Formula E Coming to Putrajaya : Giant RC Noise (Video)

There's new Formula racing series in town, and it consumes no fuel, and it is coming to Malaysia. To be specific, Putrajaya has been chosen as one the venue, set to host a second round of Formula E Championship in October 2014. It will be road circuit, design around Putrajaya although details are scarce the moment.

Formula E is the new racing series under FIA. The design guideline is highly regulated although manufacturer are encourage to come up with the own design. Many items are standardize, while other are constraint (for example maximum power and top speed). Tyres will be an all-season, eliminating the use of dry and wet weather tyres. Vehicles aerodynamics are specially crafted to aid overtaking, preventing another slipstream-limited not unlike the Formula One cars. All electric powertrain is set to give it a new breed of racing sound. Listen to the video below and judge for yourself. I feel it sound like an RC car, albeit in gigantic scale.

At the moment there are already 4 teams registered namely Drayson Racing, China Racing, Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing. The calendar will consist of 10 rounds and Malaysia, as mentioned earlier is second is the series.

Those with technical insight, below is the technical specification of the car, extracted from FIA website. Read more after the jump.

Proton in Global Motorsport Arena - Satria Neo S2000

PROTON is clearly intensified its turnaround plan and strategizing a global attack on automotive arena. Apart from launching a series of credible car recently, the image building activities is buzzing actively too. The highest profile would be the involvement with LRGP F1 team where the F1 theme is used prominently in Proton advertising. Capitalizing the Lotus (other way around actually as Lotus is owned and funded by our national car company) name, Proton is featured is the advertisement and sponsored event. 

Closer to the affordable car, Proton cars are being run in FIA Rally Championship and British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The participation in FIA APRC was ran by Mellors Elliot Motorsport, while the participation in BTCC was handled by Welch Motorsport where they fielded Proton Persona BTCC. The car is still new and developing and the success is still yet to come. However, the rally effort started much earlier in 2008 and by now already bags the success. For this category, Proton Satria Neo was chosen, and was adapted according to new FIA S2000 classification where the road going-based car is allowed to have either 1.6l forced-fed or a 2.0l NA. 

Last weekend, Proton bags the manufacturer championship for APRC, leaving Mitsubishi and Subaru trailing in its wake. The Satria Neo S2000 has been a dominant force this season, winning four out of six round it participated along the 2011. Proton Satria Neo as chosen as it has the ideal dimensions to be the base car for the rally, as the car body hard-points can't be altered as it violates the regulation. Most modern car today are tall-body to maximise space, not so with Satria Neo. It was designed from the outset to be sporty hatchback in Proton range, hence its low-slung stance. This is perfect for racing as it present the lowest frontal area. Short overhang and cab-rearward stance rewards great weight distribution. These are the criteria that makes Satria Neo such as credible baseline model to rallying. Mellors Elliot Motorsport has modified the car to S2000 regulation, altering the customary bodyshell fit for rallying, modified the Waja-derived 1.8l and massaged the internals to produce a reliable 278bhp and drop-in the 4WD drivetrain and Xtrac 6 speed gearbox. Enjoy the write-up below on the technicalities of Proton Satria Neo S2000.

The Satria Neo S2000 was build around the new S2000 category according to FIA classification. The S2000 is divided into two, the first one is the turbocharged 1.6l while the second one is NA 2.0l. S2000 Satria Neo conformed to the latter. Full classification accepted for FIA rallying is as tabulated. 

Proton Satria Neo S2000 made it rally debut at Rallye Antibes Cote d'Azure in November 2008 where it was piloted by Bryan Bouffier. In that leg, it finished 18th in its debut. First podium for Satria Neo S2000 arrived in December 2009 at IRC Rally of Scotland when Alister McRae was awarded second place. In 2011, Satria Neo S2000 dominates the season by winning four out of six rounds of APRC. Alister McRae took the APRC driver's championship while team mate Chris Atkinson is second in table , making it 1-2 for driver's championship for Proton drivers. Proton also clinches the manufacturer crown ahead of the Mitsubishi and Subaru.

More after the jump.

Proton wins both driver and constructor championship of APRC

Proton sweeps clean the FIA Asia Pasific Rally Championship (APRC) by clinching both driver's title with Alister McRae and constructor championship at season finale in China. For those not in the know, APRC is not a backyard-grown local rally, it is the international, FIA-accredited racing class with entries around the world with various involvement of car manufacturers. This fact make the victory very, very sweet indeed.

While the driver's championship is down to the wire between both Proton drivers, the battle for constructor was still open leading to China's finale. Alister McRae has comfortably leading the Day 1, while teammate Chris Atkinson is 3rd at the end of Day 1. It is McRae forth victory of the season. The Proton drivers were split by Jari Ketomaa in his Mitsubishi Evolution X. For the constructor  crown, Mitsubishi finish second behind Proton, while Subaru is in third place. Such is the dominant of Proton Satria Neo S2000 that it was able to fend off the Japanese legendary rally marques. 

Proton is also the first manufacturer to win all eight categories contested in FIA APRC championship. In addition to the these two sweetest aforementioned victory, Proton also is a victor in FIA APRC Teams Trophy, FIA Asia Cup Driver's title, FIA Pasific Cup Driver's, Manufacturer's title in 2WD category, FIA APRC Rally Cup 2WD category and FIA APRC Junior Cup driver's title.

CONGRATULATION PROTON!!