Mitsubishi Evo X Track Test

The Smoking Tire heads out to Willow Springs International Raceway to test a friend's Mitsubishi Evo X, tuned by Road Race Engineering. Is the Evo quick enough to keep up with a Porsche 996 Cup Car? We'll see.....

Mitsubishi Evo X Track Test Matt Farah: Twenty-two pounds of bruise. You know, we find cars for testing in different interesting places. This is Ross. I met Ross in Cars and Coffee and I saw his Evo 10 and he saw me and he said, “You got to come and drive this car.” So, here we are Willow Springs Raceway. Ross brought his car out. We brought video cameras. Tell me about the car bro. Ross: My wife when we get it finally talked to her into. Sounds like yes. I told her I won’t do anything to affect the warranty and I was kind shot off about a week. Matt Farah: How long did that last? Ross: A week and a half. But yes I started — it’s actually really fun kind of opportunity because we work with a lot of big, big companies on building the car in course performance. We got a lot quite to it. We got a turbo swap. Road Race Engineering is kind of bit the shop. It’s been the main sponsor on this car. Matt Farah: Tell me about Road Race. What do they do? Ross: A great shop on at the Santa Fe Springs out here in California. They do really legitimate race prep work though under goal of kids. Matt Farah: If it doesn’t go faster, they don’t do it. Ross: Exactly yes. They are really just down to earth guys. They do really good solid work. Matt Farah: So, how much power does a car make? Ross: Right now, we’re pushing a little 400. Matt Farah: At the wheels. Ross: At the wheels. Matt Farah: Okay and originally it was what? 250? Ross: 230 from the factory. Matt Farah: Originally 291 crank. Ross: Yes, exactly. Matt Farah: So, it’s considerably faster. Ross: Most definitely, yes. And the biggest thing we did was the AM intake and then the tune. And that right there was about 30, 40 wheel horsepower. Matt Farah: Just software intake done. Ross: Yes. Mike Welch at Road Racing Engineering does all the tuning. And he’s really done a phenomenal job in keeping reliable power which is this is a daylight driver as well so I'm trying to keep that as well. Matt Farah: Without the back seat of it? Ross: Yes, yes, you know, I pop that back in when I need to get groceries, things like that. Matt Farah: So, we’ve gone through horsepower and engine stuff. What about suspension and brakes? Ross: Suspension, Roby Spec which is big, big shop out here. Robert Fuller did the full set up on the suspension. This KW’s are very — into it so it’s good. Matt Farah: Spoil over? Ross: Spoil over so I full set up and then Roby Spec you know from there with him, he does full set up on the suspension. I just bring it to him. Matt Farah: Corner balancing and all that stuff. Corner balancing is very important if you could track your car. Ross: Yes. And I’m a big guy so I want to make sure I won’t be offset. Matt Farah: They’re going to put the sandbags. Have you been running today? Ross: This is the first session that we went out. I had a really good time. Yesterday, it was just a complete crap raining all day. So, today was a really good opportunity to kind of get out and let all that frustration out. Kind of like a honeymoon night so this GT3 was on there. I was riding them and I just got a little too aggressive, got sideways kind of nice solid four wheel grip. In my head, I was like, “Wow, this is pretty cool.” Matt Farah: It happens to the best of us. Ross: That’s right. Matt Farah: The car is all good. Ross: Yes. Matt Farah: So, do I get to grab it? Ross: I don’t know man. Have you ever driven something like this? Matt Farah: Yes, I have a video camera. Usually that helps. Ross: Alright, alright I guess with the video camera will let you get in. We got a couple here so that should be good. Matt Farah: Since I had driven neither of this nor this track, Ross stood me out of the passenger for a session to get a feel for the racing line and Evo’s cornering and braking them. It almost goes without saying but both are extremely high. Willow Springs is a two and a half mile road course made for the perfect place to test the car’s capability as it is a very fast circuit with virtually no hairpin turns making it easy to take advantage of the Evo’s all wheel drive system in the fast bends. My first thought was that Ross did far less braking that I expected. But by keeping smooth steering inputs and getting back on the throttle early through the corners, it allowed him to simply point the apex and let the car sort out the rest. Ross drove right on the edge causing me surprisingly when the Evo didn’t seem to break a sweat, did exactly what it was told at every corner. Ross kept the RPMs high and the Evo pulled like a freight train, virtually lag-free from corner to corner. On the downhill backstreet, we passed three or four cars at a time reaching nearly 130 miles an hour before slowing down the 90, the Willows infamous turn 89 combinations. I couldn’t believe it but for most of the afternoon session, the Evo kept up with the portion 996 up car. We both decided that if it was going to beat one of Germany’s finest around the track, it would have to shed some weight and that meant, I had to go. Ross blasted out of the pits on his own right onto the track assuring me that once he passed the Porsche, it would be mine. What just happened here was that I was about to get in the Evo and drive it and it appears that our buddy Ross who owns the car just tried to make a pass and apparently went off for the third time today at a very, very high rate of speed. I’d be surprised. Unfortunately, this day is not going to end well for the Smoking Tire crew. I obviously won’t get to drive the car on track. I rode in it, it was fast and I’m sure it will be fast again soon. Unfortunately Ross had a crash today at the track. But the good news is, is if he joins the car in fiber club what you can do by going to the smokingtire.com and clicking on the car in fiber club banner, he can save a whole lot of money and all the stuff he needs to fix his car. It’s free to sign up. And if he uses the smoking tires membership channel, he gets an even better deal. He’s going to need it and you guys should look into it. He’s going to need it like today. Maybe I should just sign up for him now in my blackberry.