When we first heard about Chris' plan for his bright yellow Evo 5 we were obviously skeptical. Afterall going for most powerful Evo in the country is no easy task, especially with the likes of the Norris Evo 7 to compete against. Having spoken to Chris about his previous two scoobies we knew if anyone could do it he could.
Chris managed to get his hands on an ex Ralliart demonstrator Evo 5, not only one of very few yellow cars, this had been tuned to 450 BHP before he even got his mits on it. For most of us this would be enough, but Chris decided he wanted more and if you're gonna do something you might as well do it properly, so he decided to build the best Evo 5 ever.
The bodywork is the first thing to catch your eye with this car. Well if it stays in sight long enough anyway. The unique Makkinen front bumper catches your eye. At first it looks like a standard Evo 6 TME front end, then you realise it is an Evo 5. The experts at Type K styling seamlessly modded this bumper to fit the five.
Chris fondly remembers the Type K sprayer being worried the bumper would actually crack as it had to be bent so much to get the shape right. Yet all this was worth it for the unique look of the Makkinen front end.
Also with the engine spec this car is running, space for things like an oil cooler is something that the tuners will find very useful. This distinctive car will definately stand out at TOTB.
Chris wanted something that stood out but was also subtle, so as to not detract from the fact that this is the most powerful Evo in the country. Besides what would be the point of tuning a car to this spec and then weighing it down with a load of filler and fibreglass parts.
At the suggestion of Type K front man Karthik, Chris decided to paint the skirts and splitters on the car black to contrast with the vibrant yellow of the car.
When building a serious car like this, there is no point cutting corners. In the quest to shed weight while retaining the 5's phenomenal downforce. Carbon fibre is the obvious choice as it does not flex like other materials at speed. Chris went straight to the people who know best about Mitsubishi handling, Ralliart and bought a genuine WRC
car spoiler complete with a carbon blade.
From a distance this spoiler looks standard until you notice the carbon blade, but under the sort of acceleration this car will experience and at over to 200 mph nothing will keep the Evo planted better.
Like the black skirts and splitters the carbon really contrasts the really bright yellow.
Again on the quest for aerodynamics Chris looked at all sorts of mirrors, he was unsure what to use until again his contact at Ralliart offered him a solution, genuine WRC carbon ones, the perfect accessory for the evo.
With over 800 horseys propelling the Evo forward like ayellow rocket, it needs something pretty powerful to stop it. For this purpose Chris purchased a spanking new set of AP Racing 6 pots with 380 mm discs and Ferodo ds2000 pads. To fit these he needed bigger wheels so he opted for a set of 18" speedline tourini's with eagle f1 gsd2000 tyres.
The issue of handling and transmitting the power onto the road was always going to rear its head when dealing with a car of this power. Chris went for the renowned Ohlins Coilovers and HKS pillowball top mounts, allowing him to customise every part of his suspension and handling.
The most important part of this car though, is the engine. After all it was built to compete in Ten Of The Best and other similar competitions and to take the crown as most powerful Evo in the country.
When Chris bought the car it came tuned to 450 BHP, so was hardly slow. But after owning the car for just under a year Chris decided it was time for more power...... MUCH more power. Norris Designs had just released their 760 BHP Evo 7 so that set the standard for Chris' project. Chris only knew one man who could accomplish this feat Mark at Lateral Performance. Mark in turn called in the best engine builder and machinest he knew, Steve at SMG Racing. Together with Chris they designed and built the insane engine for this mental car.
To hit the sort of power figures Chris wanted the standard 2.0 displacement would just not do the trick. The stroke was increased and the block bored to give a 2.3, while still retaining the blocks strength. The block itself was wire ringed to increase its strength and all the internals including pistons, crank and rods were upgraded to ensure they could cope with the huge increase in power. HKS Cams and HKS pulleys were also fitted while the block was in pieces and the heads were ported and polished to increase their efficency with oversized valves.
With the internals sorted to cope with the additional power the not so simple matter of the intake and exhaust systems faced them. There were not many suitable parts designed for the car which could deal with or be efficent with these power levels so the guys fabricated a custom manifold, front pipe, down pipe & centre section, as well as a custom inlet manifold and intake piping.
The available Evo intercoolers were not thick enough to be 100% effective at this sort of power so Chris decided on a Greddy front mounted Skyline drag one, designed for 1000 BHP Skylines. The thicker core of this far outperforms the available aftermarket EVO front mounts.
Having fitted an array of fuel pumps and pressure regulators to feed the huge HKS 1200cc injectors and HKS fuel rail it was time to decide upon a turbo. To beat the Norris Evo 7 something big was needed, Mark ordered in a Garrett GT35 turbo with a turbonetics wastgate, which was then customised by Turbo dynamics. This turbo is more than capable of flowing enough to give Chris' Evo the desired power levels. Due to its size and the time taken to spool up the Evo's rev limit has been raised to a whooping 9675 RPM.
Megan Racing Carbon Fiber Spoiler: MR-55 #11226
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