- 1,436
When Mitsubishi approached me and asked me to test their Lancer Evolution VIII GSR (an '03 model), I was more than happy to do it. When they told me I'd be driving it on the Nurburgring, I almost backed down. When they told me it was an old dealer model and they didn't care what happened to it, I was ecstatic! I said "ok, sure", and next thing I know I'm on a corporate jet to Germany to drive a car on the Nurburgring as fast as I like.
The first thing I do when I get there is look over a map really quick to make sure I remember the corners, since I'll be driving the car for the first time. I figured I'd driven it enough times to run a pretty fast lap without any problems and put the map away. Turns out I was wrong, but we'll get to that.
So they strap me into the car with a regular shoulder harness (no racing harness or rollcage, which kind of scared me), a racing suit, and a helmet. The suit and helmet helped to assuage my fears of getting injured, but also helped to remind me that I was likely to crash. Oh well, I can't back out now. I make sure the ASM is off, and hit the TCS button to deactivate it. I'm going to drive this car like it was made to be driven, and with AWD and only 337HP, I don't see the need for traction control anyway. A little car with skidmarks behind it pops up on the dash, and I'm good to go.
I get out on the track in the car, and the first thing I notice is the tires are a little slicker than the racing tires I'm used to driving on the track. Ok, just go a little slower. To that end, I hit the brakes, and make my second observation. This thing stops! Good to know, I'm sure I'll need them a lot. It should allow me to brake later for corners than I normally would.
As I cross the start line, the car is running well, and has some get-up-and-go to it, and I brake for the first corner. Too early, so I get back on the gas a little and make my third observation: on-throttle understeer. This is the opposite of what I'm used to with my background in RWD cars, so it will take some getting used to.
As I approach the first right-hander, I'm still in the "racing tires" mindset, and figure I'm not going that fast so I can take it full-throttle. Wrong. I end up sliding off the track and scraping my left side along the wall a bit. Nothing too serious and I recover quickly, but it's a good thing this car is a freebie or I'd be in deep doo-doo.
I get to the quick left-right kink after the straightaway and hit the brakes hard. Once again, it was a little too early, but in the process I notice just how much this car dives under heavy braking. The nose seems to almost be scraping the ground while the rear comes way up in the air like a motorcycle when you lean too far forward. I get on the gase when I normally would for a RWD car to push through the tight right-hander, and the car jumps towards the outside curb. Whoops, AWD, right, got it. Let off the throttle for a second until it straightens out and then floor it.
As I approach one of the left-handers before the straight and hit the brakes, I notice something I rather like about the car. The back end comes out under heavy braking, which is to be expected since it lifts in the air. This makes for some nice sliding action around curves. The chicks dig it. However, getting on the gas too soon causes that nasty understeer to rear its head, so it's all about timing.
After I come over the jump, I hit the brakes a little out of caution and ease around the long right-hander. Then, for some reason, the car understeers off the road again and I nick the left rear bumper on the wall again. Oops, sorry Mitsu guys. The car is very balanced over jumps, and doesn't lose its cool on landing, which makes sense since the car is rooted in rally racing.
My drive is pretty uneventful for a while, other than a few slight grass touches, and I'm getting used to the braking timing and actually pulling off some nice braking drifts around corners. Makes for some nice viewing from the in-car cameras later. Then, coming around the successive right-handers in the northwestern section before the uphill climb, I overcook one and again tap my left-rear corner on the wall. I guess when I go out for dinner in it I'll just have to make sure my girl doesn't see the driver's side.
The next couple miles of track are uneventful and a lot of fun, as I'm really getting used to the trail-braking oversteer and having fun tossing the car around. Then I get to the sharp right-hander leading onto the back straight, and come in too fast. I'm not sure if I got on the gas too soon, or just didn't slow down enough, but I slam the left side into the wall rather hard, which scares me for a second, but the car takes it well and we're on our way. In hindsight, and after reviewing the tape, it wasn't that hard of a hit, but it did throw me for a few seconds when it happened.
The car is very composed on the back straight, even at 135mph, and once again the brakes don't fail me in the left-hander after the straight. The car hustles around the right-handed kink just fine, and the brakes once again do their job hauling the car down for the slow right-hander before the Carousel. Once again, I'm too happy with the throttle and the car understeers towards the outside, but I let off and keep it on the track easily. Not good for the laptime though.
