I went to the 1st US gymkhana last weekend with the Mitsu guys. If any of you are thinking of doing it, it was tough on the AWD cars. It was a cone massacre every time they went, I saw EVOs doing 3-point turns a few times. The Crawford time attack STi was crazy fast through the slalom though.
Cool article about the Mitsu 08 Lancer...
http://www.gtchannel.com/ch1/?s=autonews
*I'm in the passenger's seat in this pic
Quote:
Interview with Mitsubishi's James Norman
GT Channel: What is your name?
Mitsubishi: James Norman
GT Channel: Where do you work and what do you do?
Mitsubishi: I work with Mitsubishi as a Product Specialist and in Ralliart Development
GT Channel: You built a Lancer for Gymkhana USA. Tell us about it.
Mitsubishi: I decided to work with the base model of the vehicle to show that the entire Lancer line up is performance capable. Furthermore, the Lancer De (base mode) is lighter than the other trim levels, so that was a benefit we kept in mind as well. Then I engaged Road Race engineering to help me develop as many new parts as possible. I found that the transmission was sourced from the OEM as a scion TC; so a LSD was sourced from Quaiffe, and bearings were ordered from Toyota parts department-- this was the first modification we went for but it is being complete as we speak post round 1 of gymkhana.
Otherwise, we obtained some CP510 competition wheels from Dazz, Yokohama Neova tires, road race made a prototype strut bar, air intake, and exhaust. In addition, Road Race found brake pads and springs from a previous Mitsubishi vehicle that fit right up to the lancer. In combination with some simple camber adjustments and a slightly lower front tire pressure the car came together quite nicely.
GT Channel: How did the car perform in comparison to stock trim?
Mitsubishi: It was a night and day difference as anyone who drove the vehicle can tell you the car outperformed a lot of other cars with ease, including Mitsubishi's own Lancer Evo IX. The car turns in better, the power band is smoother; the intake and exhaust showed some surprising gains and give you a better feel for where you are in the power band. The stock vehicle is quite quiet and NVH conscious in comparison.
GT Channel: So it was prepped for Daijiro Yoshihara. Did he like it?
Mitsubishi: He was in shock, think he thought it was a different car completely, his times improved greatly on the track.
GT Channel: Is this chassis based on the upcoming Evo X?
Mitsubishi: Same platform, in fact, same engine.
GT Channel: Same engine? So it's ready for a turbo ? Is the compression higher?
Mitsubishi: Actually I can not say, my focus at Mitsu actually isn’t the Lancer so I don’t know all the engine specs off hand. if I knew the compression ratio I would be more comfortable saying whether or not its ready for a turbo from factory. there is plenty of space in the engine bay though. The car is very tuner friendly when it comes to bolt on upgrades.
GT Channel: Does Mitsubishi plan to offer any type of factory options like this?
Mitsubishi: While no date is set for release of factory specialty parts is set, all the parts are in development at this time and I am using motorsports to test potential parts.
GT Channel: How much would it cost the average person to build this car?
Mitsubishi: well the car would be about $14,000, and then not including the LSD (which we didn’t have during the great performance at gymkhana) it would be about $2400 for everything you need to make a fun daily driver/competitive gymkhana car.
GT Channel: Excellent, thanks for the time James. We look forward to seeing some more Mitsubishi project cars.
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