Car: 2011 Lancer Evolution X MR
Tires: Hankook R-S3
Alignment: Front: -2.0 / 0 Toe, Rear: -1.2 / 0 Toe
Mods: ST43 Fronts / XT910 Rears, Test Pipe
Tire Pressures: Hot: 38F / 38R (Could have been hotter than 38, forgot to check after first session)
Track: Toronto Motorsports Park (Cayuga)

To sum it up, the car would perform great for the first 6 or so laps, and then if pushing too hard in the turns, the tire would scrub and would have no front end grip for the rest of the lap.

During the time trial, I had rested the car for an hour and a half before the lap. The format of the time attack was one warm up lap, two flying laps, one cool down lap. An LS1 Miata qualified faster than me and started 6 seconds ahead. By the end of my second flying lap, I had made up the entire difference and he ended up holding me up during my session, so I was granted a re-run.

The car rested for about 15-20 minutes before the re-run lap. Immediately during my first flying lap, I felt the front end wanting to let go, and it did spectacularly mid-lap. Funny thing is, even with all the understeer, I still set a faster lap than in my first timed lap session. (by 7 hundredths) Both laps of my re-run session were completely marred with understeer however.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to manage this understeer, whether it's manipulating pressures or warming up the car differently (i.e. by driving it slower during a warmup lap) This was my first track session with the Evo, but won't be the last.

 

I'm no expert my any means, and I have never used those tires. But to me it sounds like your overdriving the tires and getting them too hot. They get greasy and the front grip drops off. Evo's are nose heavily, and I would assume the heavier Evo X's are much worse. Unfortunately in my experiences with street tires getting greasy it was due to my driving and nothing setup related.

Cheers,

Cb

 

Definitely sounds like you're over-driving the tires.

Did you take any video from the Time Trials?

 

like the other guys said. It "sounds" like your overheating the tires, but without video its hard to guess.

interesting question; since its your first track event in the evo i would not suggest jumping to r-comps. want to learn the car first. so that leaves you with street tires.

you could certainly take it easier on your warm up laps, but since their still streets, they will still get greasy. did you go or can you go with an instructor? might be worth the extra weight in the car.

there are the right ways to fix problems (coils, corner balancing, spring rates) but depends on seat time an budget. some of the cheaper ways for the time being would be slowing corner entry speeds and be better on brakes/throttle to keep the car neutral. add a bigger rear bar(s) in the rear esp to help the car rotate. playing with tire pressure (i run higher in the rear bc I feel it helps with rotation - but im clearly not an expert).

but, best advice is to learn to drive the car the way she is before you mod to hell, because in most cases (mine included) even in stock form the driver ability will fall far short of the cars capabilities. good luck have fun shiny side up!

 

38 PSI seems a bit high, the top evo X at my local road course runs ~34 IIRC.

 

I'm definitely overdriving the car a bit, but it's more the phenomenon of one mistake and the grip just drops serverely. I've never had a car that was as harsh on you as this car was and wanted to see if that was a thing with everyone with this car. My feeling is that its solely due to the weight.

I have a video from my re-run session which I'll post up as soon as I get the footage from my friend. It's warmup, two hot-laps, then cool down. As soon as I make a mistake on Turn 4 on my first hot lap, the tires are just gone for the rest of the session.

 

I suspect tire pressure. Once those rotors get hot they will drive up tire pressure even after coming off track. I've never had a good street tire fall off after a handful of laps.

 

in my first 2 track days ever on 235 star specs, i over drove them and greased them up GOOD.

ever since running 255 rs3's i have yet to have that happen. in my last event for one session on a short but fast course (pocono southeast) an experienced evo driver/instructor drove my car for 3-4 laps and immediately commented that the car was lacking a little front drip. we hot pitted, swapped drivers, and i was able to also feel it.

i have had very good results with targeting 38psi hot (hitting that from 32psi cold), and i really think that after taking a huge step forward in how i drive the car, that i over heated the fronts and got too much pressure in them.

next event im going to start the fronts at 31cold...i think we may have both just found the grip cliff on these tires honestly.

 

OP what size tire what size rim?

 

265/35/18 tires on 18 x 9.5 rim

 

Uploaded it.

 

"This video is private" comes up when I try to watch the video on my phone...

 

^Same.

 

I know, sorry about the inconvenience.

 

If your car is understeering going into a turn, then you need to slow a little more before you make the turn. This will give you a faster exit speed and consequently more speed in the following straight. Very common mistake.