When news of the Proton Iriz R5 first surfaced in 2016, it generated an incredible wave of hype surrounding Proton’s new hatch, particular for those who are fans of the automaker’s exploits in motorsports, or in this case, rallying.
The Iriz R5 (based on the 2016 model) was built and developed by Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM), a brand that isn’t in any way a stranger to Proton. In fact, MEM’s relationship with Proton goes back to the late 1990s, and has since built the famed Satria Neo S2000, which helped the team win the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (FIA APRC) in 2001. MEM was also responsible for building the Proton PERT Evo VI for local legend Karamjit Singh, who won the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) in 2002.
But because MEM is headquartered in Bakewell, UK, there isn’t a whole lot of opportunities to discuss developmental work with the racing team, much less talk about its Proton race cars. So when MEM founder and team principal Chris Mellors – who himself was a former rally champion – flew in for business, we seized the chance for a private interview and uncovered several interesting facts regarding the Iriz R5. What you’re about to read came straight from the horse’s mouth, so strap yourselves in.
Unlike the Satria Neo, the Iriz was never officially sold in the UK. According to Chris, when the Iriz first made its debut in 2014, he was contacted by Tun Dr Mahathir (that’s right!) who at the time was still the chairman of Proton. Mahathir was curious to know if the Iriz platform had what it took to be a rally car, so that’s essentially how it all started.
Technically, all cars could be transformed into rally cars, Chris said. But to make a truly competitive car that adheres to the R5 rules, the car’s platform itself has to be top notch. Fundamentally, the rear axle can be modified to fit a four-wheel drive system (all R5 cars like the Ford Fiesta and Skoda Fabia use the same FIA-approved rear axle), and the torsion beam setup can also be replaced with an independent suspension. However, the geometry and mounting points for the front suspension almost cannot be modified.
If the base car’s front suspension isn’t good enough, it will severely affect the dynamics and balance of the R5 car’s rear suspension. But that’s not the case with the Iriz. Chris said the B-segment hatch was developed with an excellent front suspension which utilises a wishbone lower arm as opposed to a boomerang arm (which is used by many other rivalling models), so it has that advantage from the get-go.
Chris also said the Iriz has the upper hand in terms of its dimensions. Despite being a short car, its wheelbase is nearly as long as the Mk6 Volkswagen Golf. It also has short front and rear overhangs, which when combined with the long wheelbase, gave the Iriz great stability. This is particularly advantageous for a rally car, Chris said.
All of these worked in tandem to give the Iriz R5 go-kart-like handling and unwavering stability when attacking the bends, Chris explained. It also remained stable under aggressive rebounds, factors which surprised two-time WRC champion Marcus Grönholm when he drove the Iriz R5 in 2017. This is why the Iriz R5 excelled in nearly every rally championship series it participated in, and also explains why the road-going Iriz is convincingly adept in the corners.
What’s more, Chris said the Iriz’s front face was designed as though it was deliberately made for motorsports. Based on FIA regulations, the frontal design of an R5 race car can’t be modified too extensively from the production car (for reasons pertaining to air flow), so it served as a bonus that the Iriz had a gaping radiator grille. It also has a tall nose, which allowed MEM to install the largest intercooler system among R5 cars.
Most of these advantages were unknown to many, but based on MEM’s early studies, the engineers went to town with its development in 2016. Chris added that the Iriz had its own charm from a visual point of view, because other R5 cars like the Fiesta, Fabia, or Volkswagen Polo are a dime a dozen in Europe.
So when the Proton Iriz R5 made its official debut, many were puzzled and asked “what car is that, which brand makes it, and where is this brand from?” That inadvertently created some publicity on a continent with which the production model was never officially sold. We’ve got MEM to thank for that!
Fervent followers of the Proton Iriz R5 must be thinking, why did the car get a 4B11T engine that was downsized from a 2.0 litre to a 1.6 litre block? Why not just use Proton’s Campro S4PH 1.6 litre engine? Well, Chris has his reasonings, and it’s quite an eye-opening subject. Read all about it, here.
This piece has been translated from the original story written by our BM counterpart.
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“to make a truly competitive car that adheres to the R5 rules, the car’s platform itself has to be top notch”
The chassis must be good, nuff said. And Iriz has proven to be a great chassis.
