Most of my driving has been in non abs cars, so it does not seem to be a problem for me. I also left foot brake which I think makes it easier to get on the brakes smoothly. As far as the Mitsu Civic, lets just say that he has a funny sense of humor. I actually helped to set up his car, and it seems like it will be a good esp car, after he gets rid of the boost controller and makes it esp legal again.

Mark

 

Awesome work Mark! I got the Motons last week and they were too short. On the lift at full droop, the car was 3 inches shorter in ride height!!! I didn't even put it down on the ground. I'm scrambleing to find a suspension for this weekend. It'll be either DMS or Ohlins.

As much as I hate doing test and tune at the tour, I'm forced to do it.
--Navid

 

OOPS, that would not be good. So far I really like my Ohlins. I have run on some really bumpy surfaces, and the car is just glued over the bumps. You venture into some stiffer springs yet Navid? I am thinking I may even go stiffer than 750 on the fronts. Good luck getting it together for this weekend.
Mark

 

I was at the event that Mark mentioned above.

Some of the things that come to mind as I look back:

Mark shows up with no course walk and sets FTD with the stock advans.

He puts on those big a** 285 Hoosiers and takes another second or two off the FTD. We are talking about a 34-40+ second course.

He gets into some very capable drivers' cars and easily takes off a second of their best time.

He puts the tire gauge on the Hoosiers and says "oh no I only have 30 lbs. that is not good". LOL

Mark also patiently answers all of my and every one elses pesky questions. Even the guy who was at his first event.

Mark is not only an artist behind the wheel but also a really nice person.

What did I do that event? Struggled with left foot braking (new this year) and finding that ever elusive balance between agression and smoothness. Registered a few to many off course runs.

By the way Mark I am the Blue Evo guy who is always bugging you with the alignment questions.

I would love to have a ride on one of your runs sometime

 

The DMS shocks were not available in time. I'm heading up to Works tomorrow to pick up Ohlins road and track. I haven't had a chance to try the uber stiff springs and I don't think I will even try on these shocks. But after reading your post, I'll take some 245/40/17s down to Atwater for the Friday practice. I have some old road race ones hanging around. On that note, v710s in 285/30/18 are not available again. I got some S05 Hoosiers instead. These are a good bit wider. I have a feeling I'll be getting an exercise on the fender roller tomorrow.

--Navid

 

Navid,
I would be interested in your take on the differences between the s05, and v710 on the evo. Good Luck this weekend, post up your thoughts and results.
Mark

 

It was good to meet you this past sunday. I am planning on trying to get up to the CART event in Bristol on Sunday, and you could hitch a ride there if you like. By the way, I started to suspect something was up after driving a few other evos on last week, and found that my boost guage was not exactly accurate. I thought I was running 20 psi, but was actually only hitting 17 psi max. I thought it felt a little soft. Good thing it was a tight course and didn't have a whole lot of wot. Now to actually get to a place where I can use 25 psi and the race gas map. lol

 

Mark- Do you have a brake pad recommendation for autocross?

 

I am still running the stock pads. Usually I like to run a pad that takes a decent amount of pedal effort to lock the wheels. This gives me a wider range of control as far as pedal pressures to induce various degrees of braking. I don't like pads that grab really hard as it is really difficult to not over brake for some maneuvers. Hope that helps.
Mark

 

FWIW, I'm running Porterfield R4S pads at all 4 corners. Very similar feel to stock, much less dust and more fade resistance.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

Mark,

Glad the setup is working out. Just don't give Navid all our secrets. Our car should finally be here next week so we'll be hitting the ground real soon to continue development testing. Most of the parts are on the shop floor ready to go, including Shiv's killer Xede.

Actually, I'm most curious to baseline against the STi this season.

John.....
ESP Showcase Mitsubishi Evo RS

 

Crap, I wish I had seen this post earlier. Navid, if you are still in need, my car is available at Tuning Technologies in Colton. I'm rebuilding my engine and have Ohlin Road and Track coilovers that I'd be willing to lend you. PM me for my cell #.

 

This is the first chance I had to update you guys since I came back from Atwater yesterday. Here's what went down:

All of Thursday and well into Wednesday (3:00 am) was spent on getting the suspension, putting the suspension together, corner-weighing, aligning, and loading up to leave early Friday morning. We ran into several issues fitting Ground Control camber plates on Ohlins and fitting the larger Hoosiers under the car, but nothing we couldn't resolve. My biggest concern was showing up to the event with untested springs, shocks, tires, alignment. I fully expected a miserable weekend at Atwater trying to tune the suspension.

I unloaded the car around 11:00 and headed straight to the practice course. They had setup a real small 16-17 second course for practice. Much to my surprise, the car felt pretty neutral. Sure, I had the shocks at full stiff to keep up with the stiff springs, but all was working fine. I managed a 16s flat which I didn't see anybody beat in a door banger. Later on I heard Vic and Andy McKee got into 15s in SM and SM2 cars. Could it be that the educated guesses on all the components would actually be correct? It sure seemed that way. I had never driven an Evo on the Atwater surface without dealing with severe understeer.

We ran in the last group on Saturday. The course was very fast and technical. I went to 3rd before the finish and should have gone to 3rd going to the for end of the course because on my last run, I rode the rev limiter for a good seven blips.

The good news: The raw time was enough to win ESP by 1.2s and PAX 4th overall on Saturday.
The bad news: I had a cone on every run and ended up .8 behind for Sunday.

On Sunday, my bad luck continued. The times were good, but my first 2 runs had cones. My raw time from the second run was enough to win ESP even with the coned runs on Saturday. I was taking this lane change almost flat out in 3rd gear and kept hitting the same cone. I decided to slow down trough that section on my last run to make sure I would get one clean run in. I did manage to do that, but I slowed down .5 second from my second run. I lost by .490, in second place.

Overall, I was really happy with the way the suspension worked out on concrete. I need to fix a few things for the Pro this weekend since we had to take emergency measures to fit things last minute.

As for the s05 Hoosiers, I really liked them when they were brand new, but they started falling off on Sunday. I'll let you all know after the Pro. One thing is for sure, they are taller and wider than v710s. I don't mind the width, but I hate the height. The tires are rubbing on the end of the side skirts, but that could be because I had to use 8mm spacers to clear the springs. One of the fixes I plan for this week is to get shorter springs for the front and push the wheel back to where it belongs.

Oh, and this weekend was the unveiling of the new wrap job on the Evo. Here it is.


--Navid

 

Sweet paint scheme Navid. It must have been a bad cone week for evo's. I ran a local event and couldn't get a clean run in 5 trys. Even when I was being careful and thought I was giving extra room, still cones. You said the v710 is shorter, and narrower than the Hoosier? How much? I am wanting to get my car lower, but having issues with clearancing the 285/30/18 Hoosier. I guess it may be time for widebody front fenders. lol. Oh well, two weeks to first big event on a good surface, we will see.
Mark