$70!!! I spent more than that on gas at my last track day!!!

 

Yeah seriously, where do you get track time for 70 bucks? sign me up!

 

I agree. I'm into road racing, I couldn't care less about drag. I'd like to keep my warrantee so I'm going to keep my DEs quiet and only touch suspension, wheels, and tires. I can't wait till I take delivery of my evo IX MR.

 

my friend took me for a lap today at the road race school day with his mr. all i could say is wow!!! Im really impressed of how good evos are on track. Road race is really fun, it is actually a good way to test your driving skills....after riding with him I am conviced to take some driving school and tune my car in the future to road race... ....but your right most euros road race, today at the event there were more euros than imports. My friends mr was the only evo running and a str4...

 

The reason Evo owners don't upgrade the suspension is because there is no need to. That is the car's forte. It is stiff enough. The Evo could use more top end power though.

 

Oh come on, when it comes to track driving many stock street cars have adequate power, almost none of them have adequate suspensions. Power will give you a smirk and get you to the next corner faster, to get a perfect feel that will give you a grin from ear to ear you need a perfectly tuned suspension. BTW suspensions are not 1-dimensional like engines so there's more to it than being stiff enough.

 

The fastest way to void your warranty is to modify the suspension, so don't expect to keep it for long...

 

I know there is more to it than being stiff, but that is just an example. What I am saying is that is what the Evo is built for handling. Just look at the numbers it puts up. Close to 1.0g on the skidpad and 70mph in the slalom. Those numbers are better than a lot of high end sports cars. Of course the sticky Advans help.
I had a 1991 GSX which I dropped with H&R springs, had KYB AGX shocks, and Nitto/Toyo tires, strut bar. It didn't handle anywhere near as well as my Evo...stock! In fact my Eclipse would still screech tires around corners. I still have yet to hear screeching from my Evo. And the Eclipse is a sports coupe, lower to the ground.

 

Another reason.

 

alot of people are intimidated to try it out for the first time.

however, I have never met someone who tried HPDE and didnt like it, or never did it again.

n

btw - I know active HPDE'ers that are not rich by any means, you sacrifice for what you love the most... and also, I have seen FAR MORE Cars break at the drag strip than the road course. In my 6-7 years of tracking I have only seen 1 serious accident.

 

It is a local track called 2nd Creek -- sadly it is going away due to land development
I have done a fair amount of half days which are just open test and tune ($60) and also a number of club events.
It is the same track that Paul has been laying down some scorching times while developing the Ohlins -- I almost have problems keeping up with him in the Caterham

Street cars are generally developed to run well on the street but are engineered to have characteristics for the average driver to be safe at the limit. This is one of the reasons the Evo has a tendency to push at the limit rather than oversteer. Street cars also are designed for comfort more than they are true track prowess. Modifications such as quality coilovers can really improve the Evo's handling.

I have been really blown away on how far Paul has been able to take the Evo on the Ohlins through his development. I would say his lap times increased by almost 4 secs over a similarly modded stock suspended Evo!!

 

How does a car with 60/40 weight dist and awd handle better than a car with 50/50 weight dist and rwd on a road course?

 

It will only void the suspension part of his warranty. The 100K powertrain warranty will be honored.

 

Yeah, paul said that he is in speed GT territory with the latest revalve. Thats with a stage 1+ on pump gas, and a car weight over 3500. Needless to say, we are really excited about all of the shock work he has done. I am even more excited to pick him up from the airport next sat. for a little coaching.

But man, I wish we had some local tracks with test and tunes. I would be there all the time.

Oh btw, he has improved over 7 secs. over the stock valved ohlins.

 

I will say that the evo REALLY excells in gymkhana/mountain road type settings. I took the evo up to the blue ridge parkway for a while and loved every minute of it. I left the viper behind me!