The evolution of extreme Proton rally cars – Does rallying have a future in Malaysia?

Malaysia is home to the Sepang international Circuit, Pasir Gudang circuit, and Dato’ Sagor circuit. We even used to have a racing circuit in Batu Tiga that was once used to film the Jackie Chan film, “Thunderbolt”. We love motorsports and have gone to great lengths to make it more accessible.

While track racing may be a little more popular, one motorsport that we absolutely love is rallying. We may not have winter stages and tall pine trees, but that hasn’t stopped us from enjoying the sport. The victims of our pleasure are our vast palm oil estates.

Through the sport of rallying, we have witnessed extreme transformations of average production cars to make them rally-ready. Proton, our domestic car maker, has made various rally versions of their cars that look and sound absolutely stunning. In appreciation of these off-road racers by Proton, here is a brief look at some of them throughout the years… (Proton badged Lancer Evos will be reserved for another story)

Proton Iswara 4WD Turbo

What better way to start off the list with the OG Proton car, the Proton Saga? In its roided up rally version, the Proton Saga Iswara sent power to all four wheels and the powertrain was a turbocharged 2.0-litre with a 6-speed sequential gearbox.

It was so threatening to even the likes of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3, the 4WD turbocharged rally car was banned by the FIA after receiving some protests. The power output was a staggering 341 PS. Both front and rear differentials were LSD and a viscous coupling was at the centre of the drivetrain.

PERT Proton Wira 4WD Turbo

The fact that the Wira is related to the Mitsubishi Lancer makes it an attractive candidate for a rally car. If you tried hard enough you could even turn a Proton Wira into a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3. In our discovery of Proton rally cars being auctioned off, one of the cars was the PERT Proton Wira 4WD Turbo.

The car was auctioned off and safe to say, it is in the good hands of a very lucky enthusiast. The PERT Proton Wira with the plate number “BEJ 5459” was driven by our local rally Legend, Karamjit Singh in the Philippines rally. The same car won the Selenia Rally in 2001, also driven by the “Flying Sikh”.

During the auction, the PERT Wira was missing a few parts, but the turbocharged engine and solid white rally wheels remained. We look forward to seeing the finished restoration of this car in the future.

Proton Waja Rally

The Petronas-Green rally livery adorned cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI and VII. While they may have received the Proton badge, we’re going to exclude them here since they were not sold as production cars with the Proton name.

It seems that the car was later used by privateers in a very different livery afterwards. The "Petronas-green" livery and modifications however, make it look like a decent rally car. 

Proton Putra Prodrive

Pictures of this car surfaced on the internet some time ago and it went absolutely viral for the right reasons. The rally-spec Proton Putra Prodrive looks menacing and beautiful at the same time. It was a project by Proton and Prodrive but the car never raced.

Had the Proton Putra raced in this spec, it would have certainly elevated the Proton Putra’s status to a much higher level as a collector’s car. 

Proton Satria S2000

The S2000 Proton Satria Neo made a lot of us fall in love with the Neo. S2000 simply stands for Super 2000 which is an FIA powertrain specification. Developed by Mellors Eliot Motorsports (MEM), the yellow beast is one of the most iconic Proton cars in the history of motorsports. It might have even introduced the Malaysian brand to new young fans.

Sharing very little traits with the road-going Proton Satria Neo, the engine is a 2.0-litre NA engine that was originally a 1.8-litre Renault engine. No forced induction is used and the maximum power output is 282 PS at 7,600 rpm and maximum torque is 271 Nm at 7,000 rpm. Power is sent to all four wheels through a 6-speed sequential gearbox.

Proton Iriz R5

The latest and most extreme Proton rally car would be the tiny Proton Iriz. Also developed by MEM, the Iriz R5 utilises forced induction on a 1.6-litre 4B11 Mitsubishi engine. The maximum power? 355 PS. The maximum torque? 450 Nm. The gearbox? A 5-speed sequential gearbox.

With an extremely wide and angular body, the Iriz R5 is a mean little rally machine. You can actually purchase the Proton Iriz R5 for yourself should you want one. That would cost you a round RM 775,000.

With Proton introducing new cars like the Proton X70 and Proton X50, will we see any more rally versions of our domestic cars?