2010 Galant VR4 Team
I 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.
1The oldest trick in the book
This is proof that it doesn’t matter if you have a killer car, if you won your class at this years OLOA, and even if you finished in the top 10, you can still fall for the one of the oldest tricks in the book. And we are not talking about a land war in Asia folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF13ADyxXWc
…and now featuring another angle!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvgY2w9yABo
A little bit of history at the Glen
When I first got into cars it was always my goal to race on a real race track. It took me until I hit my mid 30′s to accomplish that goal but the moment I drove onto the track I knew my next goal was to be an instructor. That took a few more years but I reached that goal and have since moved my sights even higher with the One Lap of America race.
As my goals for racing grow with my experiences their still remains a big part of me that loves sharing my passion for racing and my knowledge of Watkins Glen. There is something that comes over me when I get into a students car. My voice gets loud and my tone gets stern…”brake..lift..gas..gas..gas!” I love being the cheerleader in the car and nothing makes me happier then to help somebody do what they thought they could never do. When given the oppertunity to take on the worst student in the bunch I jump at the chance. I want the student who can’t drive a strait line. I want the guy nobody can handle and I have a smile a mile wide when I help that student pass their first Porsche, and then their second…and third!
I have also had the pleasure to help some really good friends and family enjoy the thrill of the Glen. They have all since moved on to solo driving and are making their way to being instructors themselves. Its fun to hear their stories about epic battles and out braking the GT3′s into the corners. I get a little teary eyed when they say “I could hear you yelling in my ear…wait..wait..wait..wait…NOW!..gas..gas..gas!” . I can’t really put it into words but I guess I am a closet teacher because I never would have guessed in a million years that I would enjoy teaching people how to drive as much as I enjoy driving itself.
This past spring I had the pleasure of instructing Mark Holdren. Mark is retired now but his claim to fame is that he was a VP of marketing at our local Genesse Brewing Company. The Brewery has a rich history of supporting Motorsports and I have no doubt that Mark was at the heart of that. Mark also has the pleasure of dating my Mother in Law so he is family to me. Mark drives a neat Mini Cooper Clubman which is nothing more then a Frenchy powered go-cart.
Being Mark’s first time on a race track we started slow and worked through the basics. ”Brake, lift, gas…move on to the next turn” . Once we got the rhythm down we were able to pick up the pace. This is were my voice gets louder and the fun begins. We worked on driving the right line and not letting other peoples bad driving mess us up. We worked on braking deeper and later then your brain thinks it supposed to. Fighting that “pucker” effect until it was just a distant memory. We worked on getting on the gas early to balance the chassis and making sure we had our foot to the floor before the apex of the turn. In some cases we learned that the little Mini has more grip then we gave it credit for and in some cases more Hp too.
At the end of the two days Mark walked away knowing he had done “it”. Not only did he get to drive around the famed Watkins Glen race track but he got to really drive the track. He experienced what it is to push yourself and your machine to its limits. He got to experience one of the greatest race tracks on the planet not from a chair in his living room but from behind the wheel. The way Milliken and his Cornell buddies designed it. A track that rewards patience and punishes the early entry. A track that when driven right has a rhythm to it and rewards the driver who can maintain the most momentum.
Mark was over the house last weekend to help celebrate my wife’s Birthday. He had just come back from watching some of the F1 qualifying and practice runs and he said it was a whole new experience for him after having driven the track. His eye was sharper now and it was easy to spot the drivers who were attacking the Glen and the ones who were just trying to survive. At one point he was able to see a driver heading into turn 1 with a little to much heat. He said to himself “you’re not going to make it!” and sure enough they didn’t. ”slow in fast out” still hold true even with the pro’s
When the gifts for my wife had run out a final gift was revealed. Mark had commissioned a good friend and local artiest, Richard Burandt, to paint a picture of me at Watkins Glen. It was Mark’s way of saying thank you for helping him reach one of his goals. To say I was “floored” would be too mild. I’ve had pictures taken of me and stories told but nothing matches the permanence of paint on canvas. Nothing matches the time and effort it takes to sit down and paint a picture. It makes me feel like I’ve made it. I’ve gotten to a place where all the work and effort has been captured in a medium that is meant to last. Almost like I am part of history. Maybe that’s a bit to corny but to anyone who’s spent a day in the hot sun challenging themselves to master the art of driving can tell you it can be a surreal, even romantic experience. Movies, books, magazines, TV shows have all been dedicated to capturing this spirit. It’s what makes racing addictive and its why I am hopelessly hooked.