Going through the carousel I can hardly even feel the bumps! This car obviously has rather soft dmping, at least a lot softer than the cars I'm used to racing. I hustle the car through the back dorners very quickly, and it's a lot of fun as I slide around nearly every corner on the east side of the track. The car is very tossable, and is easily catchable and never gets away from you. I touch the grass a few times, but nothing serious. The car's AWD configuration helps here, as some RWD cars would spin at the slightest touch of grass.
I fudge the right-left combination before the second banked corner and nick the left-rear of the car again. I'm going to chalk this up to the car being right-hand drive since it was imported from Japan. I didn't even put a scratch on the right-hand side, so we'll blame it on that. I hit the sand a little bit on the left-hander, but once again the AWD makes this a non-issue.
The car bounces through the banked turn quickly, I fly around the final turns before the straight, and now it's time to see how fast this thing can get. Coming over the hill I'm at 157mph, and I hit 161 before the bottom. The car brakes incredibly fast from 160 down to 55mph for the right-hander and I head on through it with a pretty good line. I think I still have bruises on my right shoulder from stopping so quickly.
I slide around the last corner, hit the gas, and the understeer bites me one last time as my left wheels go on a little grass excursion. The Mitsubishi guys were all cheering from the pits when they saw me go by, so I knew I had a pretty good time. They weren't so happy when I pulled off and they got a good look at the left side of the car though. They don't like you messing with their sheetmetal apparently, and one young designer was actually crying. Must be a Japanese thing.
The lead PR guy snapped out of it though, and smiled, shook my hand, and handed me a printout of my time as the Mitsubishi techs went over the car and picked the grass out of the fenders. I looked at it and couldn't believe it. I pulled an 8:04.593 in a stock Evo VIII! I turned around to make sure they hadn't snuck me into a different car, and then I noticed it. The car had road-racing tires on it instead of the regular road variety they come with from the dealer. I brought this up with the Mitsubishi guy and he said that the stock tires would've gone bald halfway through the lap, so they put these on so I wouldn't kill myself. Fair enough. I don't know when I'll get an opportunity like this again, but I hope it's soon. Any takers?
The first thing I do when I get there is look over a map really quick to make sure I remember the corners, since I'll be driving the car for the first time. I figured I'd driven it enough times to run a pretty fast lap without any problems and put the map away. Turns out I was wrong, but we'll get to that.
So they strap me into the car with a regular shoulder harness (no racing harness or rollcage, which kind of scared me), a racing suit, and a helmet. The suit and helmet helped to assuage my fears of getting injured, but also helped to remind me that I was likely to crash. Oh well, I can't back out now. I make sure the ASM is off, and hit the TCS button to deactivate it. I'm going to drive this car like it was made to be driven, and with AWD and only 337HP, I don't see the need for traction control anyway. A little car with skidmarks behind it pops up on the dash, and I'm good to go.
I get out on the track in the car, and the first thing I notice is the tires are a little slicker than the racing tires I'm used to driving on the track. Ok, just go a little slower. To that end, I hit the brakes, and make my second observation. This thing stops! Good to know, I'm sure I'll need them a lot. It should allow me to brake later for corners than I normally would.
As I cross the start line, the car is running well, and has some get-up-and-go to it, and I brake for the first corner. Too early, so I get back on the gas a little and make my third observation: on-throttle understeer. This is the opposite of what I'm used to with my background in RWD cars, so it will take some getting used to.
As I approach the first right-hander, I'm still in the "racing tires" mindset, and figure I'm not going that fast so I can take it full-throttle. Wrong. I end up sliding off the track and scraping my left side along the wall a bit. Nothing too serious and I recover quickly, but it's a good thing this car is a freebie or I'd be in deep doo-doo.
I get to the quick left-right kink after the straightaway and hit the brakes hard. Once again, it was a little too early, but in the process I notice just how much this car dives under heavy braking. The nose seems to almost be scraping the ground while the rear comes way up in the air like a motorcycle when you lean too far forward. I get on the gase when I normally would for a RWD car to push through the tight right-hander, and the car jumps towards the outside curb. Whoops, AWD, right, got it. Let off the throttle for a second until it straightens out and then floor it.
