Proton team vows to find fix for engine fault

29th June 2010

By Giles Wade

Chris Mellors says he and his fellow Proton team members will do all they can to find a solution to the problem that caused all three Satria Neo Super 2000s to retire on the same stage of last week’s Geko Ypres Rally ahead of their next event in New Zealand this weekend.

Proton drivers Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae will contest the Asia Pacific championship-counting International Rally of Whangarei from July 2-4 on the back of a disastrous trip to Belgium, which ended when a valve spring failed on the number two inlet valve on both of the factory car’s engines on the fourth stage of the Tarmac rally. Semi-works driver Tom Cave’s machine was also struck down by the same glitch.

“The nature of this problem is something like I’ve never seen before and we’ll need to have some answers before we get to New Zealand,” said Mellors. “To lose one valve in the engine is one thing but to lose all three engines within sight of each other with the same valve problem is bizarre.”

He continued: “As a team, we’re devastated by the retirements. The frustration is that every single person involved in this team is working themselves flat-out 24 hours, seven days a week; we couldn’t do any more than we’re doing. But this is the sport we’re in sometimes. For us, it’s heads up and down to New Zealand for the next round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The one sure thing here is that, knowing how good this car is, we won’t stop working until the potential is realised.”