Last weekend was the Malaysian Rally C'ship Rd 1 which is also the 1st round of the Asia Pacific Rally C'ship 2010. It was the first test of the improved Proton Satria Neo S2000 rally cars piloted by Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson.
The NA Neo Super 2000 with 278bhp were giving the turboed Evo X and Subarus a tough fight. The Neo's NA high pitch engine sound were music to the rally fans. It was definitely no slouch to the EVOs..
At the end of Day 1, Alister's Neo (car #3) was leading the pack ahead of Katsu Taguchi in the EVO X. However, bad luck struck on day 2 when his car landed awkwardly after a jump and damaged the radiator fan blades. Consequently the engine overheated and blew at the start of SS11. His attempt to bag the first victory of 2010 literally went up in smoke.
As for Chris Atkinson, his #1 Neo had a suspected electronic gremlin at SS1 which delayed him for >15mins. The car just stalled while he was charging thru the stage. Strangely and fortunately, the car jumped back to life and he began charging thru the remaining stages setting best times for 2 of them.
On day 2, his car again suffered from electronic gremlin again on SS14.. And yet again the car jumped back to life after some time. In the end, he managed to finish the rally but didn't get onto the podium. He was running in 4th after McRae's retirement and is on the charge to get on the podium...
It was a good effort from the 2 world class drivers nevertheless. The next round in Japan would definitely be interesting to watch
The Satria Neos were able to give a tough fight to the EVO X... Katsu Taguchi, the eventual winner driving the EVO X, admitted that the Neos are FAST.. Now wait for the next round in Jpn in 1 month's time...
Here are some photos..
#1 - Katsu Taguchi finally won the Malaysian round of the APRC in his new EVO X.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/4554994424_db432c0ce4.jpg
#2 - Alister going into a hard left sideways
#3 - Countering
#4 - Speeding away exiting the corner
#5 - Chris takes a neater line at the same corner..
#6 - The EVO X is so much longer than the Neo.. If it goes sideways into a turn, it literally would used up all the road...
#7
#8
#9 - Compare this to the EVO...
#10 - Jump.. Small one though..
Day 2:
#11 - It started raining at the stages moments after this shot...
#12 - Mcrae again... Sideways..
#13 - Car #8 Gaurav Gill from India... Pretty fast too...
#14 - Karamjit charging on Day2 after he DNF on Day 1.. On Day 2, he did post some good times before he DNF again after 5 stages.
#15 - Sole surviving neo after Alister DNF
#16 - That's how dirty it can get.. That's not the worst...
#17 - Man on top...
#18 - 8 legged fren watching the rally too... the body is aledi 3" long... Including the legs, it's longer than the length of my palm...
#19 - Alister's car.. Noticed the damaged lower front bar.. And the cylinder head was aledi removed...
#20 - A peek at the undercarriage... Nothing like a normal neo
#21 - Chris interviewed by APRC.tv
#22 - All washed up and ready to go to the ceremonial finish
The NA Neo Super 2000 with 278bhp were giving the turboed Evo X and Subarus a tough fight. The Neo's NA high pitch engine sound were music to the rally fans. It was definitely no slouch to the EVOs..
At the end of Day 1, Alister's Neo (car #3) was leading the pack ahead of Katsu Taguchi in the EVO X. However, bad luck struck on day 2 when his car landed awkwardly after a jump and damaged the radiator fan blades. Consequently the engine overheated and blew at the start of SS11. His attempt to bag the first victory of 2010 literally went up in smoke.
As for Chris Atkinson, his #1 Neo had a suspected electronic gremlin at SS1 which delayed him for >15mins. The car just stalled while he was charging thru the stage. Strangely and fortunately, the car jumped back to life and he began charging thru the remaining stages setting best times for 2 of them.
On day 2, his car again suffered from electronic gremlin again on SS14.. And yet again the car jumped back to life after some time. In the end, he managed to finish the rally but didn't get onto the podium. He was running in 4th after McRae's retirement and is on the charge to get on the podium...
It was a good effort from the 2 world class drivers nevertheless. The next round in Japan would definitely be interesting to watch
The Satria Neos were able to give a tough fight to the EVO X... Katsu Taguchi, the eventual winner driving the EVO X, admitted that the Neos are FAST.. Now wait for the next round in Jpn in 1 month's time...
Here are some photos..
#1 - Katsu Taguchi finally won the Malaysian round of the APRC in his new EVO X.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/4554994424_db432c0ce4.jpg
#2 - Alister going into a hard left sideways
#3 - Countering
#4 - Speeding away exiting the corner
#5 - Chris takes a neater line at the same corner..
#6 - The EVO X is so much longer than the Neo.. If it goes sideways into a turn, it literally would used up all the road...
#7
#8
#9 - Compare this to the EVO...
#10 - Jump.. Small one though..
Day 2:
#11 - It started raining at the stages moments after this shot...
#12 - Mcrae again... Sideways..
#13 - Car #8 Gaurav Gill from India... Pretty fast too...
#14 - Karamjit charging on Day2 after he DNF on Day 1.. On Day 2, he did post some good times before he DNF again after 5 stages.
#15 - Sole surviving neo after Alister DNF
#16 - That's how dirty it can get.. That's not the worst...
#17 - Man on top...
#18 - 8 legged fren watching the rally too... the body is aledi 3" long... Including the legs, it's longer than the length of my palm...
#19 - Alister's car.. Noticed the damaged lower front bar.. And the cylinder head was aledi removed...
#20 - A peek at the undercarriage... Nothing like a normal neo
#21 - Chris interviewed by APRC.tv
#22 - All washed up and ready to go to the ceremonial finish
