Equipment Review
TimmySpec Rear Control Arms
I did mention a lot has happened since the end of the 2011 event.
Getting ready to go on One Lap 2011, we found ourselves scrambling and coming up empty handed for a set of rear adjustable control arms for the Evo X. When we really couldn’t find any, Tim went to work to make some. With an array of bushings, bolts, and swaged tubing Tim put together some pretty decent control arms for a one week project to get us on the road.
0Dunlop Tire Sponsors RochesterDSM One Lap EVO X
The RochesterDSM One Lap team is proud to announce that Dunlop Tire has signed on to provide tires for the One Lap Evo X. Dunlop is sending us a set of there awesome Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs in 265/35-18 which will work perfectly with our Rota Grid 18×9.5 wheels.
Tires, tires is what wins a race. – Robert Duvall in ‘Days of Thunder’
There is nothing more important to a race car then its tires. With a little over 2 square feet of contact patch to work with choosing the
right tire can be the difference between just showing up for the race and spending some quality podium time.
There are a lot of different ways to judge a tire and none more so then dry grip. Its what everyone tests, compares, and argues about. And we were no different. Dry grip was on the top of our list but One Lap is not your typical race. Sure your on America’s best race tracks and who wouldn’t want the grippest tire you can get? But what about the autocross, drag racing, short tracks, wet, and dry skid pad events? Did you know that one round of autocrossing counts as much as an afternoon at Daytona? Did you know that the wet skid pads is just as important as the dry one? That means that even though ultimate dry grip is at the top of the list everything else on that list like wet grip, turn in, how fast the tires heat up, and how they ride need to be taken into consideration. And for the RochesterDSM team our budget, once again, rears its ugly head. So just like everyone else tuning in at home we have to be careful with how much we spend.
0and so it begins
Let me tell you how wonderful it sounds to be entering a Mitsubishi Evo X into One Lap of America for 2011.
First of all, One Lap is a survival race, so our expectations of taking a stock Evo X and surviving are pretty good. The car has no mechanical issues, hasn’t seen any of the NY winter roads and isn’t starting to rot out, and for the most part would be a great car to take a cruise across the country in. It has A/C, Recarro seats, and the factory Rockford-Fosgate stereo for easy cruising no matter how hot it gets in Florida and New Orleans.
Here is where we fall into a large problem. There is no way in hell we are going to be able to roll into Indiana in a completely stock car.
0I hate the Mitsubishi Evolution X…
There. I said it. I hate it. I hate it like girls hate blondes with big boobs and short guys hate tall guys. There is just something about the car that rubs me the wrong way. After the Fall DE at Watkins Glen I now know why I hate it. The car is a cheater…a dirty rotten cheater.
Mitsubishi rolled out the EVOX as a clean sheet redesign over the EVO9 and for the first time in 20 plus years the 4G63 was not part of the equation. Replaced by a newly designed all aluminum 4B11T turbo charged engine it sports 291hp and 300ftlbs of torque. The engine features variable valve timing on both cams and a 16g style turbo slightly smaller then the previous one in the EVO9.
The real news is the chassis and the drive train and new full-time AWD system called S-AWC which uses an active yaw control to send a different amount of torque to any wheel at anytime. I’ve seen and experienced similar systems in Corvettes but until this Fall I have never been a big believer in what they can actually do.
Lets rewind to early October. Steve, my One Lap co-driver, has just been promoted to the instructor group which means he and I will be able drive in the same group again. We haven’t done that in years and because of a particularly over eager course worker giving me the blue flag of shame I frankly don’t like to talk about it. But this time it was going to be fun. I was piloting the One Lap car which has a distinct Hp advantage over the EVOX so being passed shouldn’t be an issue.
In the morning session on the first day Steve and I were able to get out on the track together and as expected the One Lap car’s Hp advantage allowed me to easily pull away from the stock EVO. Without a lot of wheel to wheel action to speak of I didn’t really have much of an opinion of the X. The rest of the first day Steve and I were not able to be on track together again. The One Lap VR4 was also having some issues with power that I tracked down to a failing fuel pump. It just didn’t want to make any pressure so I just babied it around the track feathering the throttle to control the knock and prevent any catastrophic failures.
By the second day I was ready to give up as the car could no better then 45-50psi of pressure no matter what. As in any car if you don’t have fuel you don’t have power. I covet track time so I just went out and practiced trail braking and giving passing signals. On the third and what would be my final run of the event, Steve grabbed Mike to show him how the EVO drives and I managed to tag along behind him.