“Chris said the B-segment hatch was developed with an excellent front suspension”
Forward thinking from our abangabangs engineers & designers. Well done!
“Despite being a short car, its wheelbase is nearly as long as the Mk6 Volkswagen Golf”
Again our chassis engineering is nearly up to German capabilities.
“It also remained stable under aggressive rebounds. why the road-going Iriz is convincingly adept in the corners.”
U see, the gweilos have full confidence in P1 engineering and the design of their cars. Only uninformed pipu and Jepunis brands salespipu come here to bollocks and about P1 from Wira era.
“Iriz had a gaping radiator grille”
This is a feature for car uniquely designed and made for tropical hot environment plus constant traffic jams so to avoid the overheating u see on Mivis at side of roads during epic traffic jams. P1 R&D teams have done their study and now u see P1 cars go back to hometown with no problems while many P2 cars stuck at roadside with bonnet up due to overheating. This is the facts.
“why did the car get a 4B11T engine”
The cars adaptability shines
too right mate.
Proton showcased their game changing Iriz EV years ago. Already waited for 6 years, why is Proton creating this game over edition instead of mass producing their EV?
Brainless commenting. You were complaining about the high prices of battery replacement and now you turn and again demand for Iriz EV. Nothing Proton will do could satisfy a demanding idiot with ulterior motives for his demands.
Agreed. Locals must saport own local cars.
Thank the success to China. Lucky China saved Proton and their R3 division.
We could not have done it without China and Geely’s help
Typical abang abang mentality. Mellor and China do all the work, then the jaguh kampung claim glamour and fame
Just like Proton, only after Li Chunrong took over, the company was losing billions per year.
Now Proton doing well, jaguh kampung claim glamour and syiok sendiri with the fame.
@ASB , Don’t deny it, you want to come, here to Proton. I’m going too, I’m saying goodbye to my Peroduas (was two, now left with one). Let’s go together.. lol
it literally doesnt make any finacial sense at that time to make a car that has no promise it will suceed. expected price prob will be at 100k+ for an iriz at the time it was promise early 2016/17/18 would you buy it with the company reputation at the time
Long essay but the truth is, lucky China and Geely Motorsports is guiding Proton to do well. Otherwise, it is just non stop bailouts.
We need more Mainland people into Malaysia to teach us how to work hard.
Long essay but you don’t even try to read it much less understand it. The gist is many are astounded and impressed with Iriz capabilities and sound engineering, much of it was by our abang-abang engineers which you insulted everyday even now. You can’t accept reality that is your problem, but don’t come here and lie.
P1 motorsports doing well even before Geely. stop lying. im calling you out now.
P1 tumpang glamer only mah. Engine mitsubishi tp cover wif p1 ugly body. So when wins, syiok sendiri p1 wins. Winner is mitsubishi 4B11t. P1 balik kampung jaguh kampung only. Jaguh mesia mmg tara dpt. Baru syiokkk enjin mitsubishi mmg power. Saga iswara wira waja syiokk.
What a dumb comment with poor English. All the R5 racers are not using roadgoing engines, many like Ford are using custom built race engines (ie from Cosworth). Engine is only part of the equation for success, as explained by Chris Mellors, the chassis also plays such an important role in the victories. Haters that don’t know engineering don’t see this important concept.
English level: local graduate of my people. Nevermind, bro, keep improving your English.
About the car, the article clearly mentioned about the chassis, not the engine. So, enough said, you have embarrassed me enough today.
The butthurting is strong with you
P1 lost about RM20 billion in revenue and a further RM20 billion in bailouts. More than RM40 billion down the drain. And yet, they syiok sendiri with Motorsports
The sheer stupidity of your comment truly boggles the mind. It’s sad that a premier site like paultan.org has to make do with idiotic comments like yours day in day out. How old are you anyway. You sir truly need to evaluate the purpose of your existence. Effing waste of oxigen if you ask me
Whats the point of having powerful engine, if the chassis itself cant handle it? Especially in rally, where the car itself is bouncing all over the place
Hahaha english oh english dude. But still those haters understand what u saying dude dont worry. Thats why they show their hate reply to you dude, because they understand what you mean. Denying your bad english but still understand. Thats how dumb people they are. Proton still bad product sorry to say. After sales service very poor. Still toyota honda the best.
