Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. One of the world’s top 10 toughest motor races—the Rainforest Challenge (RFC) is coming to Malaysia. If you’ve been following this motorsport event, then you don’t need us to convince you of its difficulty. But, if this is the first time you’re hearing of RFC, we’ll give you five reasons to be excited about this event that is happening from 23^rd of November to the 4^th of December 2017…

#1 The track

No well-manicured grass or smooth tarmacs to be found here! The RFC is an off-road event that sees drivers race each other over grassy, rocky, and muddy terrain, slippery slopes, and raging rivers.

This year, in conjunction with the State Government of Pahang and “Visit Pahang Year”, the Rainforest Challenge will flag-off from Tasik Titiwangsa, then making the journey through Kuantan, Sungai Lembing, Gambang, Ulu Bera, and Rompin before concluding in Pekan, Pahang.

By the way, the flag-off at Tasik Titiwangsa on the 24^th of November and the closing awards at Pekan, Pahang on the 4^th of December will be open to public, so clear your schedule and be there! For a more detailed look at the itinerary, click here.

#2 The history of accolades

Something doesn’t just make it to the list of toughest motor races without picking up a few recognitions along the way, and RFC has quite a few to its name.

Apart from being named “Malaysia’s Top-10 Most Spectacular Sports Tourism Event” by the Malaysia Tourism Council and “Among the Top-10 Toughest Motor Races in the World” by US Gawker Media, RFC also made it into the Malaysia Book of Records for the “Most number of 4x4 vehicles assembled in one venue (927 vehicles)” and “Most number of countries participating in a 4x4 event (27 nations)”. Speaking of nations…

#3 The number of countries participating this year

Having 27 countries participate in this event was impressive, but this year, there will be more than 30 countries from Asia Pacific, Africa, North and South America, and Europe!

Fun fact: Out of the 10 toughest motor races in the world, RFC is the ONLY one to be held in Asia this year. This definitely puts our country on the radar of motorsport fans.

#4 The vehicles featured in this event

C’mon, it’s an event where drivers race powerful 4x4s over REALLY challenging terrain like we mentioned earlier. Need we say more, really? If that doesn’t excite you then nothing will.

This year’s Rainforest Challenge will feature the following 4x4 categories:

• Below 3050cc Above 3050cc
• Production pick-up truck Modified pick-up truck Portal axles
• Electric winch – vehicles running a dedicated electric winch PTO winch – vehicles running dedicated PTO winch

And, speaking of powerful vehicles...

#5 They are running on the best turbo diesel on the market

Watching a car get stuck in mud or turned over while crossing a river, that’s fun! But seeing a contestant exiting the race because of engine malfunction due to poor choice of fuel, that’s a real kill joy.

Luckily for the contestants – and for us spectators who want to really feel the excitement – they will be using high performance Petron Turbo Diesel Euro 5, the official fuel sponsor of RFC 2017.

Petron Turbo Diesel Euro 5 enhances combustion and power restoration in the engine for better power, engine protection, and mileage. With non-stop cleaning action and low sulphur content of only 10ppm (compared to 500ppm in regular diesel), Petron Turbo Diesel Euro 5 is 50x cleaner to the environment and to engines.