As I approach one of the left-handers before the straight and hit the brakes, I notice something I rather like about the car. The back end comes out under heavy braking, which is to be expected since it lifts in the air. This makes for some nice sliding action around curves. The chicks dig it. However, getting on the gas too soon causes that nasty understeer to rear its head, so it's all about timing.
After I come over the jump, I hit the brakes a little out of caution and ease around the long right-hander. Then, for some reason, the car understeers off the road again and I nick the left rear bumper on the wall again. Oops, sorry Mitsu guys. The car is very balanced over jumps, and doesn't lose its cool on landing, which makes sense since the car is rooted in rally racing.
My drive is pretty uneventful for a while, other than a few slight grass touches, and I'm getting used to the braking timing and actually pulling off some nice braking drifts around corners. Makes for some nice viewing from the in-car cameras later. Then, coming around the successive right-handers in the northwestern section before the uphill climb, I overcook one and again tap my left-rear corner on the wall. I guess when I go out for dinner in it I'll just have to make sure my girl doesn't see the driver's side.
The next couple miles of track are uneventful and a lot of fun, as I'm really getting used to the trail-braking oversteer and having fun tossing the car around. Then I get to the sharp right-hander leading onto the back straight, and come in too fast. I'm not sure if I got on the gas too soon, or just didn't slow down enough, but I slam the left side into the wall rather hard, which scares me for a second, but the car takes it well and we're on our way. In hindsight, and after reviewing the tape, it wasn't that hard of a hit, but it did throw me for a few seconds when it happened.
The car is very composed on the back straight, even at 135mph, and once again the brakes don't fail me in the left-hander after the straight. The car hustles around the right-handed kink just fine, and the brakes once again do their job hauling the car down for the slow right-hander before the Carousel. Once again, I'm too happy with the throttle and the car understeers towards the outside, but I let off and keep it on the track easily. Not good for the laptime though.
Going through the carousel I can hardly even feel the bumps! This car obviously has rather soft dmping, at least a lot softer than the cars I'm used to racing. I hustle the car through the back dorners very quickly, and it's a lot of fun as I slide around nearly every corner on the east side of the track. The car is very tossable, and is easily catchable and never gets away from you. I touch the grass a few times, but nothing serious. The car's AWD configuration helps here, as some RWD cars would spin at the slightest touch of grass.
I fudge the right-left combination before the second banked corner and nick the left-rear of the car again. I'm going to chalk this up to the car being right-hand drive since it was imported from Japan. I didn't even put a scratch on the right-hand side, so we'll blame it on that. I hit the sand a little bit on the left-hander, but once again the AWD makes this a non-issue.
The car bounces through the banked turn quickly, I fly around the final turns before the straight, and now it's time to see how fast this thing can get. Coming over the hill I'm at 157mph, and I hit 161 before the bottom. The car brakes incredibly fast from 160 down to 55mph for the right-hander and I head on through it with a pretty good line. I think I still have bruises on my right shoulder from stopping so quickly.
I slide around the last corner, hit the gas, and the understeer bites me one last time as my left wheels go on a little grass excursion. The Mitsubishi guys were all cheering from the pits when they saw me go by, so I knew I had a pretty good time. They weren't so happy when I pulled off and they got a good look at the left side of the car though. They don't like you messing with their sheetmetal apparently, and one young designer was actually crying. Must be a Japanese thing.
The lead PR guy snapped out of it though, and smiled, shook my hand, and handed me a printout of my time as the Mitsubishi techs went over the car and picked the grass out of the fenders. I looked at it and couldn't believe it. I pulled an 8:04.593 in a stock Evo VIII! I turned around to make sure they hadn't snuck me into a different car, and then I noticed it. The car had road-racing tires on it instead of the regular road variety they come with from the dealer. I brought this up with the Mitsubishi guy and he said that the stock tires would've gone bald halfway through the lap, so they put these on so I wouldn't kill myself. Fair enough. I don't know when I'll get an opportunity like this again, but I hope it's soon. Any takers?
:tup:
