To try and sum this up in a word would be an exercise in frivolity. So I won’t. This will be one of those longwinded posts, where you stop reading midway through.


This past Monday I was presented with the opportunity to come and drive with the Laps Inc. car club. The invite was extended from Mike Benet, owner of Kauth and Mayeur. I graciously accepted and started prepping the car.. Since the TA has been down and out, with seemingly endless uncorrectable issues by a multitude of “professionals”, I took my second choice…

Track duties were given to my AMS35r Lancer Evolution. Everyone has heard how well these cars perform on the street… We have all heard that they really shine on the track.. What you don’t read about too much is the failure rate on the road race track environment… I have heard it from various car instructors, I have seen it myself.. EVO’s are great when they run, but even at the AMS track days, evo’s broke down left and right.. (rumor has it).. I swore this would not be the outcome at this event. If I’m driving it there, I’m going to drive it back. Its either that, or I buy my own flatbed, because God knows my track record with anything I drive isn’t that great.

So I started in with the prep work. Full brake bleed, flush and refill… ATE super blue… nothing but the best.. This stuff does the trick every time. Stock rotors were swapped out for the Stimler’s bargain basement slotted units with pre-bedded in race pads.. Not sure on what flavor of pad they are, but cold they have a slightly less grip than stock feel… After they have heat….Put your dentures in the glove box.

Shoes.. I typically run a good sticky street tire by BFG.. the venerable KDW-2… Great grip in the dry, world class grip in the wet.. (my opinion, buy em at your own risk). So a call to Mr. Kazz5… I know he has some Autocross rubber he was planning on scrapping, might as well give them the old one two before junking them.. Khumo Victoracers…. Even old, and dry they have grip for days. 255/55/17… Yummy… not too wide, but more than effective.

I re-did some wiring, shrink wrapped, stress relieved, and general housecleaning.. It came out pretty good… Up to CAT standards at least. I ran a new optima battery from the trunk, finally killing the never ending dead race battery issue. Anyone who is putting a race battery in a street car, for weight reduction reasons should be slapped.. Unless your car weighs less than 800lbs, who give a flying F@#$? So.. I have power.

I gave Darryl Hudson a call, and voiced my concerns over liquefying my recent headjob into a pool of alo minium… A few hours later, and my Evo was running richer, and much much safer… Rather error on too much fuel consumption rather than spraying lava out my tail pipe… that’s reserved for Buffalo Wild Wings.

All the fluids were topped off and it was time to go hand check every single chassis bolt, suspension, subframe, etc.. Anything that was paramount to keeping this car predictable was checked, and re-torqued. Always worth checking.. never take your safety for granted. I found some things that raised an eyebrow, but that happens anytime you buy a used car.

I loaded the car up with water, sunscreen, tools, a new harbor freight race jack (80$).. and attempted to get some sleep.. This was all the night prior.. Got to sleep about 2am, and up by 0430… Time to meet up with the boys… The boys being some of the local super car folks that have money to burn and toys to play with.. I just hope my evo can maintain pace...

Off and rolling.. A Ford GT, a Porsche GT2… a Z06 look-alike with super z06 performance… and a Mustang GT.. Talk about shock and awe… Watching that Porsche… facing backwards on the trailer, staring at me like a gleeful prom queen… Longing for the sweet caress of my foot… stimulating her Go …..pedal? wait… what was I talking about?

The trip was negligible in duration.. it went by smooth, without a hitch aside from some horridness fog that never yielded. We arrive at the track, and were met by several cute, chipper and very helpful female office staff.. I would of never agreed to putting on this purple arm band had it been a cute, chipper very helpful male office staff member… just for the record.

