I have a few questions for some fellow track heads, but first a quick background. I have been autoXing for about 10yrs and open tracking about 5 and recently started racing Karts. Currently I have a z06 with lots of track upgrades and I’m looking for something different. I’d like to think I am a decent driver but I do track my car very hard and often.
Now for some questions.

As a track/street car what sort of issues does the evo have? For example.
Cooling: radiator, engine oil, tranny front and rear, brake ducting
Weak points: wheel bearings, diffs, ect

Also what about consumables and availability/cost:
Stock brake rotors, track pads, ect

And finally, routine maintenance:
Changing fluids, engine oil, tranny fluid, diff fluid, brakes will the stock brembos calipers handle the heat (taper), ect.

What about suspension upgrades. I don’t recall if SCCA T2 class has a set susp package like T1.

For engine mods I like to keep is simple for durability, filter + no cats + decent cat back, stock boost. Just how durable is that engine with that combo.


What do you track heads think???

 

That's an awful lot of questions. Since you are a very experience driver, I will try to keep it short. I know nothing about auto-X, all my experience in running road courses. The EVO needs suspension improvements first. Coil overs and rear sway bar. Best to find a shop that knows what it is doing, such as John Mueller's Road Race Chassis in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

Definitely need R-compound tires. Toyo RA-1 255/40/17 fit fine on the stock Enkeis. The stock rotors should be fine until they wear out, just get some good racing pads, such as Performance Friction or Project mU.

As for engine/turbo/exhaust mods, that is a huge question to big to answer in this post. Have fun. EVO is a great track car.

 

For something to compare against.
The vette has a few short falls for open tracking. (remember this is for July/August HEAT in south Texas), These are some of the parts I have on the car, cooling: bigger radiator, oil cooler, tranny (6sp) cooler, diff cooler. Brake ducts, racing pads (XP11/10’s F/R), Stock calipers are ok but tend to taper and spread. T-1 spec suspension, bars, springs, shocks. Also I run khumo 710’s in a 315 size on all corners so I push the car pretty hard. The stock rotors only last a weekend but they are only $25 a piece so they are consumables.
What about the stock evo rotors? How long do they last, how expensive. Do the stock brembo calipers handle the heat w/o taper/spread? What about brake ducting?
Brakes are just an example. Are there any other issues, cooling, random weak points.

Every car has its weakness, what about the evo’s? Where did the bean counters take over?

 

I am not being rude here, but there's plenty of threads around here about brake cooling and pads. There's a multi-page thread on the 1st page of the motorsports section discussing nothing but track pads. (about 10 threads down from this one)

I bet tires for the Evo are cheaper than the vettes. Those things are monsters!

 

The interior trim. The short version is that the car is solid. To get started you'll need basics like pads and fluid...perhaps stainless lines. Of course you would probably want further upgrades as you look for more on the track...

I also have C5 experience. I feel that the Evo is quite a bit more trackworthy from the factory. Tons of folks track their Evos regularly sans breakage with only basic mods like pads and fluid...

 

I used to have a C5 as well, unfortuntely I never tracked it. I know how hot it ran during autocross and hard street driving though and the Evo does not have this problem. Being in TX, you may need to think about upgrading the cooling system (radiator, intercooler, perhaps a larger oil cooler) but I would get some gauges and monitor your temps for a few events.

The brake rotors are pretty stout on the Evo, mine have lasted 6 track days (4 on stock pads, 2 on XP10's) and still have plenty of life left. You wont be finding any $25 replacements though. Pads are also pretty pricey, my XP10's were about $220. The stock calipers are great in my experience but admittedly I am still a track noob.

As a noobie though, I have found the Evo to be VERY easy to drive at the track. It definitely inspires confidence.

 

Once you start getting fast with an evo the stock calipers and rotors have a hard time shedding heat.

One of the reasons is the pad size, the other is the rotor cooling. Upgrading to 2-piece rotors, installing brake ducting, good fluid and good pads for sure helps but if you are really fast on-track and do a ton of events a year, it's just a matter of time before you will want to upgrade to a stoptech BBK or the like.

Other than that, the stock water cooling system does a pretty good job if you do a water wetter / water / coolant combo. The oil temps can get a little toasty but the water wetter combo in the cooling system for sure helps.

if you run stock boost you should be fine with pump gas, for extra safety, a couple gallons of 100 octane wouldn't hurt.

Suspension is basically how crazy you want to get. The stock suspension actually is suprisingly good with a good motorsports alignment. It's still soft of course so if you really are a track ***** you'll want a good set of coilovers and someone that knows how to setup a AWD 3300lb turbo car.

