Mr. Porsche man

From his father's treasured pocket transistor to his neighbours' bicycles, he would be quick to lay open the parts, only to struggle with their reassembling later.

Today, Noufal is a ‘team leader' at Alex Renner Motors (ARM), a Porsche specialist workshop at Al Quoz. The 32-year-old mechanic, hailing from Unnikulum, a village in Kerala, India, who has just returned from an advanced training course in Zurich, Switzerland, says it was his childhood curiosity that has stood him in good stead.

He was handpicked by his bosses to undergo a five-day training course in handling sequential gearboxes with complex transmissions.

Recognition

Working on four Porsche GT3 cup cars and two street cars for racing, Noufal has his hands full, repairing and fine-tuning the vehicles, among other jobs. "Noufal was exceptional right from the start. I knew he was a Porsche man," said Alex Renner, the owner of the garage.

Even earlier, when Noufal was working with Zubair Automobiles in Muscat, his keen sense of learning earned him trips to Cairo, Egypt, on five different occasions between 2001 and 2004 so that he could hone his skills.

In India, he gave up his job at a Maruti Suzuki cars dealer to join Hyundai Automobiles so he could learn about the new fuel injection system.

Knowledge first

"I moved to Hyundai even though the salary was less than half of what I was getting at the Maruti dealer," he adds.

A Class X student who went on to do a certificate course in automotive engineering, Noufal said his family's meagre income never stopped him from developing a passion for automobiles. He hopes that some day he can start his own garage back home.