Roodepoort law student targets Red Bull Shay’ iMoto spinning elite
An LLB student who swapped textbooks for tyre smoke is honing her stunt-driving skills behind the wheel of a classic BMW.
At just 20, LLB student Tasmia Lalloo from Florida, Roodepoort, is chasing a place among South Africa’s top competitive spinners, with her sights set on Red Bull Shay’ iMoto and eventually taking her driving career international, reports Roodepoort Record,
Lalloo got behind the wheel for the first time three years ago and has not looked back since.
Competitive spinning involves high-speed stunts behind the steering wheel, including ‘doughnuts’ and precision figure-eight turns. The sport has grown from its roots in Soweto in the late 1980s into a recognised motorsport discipline, with top drivers attracting major brand sponsorships.
“I got into spinning through my father, who is a huge motorsport fan,” says Lalloo.
She adds that they’ve always been entrenched in the local motorsport community, spending their weekends either at the track where her father, Riyad Haffejee, would participate in spinning events, or in the garage at home helping him work on the cars.
“He always encouraged us to take part in his passion and over the years it rubbed off on us as well.”
Lalloo, who, like her father, favours the now-iconic BMW 3 Series box shape, dreams of being selected for Red Bull Shay’ iMoto, a high-stakes spinning competition where the top 16 drivers battle it out in an elimination event to be crowned the winner.
Her ultimate goal is to turn professional and compete internationally. “Motorsport plays a significant role in my family. The motorsport community has always been like an extended family for us.”
The passion has also rubbed off on her younger sister, Amaanah Haffejee, who is training to become a stunt driver. “We’re in the process of building a car for her.”
Their mother, Beena Lalloo, takes some of the blame for the family’s obsession with spinning. “I knew my husband loved the sport, so I saved up and bought him a spinning car,” she says, adding that ‘there was no going back after that’.
Haffejee could not be prouder. “Unlike most families nowadays, we actually spent my children’s youth doing something together as a family.
He says it is a huge honour for his daughters to follow in his footsteps. “Also, they’ll never have to ask their husbands to fix their cars one day; they’ll be able to do it themselves.”
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