Gymkhana

[JC]

I went to the 1st US gymkhana last weekend with the Mitsu guys. If any of you are thinking of doing it, it was tough on the AWD cars. It was a cone massacre every time they went, I saw EVOs doing 3-point turns a few times. The Crawford time attack STi was crazy fast through the slalom though.


Cool article about the Mitsu 08 Lancer...

http://www.gtchannel.com/ch1/?s=autonews


*I'm in the passenger's seat in this pic

Interview with Mitsubishi's James Norman

GT Channel: What is your name?
Mitsubishi: James Norman

GT Channel: Where do you work and what do you do?
Mitsubishi: I work with Mitsubishi as a Product Specialist and in Ralliart Development

GT Channel: You built a Lancer for Gymkhana USA. Tell us about it.
Mitsubishi: I decided to work with the base model of the vehicle to show that the entire Lancer line up is performance capable. Furthermore, the Lancer De (base mode) is lighter than the other trim levels, so that was a benefit we kept in mind as well. Then I engaged Road Race engineering to help me develop as many new parts as possible. I found that the transmission was sourced from the OEM as a scion TC; so a LSD was sourced from Quaiffe, and bearings were ordered from Toyota parts department-- this was the first modification we went for but it is being complete as we speak post round 1 of gymkhana.

Otherwise, we obtained some CP510 competition wheels from Dazz, Yokohama Neova tires, road race made a prototype strut bar, air intake, and exhaust. In addition, Road Race found brake pads and springs from a previous Mitsubishi vehicle that fit right up to the lancer. In combination with some simple camber adjustments and a slightly lower front tire pressure the car came together quite nicely.

GT Channel: How did the car perform in comparison to stock trim?
Mitsubishi: It was a night and day difference as anyone who drove the vehicle can tell you the car outperformed a lot of other cars with ease, including Mitsubishi's own Lancer Evo IX. The car turns in better, the power band is smoother; the intake and exhaust showed some surprising gains and give you a better feel for where you are in the power band. The stock vehicle is quite quiet and NVH conscious in comparison.

GT Channel: So it was prepped for Daijiro Yoshihara. Did he like it?
Mitsubishi: He was in shock, think he thought it was a different car completely, his times improved greatly on the track.

GT Channel: Is this chassis based on the upcoming Evo X?
Mitsubishi: Same platform, in fact, same engine.

GT Channel: Same engine? So it's ready for a turbo ? Is the compression higher?
Mitsubishi: Actually I can not say, my focus at Mitsu actually isn’t the Lancer so I don’t know all the engine specs off hand. if I knew the compression ratio I would be more comfortable saying whether or not its ready for a turbo from factory. there is plenty of space in the engine bay though. The car is very tuner friendly when it comes to bolt on upgrades.

GT Channel: Does Mitsubishi plan to offer any type of factory options like this?
Mitsubishi: While no date is set for release of factory specialty parts is set, all the parts are in development at this time and I am using motorsports to test potential parts.

GT Channel: How much would it cost the average person to build this car?
Mitsubishi: well the car would be about $14,000, and then not including the LSD (which we didn’t have during the great performance at gymkhana) it would be about $2400 for everything you need to make a fun daily driver/competitive gymkhana car.

GT Channel: Excellent, thanks for the time James. We look forward to seeing some more Mitsubishi project cars.

[sperry]

Nice interview... I like that they took the base model for the build-up. In close quarters like autocross (and even more so in gymkhana) a non-turbo powerband is way more useful than a laggy turbo. What's the point of 400whp if you're only making 80whp off boost and there's no room to spool?

[NevadaSTi]

What is Gymkhana?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by NevadaSTi

What is Gymkhana?

Insanely small tight autocross around a small number of cones in different patterns = 1 lap.

[Bob Danger]

Originally Posted by NevadaSTi

What is Gymkhana?

Fun in a RWD car, is what it is.

[Libila]

I really like the way that Lancer looks. That was a cool idea on Mitsu's part to participate in such an event.

JC, how'd the car feel?

[A1337STI]

Its a specifically designed autocross course that encourages drifting / aggressive driving. Like if you were to try to design a course where the fastest way through it uses larger slip angles then you'll see at a normal autox event.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Libila

I really like the way that Lancer looks. That was a cool idea on Mitsu's part to participate in such an event.

JC, how'd the car feel?

I didn't drive, the driver's meeting was at 7AM and the place is like an hour from my house so fuck that. I rolled in around noon and just hung out for a bit and rode in the modded DE.

[Forgotten]

http://www.crawfordperformance.com/n...gymkhana.shtml

Here is a video of the course.