Kenny promises head on attack from new V5.

Proton Team KR, the only fully independent team in top-level motorcycle racing, is taking a bold step into the future in 2003, with a head-on challenge to the factories with their new V5 four-stroke MotoGP racer. And today they showed a full-scale model of the motor for the first time (pictured).

Team Owner Kenny Roberts has made the commitment, after five years of racing a lightweight alternative two-stroke machine, in a rewarding but ultimately not fully successful attempt to beat the big manufacturers at their own game.

"We chose a lightweight three-cylinder bike against the four-cylinder factory machines because we believed that its agility would outweigh any relative lack of ultimate performance," said Roberts. "Now we are building a full-scale multi-cylinder machine to tackle the new-generation four-strokes directly ... because I'm tired of seeing our riders get overtaken on the straights."

The all-new V5 motorcycle is a truly innovative exercise in prototype engineering, with a clear goal of racing success for the independent team against the might of the major factories.

The new motor, offering high power from a compact package, breaks new ground in its configuration as well as the scale of its ambition. The running gear, meanwhile, will incorporate hard-won knowledge from three previous generations of KR3 racers, including a wide-line chassis already tested and raced successfully in 2002.

Construction of the exciting new V5 Proton engine has already begun, and the project is on schedule for its debut in the first GP of the 2003 season.

The full-scale model shown today was not a working engine. But it is a significant piece of equipment nonetheless - making use of Proton's rapid prototyping facility to fine-tune details of the design even before the whole engine has been made in metal.

Kenny Roberts also signed a notable two-year agreement of mutual collaboration with the Proton factory he has worked with since 1997 and Lotus Engineering.

With the tagline "Change the Rules", the agreement aims to concentrate the expertise and capabilities of all three collaborators to create a top-level machine able to challenge at the highest level of the sport from an independent perspective.

Kenny Roberts signed the contract with Proton's CEO Tengku Tan Sri (Dr.) Mahaleel Tengku Ariff and Lotus Engineering Malaysia's Director Dave Taitt at a specially arranged media conference in Shah Alam.

Roberts remarked: "We're starting something new here. Lotus has lots of experience in aerodynamics and in combustion and these are things we are going to tap into to help us get further up the grid. The three-cylinder project can be considered a relative success and this year the bike has shown its true potential, but now that project is dead."

Meanwhile, back at Proton Team KR's base at Banbury in England, large parts have already begun arriving for machining and assembly, with the engine on schedule for bench-testing soon after the end of the 2002 racing season.

The first stage is reliability and endurance testing, which should be concluded during the month of November. Directly afterwards, track testing will begin. This is scheduled for January, starting in Europe and moving to Malaysia soon afterwards.

By the time the season begins in April the new Proton will not only have hundreds of laps and miles completed, but the process of refinement - to turn a first rough prototype into a fully developed racing motorcycle - should already be well advanced.

"We know from experience what a big job it is to make a racing motorcycle from scratch. At the same time, that same experience means that it should be much easier this time round," said Roberts.

Specifications - Engine and Transmission

Type: Four-Stroke Liquid-cooled V5Bore / Stroke: naDisplacement: 990ccHorsepower: More than 200 Ps above 15000 rpmInduction: Downdraft inlet tract with butterfly throttle and multipoint programmable fuel injectionExhaust: Multi-branch titaniumPistons: Aluminium, one compression ring and one oil control ringLubrication: High pressure oilIgnition: Fully programmable CDISpark Plugs: NGKClutch: Dry multi-plateTransmission: Six speed sequentialDrive Chain: Regina