Proton to enter the IRC?

[sal]

Story in the weeks Motor Sport news in the UK that Mellors Elliott (MEM) who have a long association with Proton are building a S2000 car based on the current Satria. Apparantley the project was initially backed by Proton who then changed their minds but now they are back behind the car. Homogolation is imminent but no specific programme has yet been announced yet. Picture in the paper shows a car up on stands which even in that state looks quite purposeful. Will be nice to see it in action!

[HaCo]

That's the car:
http://livincars.com.my//upload/item/5d1c2bf2-9174-41f1-85db-6c9739a8626d/Proton-Neo-S2000-build-1.jpg
I hope we will see in it action VERY soon! :D

[Tom206wrc]

Me too :p :

[Sulland]

Anyone who knows how finished this project is ?

Chassis
Engine
First test
Homologation and so on ?

[RS]

Homologation should be around the middle of the year, July I think.

[Karbonyl]

Engine could be developed by Lotus Engineering, as this company belong to Proton also.

[J4MIE]

Looks great :up:

[HaCo]

Jep, in Autosport it was told too that homologation should be in July. First rally in June, some motorshow. A previous British National Rally champion would run it in BRC for some rounds.
They are looking for customers (and are in contact) that want to run IRC/ERC. Nothing about an official entry of Proton in IRC.

[ste898]

Looks great.......cant wait to see it out on the stages

[Rally Hokkaido]

Here's part of an interesting press release issued yesterday by the Malaysian Rally Ch'ship organiser:

Malaysia's top rally driver, Karamjit Singh has vowed to defend his title at this year's FELDA-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC).

"We hope to win the MRC overall title for a second time despite strong competition coming from the local teams," said Karamjit, adding that his team, Karamjit Motorsport, would be using a Proton Satria Neo 2000cc this year instead of last year's Mitsubishi Evolution.

It doesn't actually say S2000 car, though TNFers will remember which team ran Karam's PCWRC campaign....yes, Mellors!

[uncoversport]

Here's part of an interesting press release issued yesterday by the Malaysian Rally Ch'ship organiser:

Malaysia's top rally driver, Karamjit Singh has vowed to defend his title at this year's FELDA-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC).

"We hope to win the MRC overall title for a second time despite strong competition coming from the local teams," said Karamjit, adding that his team, Karamjit Motorsport, would be using a Proton Satria Neo 2000cc this year instead of last year's Mitsubishi Evolution.

It doesn't actually say S2000 car, though TNFers will remember which team ran Karam's PCWRC campaign....yes, Mellors!

MEM is still not saying much about plans for the car. According to this though the build of its first complete vehicle isn't too far away, which means it could be ready to race by mid year, so the timing fits with your theory.

http://www.serviceparknews.com/?c=127&a=1184

[J4MIE]

Well it sounds as though it is progressing, and hopefully they can develop it enough to attract enough customers to continue. Just looking at that photo again, it looks very similar to the MG :)

[GigiGalliNo1]

"British outfit Mellors Elliot Motorsport is believed to be developing a Super 2000 Proton Satria that would be eligible for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, amongst other championships.

While details are still sketchy on the Satria’s development, its believe the company has some level of support for the project from the Malaysian manufacturer.

The S2000 Satria is expected to be complete in time for homologation in mid 2008, allowing it to contest events in the latter half of this season according to RallyeMagazine.de. The car would be eligible for the IRC, Australian and British Rally Championships, among others, and position the small manufacturer well should the World Rally Championship ever adopt the regulations as a replacement for the current World Rally Cars.

Mellors Elliot Motorsport, otherwise known as the MEM World Rally Team, as a long standing relationship with the Malaysian-government owned Proton. The British organisation run the successful rally program of Malaysian driver Karamjit Singh, who won three Asia Pacific Rally Championship crowns and one Production World Rally Championship in the MEM WRT-prepared Proton Pert – essentially a Mitsubishi Lance Evo.

While there’s little details about the car currently available, German publication RallyeMagazine.de reports that Lotus cars – a sportscar company renowned for making lightweight, high powered vehicles that was purchased by Proton – could be building the engine for the Super 2000 project. The publication didn’t speculate on whether the new project would see Singh, who won the Malaysian Rally Championship last season, return to the world stage."

[GigiGalliNo1]

More news? but mostly more Photos! :D

http://www.serviceparknews.com/?c=154&a=1373

[Mirek]

I like the car :)

[J4MIE]

Now that's what a rally car should look like!

:D :up:

[wwbroe]

Yes, great looking car, let's hope it is going to be as good as it looks. ;)

[306 Cosworth]

That's a fantastic looking car, hope it does some national events over here to test it out when it's ready :D

[urabus-denoS2000]

Great looking car,I hope that Proton will support the project and that the car will make a international career

[Paul.G]

A couple more photos here:

Rallynotes - Proton (http://www.rallynotes.co.uk/uk-news/development-continues-on-the-proton-mem-s2000.html)

We are due to go over and see them next month to do a story on the car as they wanted us to wait until it is ready, so not long to wait for all the details

Paul

[Sulland]

According to another thread something should happen soon !

Follow this page: http://www.memuk.com/

[c4]

Car I believe is due for homologation July 1st.

[TheFlyingTuga]

Any news about the car? Never heard more about it!!
Car seems to be finish, but there's no testing :(

[ProRally]

FIA is fine tuning the ratio for the X Trac gearbox apparantly and allowed Proton differant options and homologation would/could be for 1 august.

That is what the grapevine sounds like :D :D

[Maui J.]

Found some photos on Flickr. This first two are interesting with the Petronas livery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27284833@N02/2688198643/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27284833@N02/2688198749/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27284833@N02/2688199597/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27284833@N02/2689012092/

There's a few more there if you go to the user's photostream.

Apologies if these have been posted before.