First off this post is information about how these two cars handle and what we've learned driving them back to back at the limits. Good or bad it's just my opinion from the drivers seat and as an engineer.

This past weekend I took our stock '05 STi to Joliet Autobahn to do some baseline tests. I Used a RacePak G2X for track mapping and lap times. The goal was to see what kind of lap times we could turn with the stock STi. I've also never driven an STi on track so I was excited to see how it feels compared to an EVO. I have driven a handfull of EVO's ranging from stock to my 375whp street car with some suspension tweaks.

My friend Lawrence Loshak came along with his EVO IX for some stock suspension baselines on his car and for some chase cam work. Lawrence is a SCCA E production champion so I had my work cut trying to keep up!

The weather wasn't nice and we had to work with temperatures in the mid 30's. Although it was nice on the tires, pads & IC, it was not great for lap times.

After a few laps I started to push the car harder to explore what it does at the limits. To my surprise the car was not as pushy as I expected it to be. Driving it hard into a corner I could get a decent set on corner entry and then it would wash a bit at mid corner. Once I went to full throttle it would move nicely from mid corner to exit. I could use the throttle to move the rear end around just enough to make small adjustments. Once at the limit the car seemed stable and you could make small inputs with predictable results. All the stock EVO's I've driven didn't handle like this. The EVO seems more pushy than the STi, especially mid corner to corner exit. Throttle application mid to exit on an EVO results in the front end washing out. To make sure I wasn't crazy I threw Lawrence the keys and he took the STi for a spin. After a half a dozen laps he comes in and tells me exactly what I was feeling. We both agreed that the cars in stock trim would be very close in lap times around the track but the STi seems better balanced and more comfortable at the limits.

That being said we have some good footage of some chase cams mounted to the roof of the EVO and the STi for a good few hot laps. We had a great time chasing each other and we both were turning very quick laps. We're working on editing the footage and inserting some dash overlays to show speeds and G forces.

BTW the stock brake pads where a major hindrance and I really had to babysit them so I wouldn't cook them. I could get one decent lap in and then they'd be done. At the end of the day I put in some Performance Friction 97's in the front and bled the fluid with some Wilwood EXP 600 fluid. The brakes where solid and predictable after the change. A few hard laps resulted in a 1:41.66 lap time which is really good for the weather. I think that if it was 20-30 deg warmer and the sun was out, there's a mid 1:40 in it. For reference I ran a high 1:39 in my modified EVO with stock tires that where worn and heat cycled to death.

We're going to be using these tests to develop the EVO and the STi. It's very interesting running the cars against each other and making improvements to better each platform.

Regards,

Martin Musial

 

Thanks, and nice review!! Most consider the STI to have a bit more understeer than the Evo, so this seems very strange to hear the exact opposite. Perhaps the temperatures had something to do with it (tires having less grip)? Personally I think both cars are superb, are truly marvels in automotive engineering.

 

damnit time to get off my high horse...

the 07's are fast and handle well... oh boy

 

It seems that the rear bias of the STi is helping with mid corner throttle induced rotation; thus, making the car a little easier to control at the limit. It's unfortunate the Evo does not have rear bias. Perhaps others can share their experiences with both cars and what was done to improve each platform in its own right.

 

the sti didn't feel that way for me. just don't feel that sharp as an Evo.
But i guess this is all personal opinions.
but its for sure the two cars is very close performer. I trully bealive, always the better driver will win in this situations.
altough the 2008 sti can be 2 times better then evo X, i still wouldn't buy it.

 

The steering still feels very sloppy on the STI, suspension feedback is still not that great. The turn in definitely seems to be improved. Too bad no STI's are winning any time attacks! I really can't think of anything else that is bad about the 07 STI's, they are truly incredible machines, they are extremely ugly however...

 

nice post

 

I think that either car driven at 8/10th will be sloppy and pushy, but near the edge they do handle differently. I think with warmer temps both cars will tend to be more pushy unfortunately.

 

This is where a diff controller or even a center diff might be a big help for the EVO. A cusco tarmac gear or the GSC center diff? Gregg, you want to send us one for some ***** to the wall testing?

 

Yes the steering isn't as quick but honestly I didn't feel it on track too much because once you got the car into a corner you could move it around with throttle and a little steering input.

I think I'm going to run the STi in local NASA TT stuff. We're running the EVO in the big Time Attacks with Mark and Paul driving, and I'm going to give it a go with the local stuff. With a 1:41.6 at Autobahn south I would have been right there at the top in TTB last year and that's with no mods at all. I'll have to check mylaps.com but the fastest TTB time in a four day event was high 1:40. I could throw on a set of 265 R compounds, flash it and probably run a 1:39 no problem and still be in TTB.

I'd really like to get my EVO down to the 1:37's and I know what I have to do, time to get to work!

 

yup

 

when i drive my brothers sti the steering feels sloppy also

 

Gotta love AMS!!

 

I agree that the rear bias of the STI is helping the rotation on corner exit.

I think some people need to make the distinction between having good 'steering feel' and being able to go fast.

While the F430 has amazing steering feel, a Z06 with its 'sloppy' steering can generally lap just as fast, if not faster. Might not be as easy or as pretty, but that doesn't matter to the clock.

 

GarageHRS (CyberEvo) sells what appears to be two forms of ACD modifications. One is preprogrammed ACD ECU and the other appears to be flash programamble.

Evasive Motorsports sells one of the controllers and here is a link to GarageHRS website (for some reason I lost the google english translation in the link)

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...006-46,GGLJ:en

Maybe someone already has knowledge of these?

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...006-46,GGLJ:en