Throw on some r-compounds and the above and you'll be amazed how much the EVO lives for the track. It really is an amazing car once you get it in it's element.

Just take the time to learn the awd chassis dynamics and you will have big grins on your face everytime you come in from another cool down lap.

 

If you're used to running a C5 Z06 you'll probably be disappointed with the Evo as a "track b1tch." It's going to be a lot slower unless/until you drop a bunch of money on it.

Having said that, the Evo is a very fun car on the track. Handling is benign. It's VERY easy to drive quickly and at the limit (almost TOO easy, really). If you avoid the temptation to mod the hell out of the engine, then the drivetrain is bulletproof. As others have pointed out, the brakes have totally inadequate cooling. But this can be dealt with easily.

The car is, of course, prone to understeer, but it's nothing you can't correct with careful alignment, tire pressures, and (most important) good technique. I run my Evo with stock suspension and have minimal understeer and no problem getting it to rotate. So, I would totally disagree with those who say you "need" coilovers or other suspension mods. Maybe a rear swaybar, but that's a snap to pop on and off.

Emre

 

Cannot quite agree with Emre on the point of "needing coilovers" If you want to be truly fast in this car, you need coilovers. Someone of equal driving ability driving the same car with coilovers will leave you for dead. The suspension is simply too soft for the track. Not enough spring, and over damped. After market springs are notthe answer, as they do not aford the amount of suspension travel that you need. IMHO if you are serious about the car as a track car, just take care of the suspension straight away. You'll also need to learn to get on the throttle a lot quicker than you probably do with the C5....AWD can be a fun point and shoot afair, especially in evos that have limited slip....just my 2 cents.

Percy

 

Here is a clip of me playing tag with a ZO6

My evo has mods in my sig.....street tires....street aligment....street pads.....
The ZO6 has..... race pads.....hoosiers....corner weighted....aggressive alignment....

Evo's can hold their own. Its clear the Z06 was faster than me but its not really all that much faster considering he had R compounds and race pads.

http://media.putfile.com/Darth_vs_Zoey

 

Uhhh - some of us have MR's and are completely adequate w.r.t. suspension. And yes - it is softer than the regular EVO. So what? What are you going to win?

If you aren't running wheel rates near 1 to 2x the corner weight, you're still compromising the solution. Just a level of degree.

What do you need? Nothing. A stock EVO is completely at home on the track.

Then, brake cooling is the first thing you notice when you start to push it. SS Lines, Brake fluid, Cooling guides, Pads, are a start to solve that.

Deetz.

 

Yea.....I agree....race pad and fluid....then R compounds....and not much is gonna catch you.

 

To throw an alternate opinion out there -- if the question you asked is what the car _needs_ to run on track, then I think you've got a pretty short list.

I road race a very highly prepared BMW M3 (runs 1:51 @ Sears Point, 2:00 @ Thunderhill, 2:03 @ Buttonwillow #13) so I'm not slow and tend to push the car pretty hard. I've had my Evo out at a couple of schools since picking it up, and the only thing that was not right on the car were the brakes. The stock pad compund is terrible, and they definitely need some ducting when you're running hard. Other than that, I would argue that the car is amazingly good out of the box and needs nothing to be quick.

All that said, this car is like any other. Start modifying anything (like making more power) and you need to beef up other parts to deal with it. And the temptation for big modifications is obvious. I personally would love to have a super-light, race-suspension, 500+hp, fire breathing beast to go beat up on 911s, but I think one race car is probably enough.

I personally plan to leave my car mostly stock as a nice "comfy" drive in comparison to the race car.

 

video: couple of evo laps
(right-click save as)

...your typical hpde day in a well prepped daily driven EVO, with A/C and spare in the trunk. Stock 9.8 hotside w/ 272's with a mail-in flash (17psi).

n

 

you guys totally missed the point. the Evo stock is not a fantastic handling car. It understeers like a pig. It's noseheavy. A quality coilover suspension improves those conditions considerably. Yes, it's great on the track stock compared to a lot of cars, but stock for stock I'd take a Vette, or an Elise, or an S2000 out of the box. I'm not a licensed racer, but have 15 days experience tracking this car, and I'm not slow either...1:29 at Reno Fernley, 2:08 at thunderhill (before the suspension was sorted, by the way)...I'm considerably faster with the muellerized suspension. So, my point is if you want to be as FAST AS YOU CAN BE the stock suspension is not the way to get there.