You both share the same dumbness eh? You think engine is the only thing that matters? Why not go compete in rally with your Ahbengfied Myvi with tebo engine? Oh wait, Perodua did that and failed (read: FAILED) miserable.
“Proton still bad product” is your own opinion.
If using camtakpro saph 1.6 engine cant finish the race. Sure overheating and park tepi pokok only, wait for kerbau come towing. Like what we’ve seen alot camtakpro proton cars park tepi jalan highway and put some leaf and flower at back so that people knows ur car breakdown. Gearbox and overheating are camtakpro engine common problem, which p1 claim its driver fault and not their fault. Cos u drive it not them drive. U punya pasal la. ahaha. After sales service u know i know la. Hahaha.
ha ha ha… you talk kok from which year sohai? even the och is already improved… you p2 even fuel pump also boleh rosak…rebadge je pun…ka rebadge and then tuka parts murahan bro? ha ha ha ha oi faster push your SC fix my godly myvi…fuel pump also have to wait 2 months… nyamahai
Thats why people said must use brain before talk
mango Idiot , for S1KM race iris, Suprima and Sage have been using cameo and also they won defeating Honda and Toyota and in what you are claiming that the campro over heat …
This comment is so obvious coming from the same commenter above. Same style of writing saying the same bulldung.
Bro, bebal tu simpan sikit. Proton dh tukar ke VVT lama dh wei, Campro dh xde! Both are valves management system (on the top of the engine). When Proton said they change the intake part of the Preve Turbo to VVT, thats mean, no Campro!
YOU SPEAKTH THE TRUTH!!!
You want to buy any Japanese Cars or Proton, you can. But as long as, you don’t buy Honda. There are lots of quality problems and even service center management also not doing very well. Yet, Honda Malaysia are very good for not listening to what consumers complaints had said and just straight away concentrate on assembling Honda cars.
Probably, I owned my Honda CRV since Oct 2018 but few months later, my gearbox knob also broken, certain engine parts also got spoilt and even door also make creaking sound. Of course, not only I went to service center every week to repair, even so many Honda owners also attend to service center every week. And we have to wait and don’t know what time to collect our car. After longer hours, finishing repairing Honda cars, However, several days later, still got problem. Don’t know whether they give fake parts or either didn’t repair at all. So that’s why I recommend you to stay away from Honda and buy Proton, Toyota, Nissan and others.
https://paultan.org/2019/11/24/s1k-2019-proton-iriz-r3-dan-wak-tempe-kekal-juara-saga-r3-kedua-jazz-honda-msia-racing-team-ketiga/
Honda kena tapau oleh Proton lettew. Huk huk huk
Bawak la R3 pi negara Jepun tapau dorang…jaguh di kampung bagus la tu…sekarang dah tiba masa bawak R3 tapau honda di negara dorang le…Hyundai boleh buat, takkan Proton tak leh…
https://paultan.org/2019/08/23/satria-neo-cusco-n2-kisah-pahlawan-di-bumi-jepun/
Tu dia dah lama bertempur di negara Jepun lettew. Diorang yg bawak masuk negara dia pulak tu
alamakkk!! BURNN!! lol lol
Yes Mario, we believe in you. Honda, Nissan, Perodua, Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai and Mercedes Benz are game over carmakers while Proton is the world #1 carmaker
This article is about Proton Iriz. it is not a complaint page for Honda. You want to spread awareness about Honda cars, pls go and post at Honda FB group, not here.
You want to buy any Japanese Cars or National cars, you can. But as long as, you don’t buy Poo key Dua. There are lots of quality problems and even service center management also sleeping. Yet, Poo key Dua are very good for not listening to what consumers complaints had said and just straight away concentrate on assembling junk cars.
Many Poo key Dua Mivee G3 owners facing gearbox broken, fuel pump spoilt and even all parts also make creaking sound after few months using it. Of course, so many Poo key Dua owners also attend to service center every week. And they have to wait like donkey and don’t know what time to collect the car. After longer hours, finishing repairing Poo key Dua cars, However, several days later, still got problem. Don’t know whether they give Indon made cheap parts or either didn’t repair at all. So that’s why I recommend you to stay away from Poo key Dua and buy Proton, Toyota and others (also no Nissan crap cars).