Onto the track… the entrance road is paved asphalt.. unblemished.. The gated community is a little tight for trailer pulling beasts of burden but my Evo entered the scene with admiration. Eyeing the other cars in the parking lot, I could see no less than 8 Porsche cars of the 911 variety, many with turbos attached.. Super car after super car… Man.. I need to figure out a way to roll like this…

I found my pit area and proceeded to clean out the cavernous boot.. My car actually gained an inch in height after unloading that 400lbs of crap I brought. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

First stop.. Drivers meeting.. Short and sweet.
Second stop.. Drivers education for newbs…

The driver’s education portion was informative. Good stuff there, but basically the same as the other DE classes I’ve been in. I won’t cover all the points, but I will stress this… SAFTEY first.. Don’t over drive the car… and lose the EGO.. EGO’s are what causes wrecks.. Relax and just drive the car, don’t fight the car… Don’t worry about with others are doing… Drive at your own pace and learn the line…

I was partnered up with a Driving instructor named Cole.. He knew the course in and out and had some really good input on where I was doing right, and more that I was doing wrong… There is a lot going on, and at times I felt that the co-pilot was interrupting the conversation I was having with the car, but eventually I found the groove.

In the time I’ve had the evo, I’ve never really pushed it… I meen, I’ve raced on the road, and at an autocross, but I’ve never really felt the edge… Fingered the balance of grip and tumble… That fine line of how hard you can throw it into a corner.. .The pucker factor on whether to add more power or just ride the line out and then get on power….

What I did learn is this… My car does not push… at least with these tires and the suspension setup… It was neutral in the corners.. Even adding in light throttle the car never even offered to under steer or over steer for that matter… Part way though the second 25 minute session I found myself asking… What if I peg the go pedal home a hair before the apex? Or perhaps a smidge sooner than that? What happened is not what I would of expected….

What I fully expected was the car to go wide… I figured it would plow a bit and
would have to get out of power… That’s not what happens… oh… BTW…Boost was set at a conservative 15.5-16.5psi.. I had 5 gallons of 104octane (thanks winners circle) and the rest was 93… This was as safe as I could get with the limited budget on hand… AF was a solid 11.3:1

FELLAS… Race gas is the best insurance policy I have found. Use it… yes a 5 gallon pail costs 50 bucks… Who cares? If 50 bucks is going to break you, forget going road racing, or running your car hard on the street. A burnt valve or piston costs a ton more than that 50 bucks… That being said, back to the event..

Going full throttle with these tires, at 70mph or so in a turn was a great feeling.. I could feel this new LSD front differential pulling my front end towards the direction I intended… Full throttle squatted the rear a little more, the push back into the seat was considerable, and the front just went where you pointed it… e f f o r t l e s s.

Driving around that track at 130mph, and taking corners at break neck speeds was truly effortless in this car… I’ll let the video speak for itself…

You guys on here, really need attend one of these HPDE events. It will change your whole outlook on power sports.

To sum up the event… Fun.. A lot of fun… a whole plentiful bounty of fun.. Granted it wasn’t road racing, it’s a drivers education class… yeah right.. I was giving it everything I had and the evo just fired back… Is that all you got? I wore out physically and mentally before the end of the day. I drove 3 25 minute sessions.. It was more than enough.. I was happy.. The car performed better than anything I have ever driven.

Im hooked, Im going back. Laps Inc has some openings and I do believe Im going to sign up for the next year track days… In the meen time Im going to make a dedicated road race car… something if I wadded up I wouldn’t be to overly concerned.

I could sum up the race action as this.. Porsche’s, BMW’s, Ford GT’s Masarati’s, Nissan 350Z’s, Acuras, all basically taste the same… kinda like chicken.

I need to extend some thanks here.
Thankyou to Darryl Hudson for the last minute tune... It saved my car from what probably would of been a disaster.

I also want to thank NCgalant, for talking me through some of the startup timing adjustments that made things a breeze..

A Ginormormous thankyou to Kazz5, for lending me the shoes that acted as steel talons clawing into the tarmac...