At first Steve was driving his normal perfect line. It’s like he’s playing a video game out there. There was no way I was going to pass Steve with no fuel pressure but I was determined to at least keep up. I have my pride you know. So after a few laps I am struggling to keep up. Steve just doesn’t make mistakes and the EVOX goes around a corner with as much grip and speed as the One Lap VR4. Even though I’ve poured my heart into making that the best handling VR4 on could, it was just about even with the new EVO. So I make my peace with reality. The EVOX is just a great handling car and when driven by somebody who knows how to drive it’s a pretty good match for me. What happens next is just not fair.
Steve turns on the active yaw control or whatever black magic he has and proceeds to demonstrate to Mike its uncanny ability to save your ass. Steve begins by entering a turn off line, way to fast, and trail braking. A combination that would send me into the wall. The EVO just turned the corner. I can tell by his exit speed that he was on the gas the whole way. Repeat that for the next corner…same crappy entry..same result. The car just turns and goes. Great the car can save you but here is where it gets painful. Even with his God awful line I still can’t catch him. In fact I can’t even gain any ground on him. No matter how bad he drives the car just goes like snot.
I didn’t learn about the use of the Yaw control until those two giggling idiots rolled themselves out of the car. Grins from ear to ear…its not fair. Some of the things they did out there should have put them into the wall and yet the car just hustled itself around the track. What is this world coming to? Can anybody now just hop in a car and tear up the track? Where is the justice? Where is the humility gained from struggling, learning, pushing yourself?
I had enough. I put the ailing VR4 on the trailer and went home. I hate the EVO X…I really, really do.
1Rota Grid with Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1
Two weeks ago the group finished up the season at Watkins Glen with Niagara PCA group and their fall DE. While reporting on my car may seem odd for the One Lap site, all I can say is that it has not YET run on One Lap. Remaining relatively stock so far, my car finally received an upgrade of new rims and tires.
The tires on the car earlier this year were the donated stock Yokohama tires from Chris Wirth’s car, after he moved up to a larger rim. At the first DE event in May, I had officially cooked those tires. After holding out for some form of “tire fairy” to save me from buying new tires, a few weeks before the October event, I finally ordered some new ones. Fearing that buying tires in the stock size now would lock me into that size for another couple years, I did what every car guy would do. I bought new rims, to accomodate my need for larger tires.
Let me start by saying that my dream set or rims would be a nice set of the Volk TE37SL that have about a gram of weight tolerance and weigh somewhere around the 17lbs range. After reviving myself from the sticker shock of what a set of Volk’s were going to cost me, I opted to go for the knock off version and ordered a set of Rota Grids from WheelDude.com. I only later found out that Sean and Chris running under the umbrella of their Canadian benefactors, would be testing out a set of the Volk TE37SL at the event.
For tires, I ordered a set of the 265/35-18 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec which are the tires that have carried us around One Lap successfully for a the past two years. While I was already comfortable with the tires, I needed to test them on the track that I already knew and in my own car.
My first mistake with going to a set of new rims and tires is forgetting that the car has tire pressure monitor sensors. They now light up the dash nicely with the absence of those sensors and I will have to invest in a mid winter tire swap again, just to get the sensors back in place.
Mistake number two was believing all of the forum posts that said the size wouldn’t rub. With the combination of Rota Grids, which are 18×9.5 and the Dunlops which are 265/35, there are a few rubbing spots on the car. If you crank the wheel all the way, the tire rubs on the front side fender well plastic. It isn’t drastic, probably won’t ever happen at speed, but it happens. The second place is the rear fenders, which I believe you can only appreciate after filling the car with a few hundred pounds of gear and then drive.
Friday night in the paddock, while Tim so eloquently installed his front splitter, I used the jack handle to get rid of the lip under the rear fender and all was well.
Impressions so far?
The wheels look damn near awesome. The finish on them matches the car perfectly and having a wheel open enough to be able to bleed my brakes without jacking up the car is freaking sweet. The wheels survived a mild round at Watkins Glen, which does not compare to a season of One Lap. The extra 4 pounds lighter Volk’s are not missed because I haven’t escaped the price tag yet.
The tires are predictable in their traction, but I don’t feel they are as adhesive as the Yokohamas that came with the car. I am running on a full tread, which gives a noticeable amount extra give on any tire, so I will be interested to see how they fair after a few track sessions when they are appropriately worn.
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