Proton

[Sulland]

Are they still on the old 1800 based engine, or are they now on the new Renault based engine ?

[ChrisB]

1800 based engine? If you mean the old Clio engine, then yes. They talk of engine improvement, but it still is the same engine as last year. A new engine homologation was not planned for and by now could only be done by the rules with a 1.6T, which means a complete new engine.

[RonSkoda]

1800 based engine? If you mean the old Clio engine, then yes. They talk of engine improvement, but it still is the same engine as last year. A new engine homologation was not planned for and by now could only be done by the rules with a 1.6T, which means a complete new engine.

As far as i can see it, they can make changes to the engine but they can't change the base engine if that makes sense. Proton have definitely made changes to the current engine they use; they seem to have cured the reliability problems and made some kind of step on performance although PG said he didn't notice much difference.

For me, Canarias was Proton's best performance yet in IRC. Importantly both cars ran reliably to the finish and Basso's times were consistent and not too slow. He was always within around 1s/km of the leaders which I think is no mean feat when you know the resoruces MEM have compared to Skoda and Peugeot.

How much of the improvement was down to the car and how much to Basso is hard to say. I doubt there are many faster drivers than Basso on this kind of event. He completely dominated his team mate here who has been a works WRC driver.

I guess those Reiger shock absorbers are having a knock on affect on the reliability, Chris Atkinson made that point during the Malaysian Rally that if less bad shocks are being transmitted to the car then that puts the other components under less stress too.

[ChrisB]

Well, as said, they can do small things on the engine, but changes that demand a new homologation of the current engine are since 1st Jan 2011 not allowed - as strange as this sounds to the outsider all S2000 homologations need to be with a 1600cc engine.

The rest good analysis by Ron. I agree. Good note with Basso being consistant and around 1s/km off the pace, which indeed giving their budget and how previous events were is a definite and big step into the right direction.

[Sulland]

Sorry, my 1800 mistake, I thought the first engine they used was a 1800 bored to 2000, and a inhouse Proton engine, but think I am mistaken with the 1600 one here http://r3gister.org/2010/12/r3-previews ... lims-2010/

But the S2000 engine is a Renault engine from Clio you say. Do you know who tuned it for them ?

[ChrisB]

Yep, the Campro engine they talk about in that link is a Lotus development! And the base for the next Proton S2000 engine, but unlikely to happen still this year.

The engine tuner is a good question. As far as I understood this the engine is actually assembled at MEM, but for development it's based on previous competition experience with other Renault projects using this engine. Which is why it is such a surprise the engine is that bad. It is an older design though. I have heard some uncomfirmed whispers the same engine was in the Dacia Logan S2000 prototype.