A shot out to Kauth and Mayeur... The Transmission shifted great all day, the head didnt leak a drop, or push any coolant what so ever... Far cry from what the Mitsubish stealership tried to pass off as quality work.. Thanks a ton fellas for everything.

And thankyou to DSMcentral.. For being here, all day every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHwxw8ctV-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FflebN2XBoY

Saw the video...looks like a blast. Might have to start saving some pennies...

I think Dan's Evo wasn't as looked down on as my lowly Talon would be in that crowd of exotics.

Truth is Chris, we are making similar power.. you with some good race rubber on the 4 corners, and dial in a hair over steer to overcome the dsm's fwd tendency to plow and I think you will do just fine...

Hard for folks to talk smak at you when your passing them. You have way more seat time in your talon than I do in the evo..

Trust me... After doing one of these events, you will be hooked.
Youtube is talking forever on the video, but it should be up tonight, but I need to be in bed, 0500 comes far too early.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwvRIXZI2oY

video unavailable

This video is not yet processed

you tease!

"term of use violation?" WTF?

did you have music in it? that might have raised a red flag

do you have someplace else you can host it?

There was no music on that version.

Ah... Finally...
I was told that it was too long... I hate when that happens...

new link?

i can host the video for you if you need it

Ill trim it down into part1/part2 tonight.

See!

You are totally a tease... might as well be wearing hot pants

Actually... I am

Sounds like fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHwxw8ctV-o

finally.

Thats part 1.

Starts off slow, warm up lap.. I turn it up a bit after that and catch and pass a masarati.. (point by).

From there its nothing but cake.

Great writeup, Dan. I'm glad you had a good time and really glad that nothing went wrong with the car. Preparation, FTW!

Thanks 144...

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FflebN2XBoY

both videos unavailable



wait... its working now

The footage is kinda dry.. And really doesnt show the speeds very well. Some of the corners were being taken midway through 3rd and the back straight I was deep in fifth...

I need a camera on the speedo.

That totally sounds like a blast. That's pretty much what I've been building the mustang for. Unfortunately with it I doubt I'll have the handling you do. That's the one thing I've always liked about the AWD cars is how the front pulls you through the corners. You wanna talk about a plow? Freakin hollow mustang with iron V8 in the front. Gonna be fun trying to make it hook up on rear leaf springs

Should at least have the slam you in your seat factor coming out of the corners though

Where was this at?

This took place up in Joliet Il, at Autobahn.
I was really suprised how some of the folks made grand claims about thier hp levels, and I was able to catch them not only in the corners, but in the straights too...

I should go get a dyno tune one of these days.

Good videos, totally badass! We need to get better angles, but having driven on the track, I was able to follow where you were. Loved watching you pass the porsche too.

It looks like you were between 2-3-4 gear the whole time, right? When I drove, I was uber-cautious and stayed in just 3rd the entire time. With the stock turbo, the car was still pretty responsive leaving the turns, but I was riding the top of 3rd gear for a while in the two long straights.

Man, watching this makes me want to steal a car and drive it like hell. There's two Aston Martins on my street (DB9 and V8 Vantage) that are prime for the plucking, not to mention a few Porsche's.

There were only a couple straights that forced me to go to fifth. With the trans being a 4.98:1 final drive, I was in 4th a lot, and went as low as second once or twice.. Generally speaking it was 3/4 for 90% of the track.

I finally got a chance to read through the summary of events. Excellent write-upo as usual Dan.

The videos reflected the EVO's effortless corner carving skills. It was difficult if not impossible to get a feel for the speeds that these things were taking place since there was very little to ad perspective. Non-the less my heart kicked-up a few notches while watching the action.

I am envious of the opportunities that you have taken advantage of to get road race type seat time, your road race ready EVO and an invite from Mike of K&M. Great stuff and you are right there making the most of it, putting in 110% or more just like it should be.

Congrats Dan.

looks like a blast. can't wait till the gvr4 is worthy of some track time.