“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
-Ernest Hemmingway
I want to thank Mark Holdren and Richard Burandt for their thoughtfulness and the wonderful painting. I will cherish it.
-painting by Richard Burandt (http://richardburandt.com/)
0Getting the One Lap VR-4 ready for Watkins Glen
Now that One Lap is over and I am back to reality, its time to fix the VR-4 and get her ready for a couple of days at my home track, Watkins Glen. If you’ve followed us along our journey you know the VR-4 had some issues. We popped a head gasket right off the bat, tossed a rocker arm at Hallet, the radiator was oozing in a couple of spots, we had brake issues, front wheel bearing issues, broken wheel studs, and one really cool off road excursion.
The first thing I did when I got home is re-installed my Baer track brake kit. That didn’t take much time and like an old friend, it was nice to have them back. Then I got on the ball and started ordering parts. Brakes, rotors, a new radiator, and material to build brake cooling ducts and a bigger radiator catch can were all desperately needed. After putting it off as long as I could I finally dug into the head gasket. The first thing I found was a 2″ split in the intercooler pipe coupler that connects to the throttle body. The amazing thing is I think its been split since mid week during One Lap. Another testament to ECMlink and its V3 speed density. The car didn’t miss a beat even with the huge leak.
I knew the radiator had issues. It may have been damaged due to the bad head gasket or it could have just failed because it couldn’t take the abuse. Either way I have a new one ready to go and after a little welding it should slip right in. Inspecting the old radiator I found at least three areas that were leaking where the core connects to the end tanks.
I could tell just by looking at the car that I “tweaked” the front end when I went off at Hallet. The evidence was hard to miss as one of the front wheels has about a degree more camber then the other and that tire also shows some wear on the inside indicating a toe issue as well. Something caught my eye while working on the head gasket…I think something moved on one of the RRE caster/camber plates
Once I got the head off the car and inspected things I was happy to find that the rocker which had fallen out actually stayed put. There is a noticeable grove in the cam lobe which means it will have to be replaced but there isn’t enough time before the Glen so I am just going to leave it as is.
At first glance the head gasket surface between the head/block looked good but once I pealed the gasket from the head I found three areas where not only had the gasket leaked but big chunks of it were missing. That’s some real gasket carnage!
A new head gasket is on and my fingers are crossed that it will hold. This time I’ll keep the boost to 25psi or less and not attempt any more of those 33psi dyno runs.
Its also time to say good-bye to a good friend. The Forced Performance FP3052 that Art Hoffman loaned us for the race is off the car and ready to be shipped back. With all the problems we had this year that turbo was flawless. It pulled like a freight train in every gear and with the tuning we did this year lag was not an issue. A big thanks to Art Hoffman for lending his support again this year and for Forced Performance for making sure it gets back to Art in perfect shape.
Sponsor Support from Prodigy Surgical
I wasn’t done announcing all of the sponsors, as we had some people step up at the last minute to help us out. These guys also don’t have a website and aren’t looking for praise, but it is the only thing I can offer back to them, so I wanted to pay some recognition to Prodigy Surgical, who helped sponsor the VR4 around the country this year.
Car guys know that having the right tool in your hand can make all of the difference. The same hold true in the medical world. If you are in any form of orthopedics around the Rochester area, you already know who Wes and Joe are at Prodigy Surgical. They are the guys who bring the doctors the tools it takes to get the job done right and quickly in the operating room.
Thanks for keeping us rolling and for helping doctors all around the area look good.
02012 One Lap of America
The Sights of One Lap…
