is costly for the solo enthusiast, but it's an even bigger headache for companies like TT, which has 10 cars at the Zhuhai circuit, where it also hosts the single-make Ginetta G20 Cup race series.

"Each track nominates a shipping company for this; it's extremely expensive because there's only one company doing it. Plus we lose one week in turnaround," Farmer says.