Would you like to own what was supposed to be the legitimately fastest Proton in the world? Are you craving for a rocketing Proton that is capable of annihilating the Civic Type Rs into oblivion on the Sepang track? Then this comes as good news to you as Welch Motorsport is putting not one, but two units of these bespoke Protons up for sale!
The UK-based team had been participating in the highly competitive British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with a single-entry Proton Gen-2 (Persona in Malaysia) for five years. The car was part of the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) classification that runs similar spec 2.0-litre turbocharged engine and spec-based drivetrain, suspension, electronics and gearbox. Proton on the other hand, had no direct involvement in this project, apart from the chassis itself.
The family-ran team scored its best result by finishing fourth in 2012, with driver Daniel Welch piloting the Gen-2. Over the years, the team struggled with reliability and lacked competitiveness and scoring points immediately felt like a podium finish for this small team.
In 2014, the team added a second Gen-2 entry and commissioned a self-developed engine, which is like the equivalent of having F1 minors like Manor to develop its own engine. Sadly, the results were mediocre at best. This year, Daniel scored only a single point and retired (DNF) in most races rather than finishing it. The second car, piloted by Andy Wilmot, fared no better with the driver quitting just after five rounds.
The team had enough of these Protons, which is why Welch Motorsport Team Principal, John Welch said (as quoted in Tourcars.net) “It has been character-building and a complete and utter waste of time.” The team is set to unveil a new car for the 2016 season.
While this piece may sound like a terrible sales pitch, think about it. Not only is this track-bred race car a beauty to look at, it’s well engineered in most departments, making it a brilliant car for time attacks! If the 408bhp engine spells problematic to you, an engine transplant from a proven performance car may sort this out. Just like John mentioned – it’s an effective way for character-building rather than forking a fortune to attend motivational talks!
No price has been listed but it won’t hurt to contact them here to own what is quite possibly the fastest Proton on this planet, although we firmly believe there are more Protons pushing in excess of 500bhp somewhere in Malaysia.
News Source: TouringCars.net, Image Source: Wikipedia
