No brake problems, but I tend to avoid threshhold braking. Everything got very hot tho, so much so that the fenders were v warm & hot in places. I'll add Motul 600 before the next track day.

 

Anyone have any photos of the Mitsu brake ducts? I am thinking about getting some, but can not seem to find any information!
Thanks.

 

As noted in my previous post, I like doing track days in the Evo. I did a 2 day event at Mid-Ohio this Monday & Tuesday, in what was mostly rainy conditions. The Evo totally dominated all other cars, including a WRX Sti, driven by an instructor. The car was absolutely solid at 120 mph in heavy rain. No one else, except the Ford Focus SVT FROM HELL, was able to go over 90-95 without losing rear grip and "stepping out" sideways.

As to the Focus, he was as fast eveywhere but the straight. The theory was he was on particuarly good rain tires, but who knows, the car was very fast.

I was allowed to drive in the instuctor group the 2nd day and, again, no other car could keep up in the rain. Once it dried out, the Vipers and Vettes took over and the Evo wasn't really close, but did stay ahead of all the other cars (RX8, 350Z, 911's etc.)

 

WHy does the Focus have to be evil? Focus's really handle well stock. Just a tire swap to something not even as sticky as stock A046s and it's just mean. a rear sway bar and some struts an you're up to the SVT. They are fun.

Fun cars just rock. Even more so when you've got Evo power to boot.

 

The stock EVO performs very well on the track for being stock. However, I think there are few areas that can be upgraded to make it a better car.
1) Brake fade issues should be addressed by changing to a set of higher performance metalic pads along w/ some stainless brakelines to firm up the brake feel. (better brake fluid is optional here)
2) Understeer issues can be corrected by replacing the stock unit to a bigger unit.
3) the stock alignment setting is just way too conservative for my liking. Next time at the track, I'd definitely change to at least -2 degree in front camber w/ -1 toe out in front, and -1 degree camber in the rear to get the max performance out of the car.

I think thats it for now.. I would like to add a set of coilovers by my next track event but that all depends if my budget permits..

all in all, the stock EVO car itself is a very capable car to toss around the track but it is nowhere near to be a perfect track car yet.

 

My understeer problem was helped by a competition alignment (In front: negative camber 1.6 , -.04 degree of toe out, 3.5 degrees of caster; in rear:1.0 degree of negative camber, .10 degrees of toe in).

No brake fade problems (I switched brake fluid to Motul 600).

 

CincyEvo, you going to the WheelSource event at Putnam next weekend (oct 4-5)? I'll be there for my first try at 4 wheels on a track - I raced there back in the mid-90's with a 600cc Superbike. I can't wait!

 

No, I can't make it, wish I could. I am hoping someone schedules something in early November. Have fun, it should be very different than on a fast, lightweight sport bike.

 

992qnt:

You might want to take 2 empty 5 gallon gasoline jugs with you & fill up at the Shell station about 5 miles from the track. I was getting about 48 mile per tank at Putnam before fuel starvation set in. Gas at the track is $6.00 gallon.

 

Thanks, that's one thing I hadn't thought about taking.

 

Wow Cincy that's less than 4mpg! That must be one wide open run, or do you spend a lot of time left foot braking to keep the boost up?

 

No left foot braking. Fuel starvation in hard cornering occurs after about 10 gallons is used. This causes the engine to conk out, them restart when fuel supply resumes. So, it's about 5mpg, which is still pretty bad but the price we pay for exhilarating accelertion (my Miata got 11 mpg on the same track).

 

Really? I was running a pretty fuel hungry Evo - pleny of mods, at low fuel and fortunately didn't run into that problem. Did you notice more in either left or right cornering?

 

My gas mileage experience at 3 road track events this year is about the same at 5 mpg. I never experienced any fuel starvation though. I try to keep the fuel level at a minimum of about half full, but at the last event I got down to about one quarter full. No pickup problems, but I'm still going to keep the fuel level at one half or greater.

As always, YMMV.

I do notice some black smoke out the back at WOT 3-4 or 4-5 shifts and some corner workers commented on it also.

I've been reluctant to do anything to lean out the engine at WOT. My understanding is that the rich fuel/air is used to cool the charge and cut down on preignition (knock). I still have this blind trust in the Mitsubishi engineers that the rich mixture is desirable for engine durability. This is for road track use. Leaning out the mixture for drag racing may not cause any problems. I'm waiting to hear about the experiences from others who lean out their F/A for road track use.

 

I only noticed it in right hand corners, especially long sweepers, where the car is leaned over for a relatively long period of time. I also have black smoke at high rpms which I am not concerned about for the reasons described by tsi90awd. The car is always accelerating or braking at the track, and all of that acceleration significantly decreases gas mileage.