Project Evo IX – Part 11 – Redline Spring Mountain
By Joey Leh, Photography by the author
When cars and parts get used, they get stressed. That’s why they call it wear and tear. To date, Project Evo IX has only been minimally modified with a JIC suspension, Swift springs, Works downpipe, O2 housing and high-flow cat, GReddy exhaust, boost controller, Tuning Technologies ECU, APR rear wing, 5Zigen wheels, M1 Fabrication & Development brake lines, splitter and K&N Engineering drop-in air filter. The car is still completely civil with functional air conditioning, interior, stereo and is used for daily transport.
During day-to-day commuting, Project Evo IX doesn’t wear a shopping cart wing and rocks a blank front bumper. Before track days and time attack events, we throw on the big APR carbon rear wing, stickers and M1 custom front splitter.
But just because the car is lightly modified and street legal doesn’t mean that it’s immune to wear. Project Evo IX is still driven hard on track, with the laptimes and podium results to prove it.
And so, with just a tick over 42,000 miles on the odometer, the parts are starting to add up. Beyond the numerous brake rotors, pads and tires that are consumed on track, Project Evo IX has gone through a Kumho V710 racing tire, Works high-flow catalytic converter, front speed sensor line, driver’s side fender liner, windshield, battery, sixteen spark plugs, nine front wheel studs and four exhaust gaskets.
To some that may sound like a lot but Project Evo IX has proven to be a very durable car. Remember, all of those miles have been lived at nineteen-pounds of boost or more. Put a modern Mercedes-Benz through the abuse that we’ve delivered and the list of consumables would be three times as long. Even Lewis Hamilton on his best day couldn’t convince us to go down that path. Still, some things needed to be changed before we hit the Redline Time Attack event at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park.
Located in Pahrump, Nevada, Spring Mountain is a five-hour drive for us. We were unsure at first on whether we would be entering at all, due to the added cost of hotels, transport and testing. Since we’d never been to Spring Mountain before, we knew that we would need to test the car on Saturday practice before entering Sunday’s time attack event. This meant we’d have to pay for two days worth of registration, fuel, hotels, brake pads, rotors, tires and wear. It took just a few minutes before we muttered, “screw it” and readied for the weekend ahead.
Besides begging for pennies to keep the racing fund replenished, our biggest job would be to make Project Evo IX refreshed and ready to go. We knew that we wouldn’t have the time or the budget to strap on a bigger turbo or a fancy carbon fiber rooftop before we left. We’d be facing 600whp monster Lancer Evos again with our daily driven 350whp (on race gas) street car. Not a problem for the constant underdog OR team, right?
Shortly after our last Buttonwillow test day, we noticed that Project Evo IX was bogging when taking off, revving slowly and pulling down the RPM between shifts. It felt as if excess fuel was being released and our check engine light revealed a “cat efficiency” P0420 code.
Pulling the Works Exhale high-flow cat from the car, we found that the catalyst material had been melted and broken down, clogging the cat. As the engine attempted to blow out of a clogged cat, it must have been facing some extreme backpressure levels. With the previous tire issues and now a cat issue revealed, our Buttonwillow practice data went out the window.
We had carried out some un-tuned air intake testing with Project Evo IX at Buttonwillow Raceway and the result was our now-dead catalytic converter. There was no conclusive evidence on whether the engine was running too lean or too rich with the intake but it was enough to destroy our cat. So that’s what the white residue was on our tailpipe, catalyst gunk. Oops.
The crew at Works answered our pleas and overnighted a fresh Exhale high-flow catalytic converter for the Spring Mountain event, which returned Project Evo IX’s engine to full fighting status. While the car was up on the lift at M1 Fabrication & Development for some last minute suspension setup, we took the opportunity to swap in our race pads and a new urethane front engine mount.
Besides the APR carbon rear diffuser and GTC-300 wing (which we debuted at the Mitsubishi Owners Day Show), Project Evo IX remained painfully stock. Who needs power when you have poise? Right? Hello? Anybody?
The odds should have been with us. The last time we ran a time attack event, we finished 3rd in class. And this was at Willow Springs, a horsepower track with two very long straightaways. At Spring Mountain, which is tremendously tighter, we thought we would be able to cut our 100whp+ disadvantage and end up on the podium again.
Since some of the competition hadn’t been to Spring Mountain as well, we knew it would be a race of who could come up to speed the quickest. With our weekend warrior Dr. Russ Warr behind the wheel, we thought that we would be in good shape. And, if not, Las Vegas and its casinos are less than an hour away (shrimp in the desert, baby – Ed.).
To take advantage of the Redline Time Attack maximum tire width rules, we scored a set of 255/40/17 Nitto NT05 tires. With a UTQG rating of 200, they are Street Class eligible in both the Redline and Super Lap Battle series, SCCA Street Touring autocross legal and feature a reinforced construction with large tread blocks for dry weather grip.
To mount them up, we picked up a set of 17×9-inch +35 offset 5Zigen FN01R-C wheels. Decently priced, sized to fit and not too heavy, the FN01R-C wheel is a very popular choice among track day enthusiasts. Up front, we threw on a hubcentric 15mm spacer to provide a wider front track, which should help with rotation.
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