The truth about IRIZ
The chassis was designed by Proton’s own people, some of the best out there. The chassis was top notch and world class. But…
It was let down by poor engine and transmissions.
Moving forward.
I would like to see the IRIZ chassis live on, with totally new skin (like what perodua done with the latest Myvi) plus engines and transmissions from Geely. I believe IRIZ chassis with totally new styling and geely engine and transmissions will really bring the fight on to Myvi and even Yaris, Vitz and Jazz/Fit.
Like Matt said, straight from the horse’s mouth, which we can infer as abang2 know’s how to build chassis with great foundations. too bad about the half past dead hand picked cronies that dont know jack sh!t about the rest of the car industry (chassis building is just part of the whole car building process, which in turn is also only part of the whole car making/selling business).
so, big thanks to Bijan for blessing the tie up with Geely which helped purge the deadwoods and cronies and also brought LCR in to the picture. And big thanks to LCR for unshackling the potential of abangs2, proven by the fact that the bulk of their sales come from the reinvigorated self designed Saga.
Aiyo… It was Tun M call Chris Mellor la dey… During his Chairman tenure.
Bijan do nothing just sold the company to Geely only.
Some shares sold to Geely has nothing to do with bijan. Its the shareholder’s (DRB) decision who committed to look for foreign strateguc partner for Proton. A lot of proposals came in from automakers around the world and Geely was proposed the best and solid idea for Proton’s future. Please google Geely, no one can beat them in term of its R&D and business strategy.
-Just to make it clear
Iriz was born during Najib era. A more practical car than what came during Madey era syiok sendiri.
No u wrong bro. Self designed saga oledi a failure b4 tis. U knw why more pipu buy saga now? Becoz geely facelift it wif x70 style front. Pipu buy becoz of the grillz like x70 ony mah. If still p1 grillz pipu reject. Oh well good luck saga owner wif hyundai problematic gearbox. Wait 3 yrs we’ll see p1 owner crying here.
Thats why never read properly . Well bro even x70 was redesigned by proton team and infinite weave’ grille was designed by proton team and as well the Saga , iriz and Persona
Same commenter as ‘Evo’ and ‘No pelotong’. What is wrong with you here?
Paul Tan should frame this comment and make it the model comment. Spot on truth
syabas abang2 DRB , maruah & potensi terbukti!
YOU SPEAKTH THE TRUTH!!!
The sad part is the car Iriz was not well recognised in own country, No one said p2 produce a worst car and course Nyvi is good but iris is the car to compete with other International B segment carmaker =
Myvi owners never admit they bought a lousy car because they malu to admit that. It is easier for them to whack something they don’t know about because they are envious of it.
Proton owner never admit their car more lousy because they malu they buy failed product by proton. A denial and ignorant proton fan will always say they are right even tho they already been bashed badly by perodua termendous, awesome and top sales. So u only a engineer who good in building engine “parut kelapa” and do santan. Then talk like santan after badly hit by perodua success. Sad but true.
You ask any random Malaysians, and they will tell you 1 biji Musang King is much better than 1000 rambutans sold. If you cannot tell the difference between Musang King(Proton) and rambutans(Perodua), I want ask are you even Malaysian?
The following paragraph gets me confused: “and has since built the famed Satria Neo S2000, which helped the team win the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (FIA APRC) in 2001. ” It is written in such a way that I think the Satria Neo was used in 2001.
Yep. I find it odd too. The flying Singh won 2001 APRC with Proton PERT Evo VI. Neo S2000 was piloted by McRae and won 2011 APRC. Maybe there was a bit of jumble up.
And people who is claiming that Iriz is a game over car , why not they use the Myvi ..The Pride Of Nation???
And you dickheads will never change
Seems like you guys uncovered something very interesting. I didn’t know Satria Neo S2000 was introduced in late 1990s while production Neos only be made available to public in 2006.
When you want to compete in WRC R5 vs the Skoda Fabia. I’ve waiting it for so loooonnnnggggg….
Is it going to race in WRC 2 ? I really want to see it fight with the WRC 2 champion Skoda Fabia R5. What took you soo loonggg……