Came with Fives
Not sure what’s going on here, but I thought it was an interesting scene.
Miscellaneous Debris
What have I been up to for the past few months? Certainly not updating this site, anyway.
Well…I’ve been shooting for the “Meritor ChampTruck World Series”. That’s been fun.
Traveling with a series means I get to see some really interesting stuff from all ends of the automotive enthusiast spectrum.
However, from slammed big rigs to a Miata wearing a Datsun wagon body, one thing is evident.
Everybody wants to be low.
Well, sometimes you want to get up high.
Anyway, I’ve been spending a lot of time with this thing–the new XC90. I’m not really happy with the shots I’ve taken so far but I have the car at hand now so it’s just a matter of actually taking it out and shooting it. (I know, that last bit sounds really bad taken out of context. Photographers got stuck with a lousy verb for the act of creating our craft)
I had the chance to shoot a very cool Miata in a very stinky town.
But mainly, I’ve just been shooting this sort of exotica and getting extremely desensitized in the process.
I also shoot a lot of new and used Volvos. Check this combo out. When was the last time you saw a Power Blue/Beechwood S60 with Sport Package and piano black trim? There’s a good chance you haven’t. And an even higher chance that it would be hard for you to care less about Volvo color combos and option packages.
But around here, I just post whatever interests me, which could be anything, really.
The next post should be about the latest changes that have come to the Oregon Trail 993. Stay tuned.
Six and a Half: Tommi Mäkinen Edition Evolution VI
Once upon a time, top-level racing was done with cars that were very close to what you would see on the road. The National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (you know, NASCAR) used to actually race cars that were pretty close to being stock cars. Similarly, for many years the World Rally Championship (WRC) consisted of cars that, due to homologation rules, were modified versions of special edition cars that regular people could buy at their local dealership.
That’s how the “Evo” came about. Mitsubishi rallied the Starion, Galant, and Mirage in the late 80’s and early 90’s and at some point they decided it was the Lancer’s turn. Due to the glorious rules of homologation, a special version of the Lancer was made available in Japan. It was dubbed Lancer Evolution, which was then shortened to ランエボ (“Ran Ebo”) in Japanese, or just “Evo” around the world.
Every year or two, a new version would come out with a host of improvements and a bump in power. The so-called “gentlemen’s agreement”, an arbitrary agreement to limit power to 280ps in the Japanese market, did little to stop the Evo. It hit that limit by the 4th edition in 1996, and although the Japanese version still had that horsepower rating until the 21st century, torque continued to rise and so did the legend of the 4G63. Notoriously underrated, it has the capability of making huge power.
What you’re looking at here is the update to the sixth generation, also known as the Evo 6.5. Called the Tommi Mäkinen Edition, after the legendary Finn who won four WRC titles for Mitsubishi, it was more than just a stickers and wing package–although it certainly has its fair share of both.
Besides the special Recaro seats and Momo wheel, the changes were pure performance. The titanium turbo spooled faster, and with tarmac stages in mind it was lowered and had a quicker steering rack.
The exterior featured a revised, asymmetrical bumper with additional air intakes as well as the aforementioned stickers and large wing out back. While this car rides on some stylish OZ Motorsports wheels, the original “TME” came on 17″ Enkei’s.
Although it’s easy to look at the wild bumper and big wing and think “rice” (aka, the non-functional application of racing parts), nothing could be further from the truth. The glorious fact of homologation means that wing was made in that particular shape to keep the best drivers in the world planted to gravel tracks.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a dream world and despite the fact that we were rolling around in someone else’s car at a race track, there was no chance of exploiting any of that performance.
But you know what, that’s okay. The coolest cars perform double duty–the magic duo of function and form. This thing is perfectly at home being posed and ogled in the setting sun as it would be sideways around a gravel path.
And yes, I do think this is one of the coolest cars out there. Not only does it epitomize the spirit of homologated road-going rally cars, it’s a tuner zeitgeist. It’s the real deal in a world of copies. Hell, I actually work with a guy who has a silver late 90’s Mitsubishi Lancer with a boisterous body kit. If only he could be rolling in a turbo AWD monster instead of a FWD crapbox…
…or was it all just a Mirage?
What It’s All About: WORKS Motorsport’s CARB-exempt Turbo Subaru BRZ
Timing is everything. Now whether the best timing is relatively early, on-time, or late depends on what exactly you’re doing. If you’re arriving at a busy party or setting up anti-lag, your timing should be fashionably late. If you’re swinging a baseball bat or turning into an apex, you want to be right on time. And if you’re going to an interview or a track day, it’s probably best to be a bit early.
The reason I mention that now is because the timing here is all wrong–a combination of early and late.
You see, I went to WORKS Motorsports up at Sonoma Raceway with the intention of touring their shop, but what I really wanted to see was their turbo BRZ.
There are plenty of 86’s with snails slapped on them, so what’s the big deal? Well, this small shop not only engineered their own turbo kit, which is quite an accomplishment in itself, but when I came by they were even in the process of clearing the gigantic hurdle of CARB exemption (which essentially means that it’s smog legal in California—quite important for the vast majority of law-abiding enthusiasts in this state).
Small, WORKS-branded details are everywhere. Under the hood we can see the Ohlins/WORKS coilovers…
…and the WORKS oil regulator/cooler kit.
Inside, you’ll find this cool vent-mounted SPT boost pressure gauge as well as…
…these sumptuous floormats! If you’ve seen a new BRZ, you know that the floormats are an absolute joke. They’re ugly and don’t wear well at all. In comparison, FR-S mats are at least stylish, but aren’t any longer lasting. These WORKS mats are thick, luxurious, and definitely better than what comes from the factory.
They also make a matching trunk mat, to let your cargo ride in style.
Given the extra power that the turbo packs on (approximately 70hp and 50tq), it makes sense to upgrade the braking and suspension capabilities as well. WRX STi calipers, Project Mu pads, and DBA rotors are used front and rear.
SuperPro provided the sway bars, control arm bushings, and the adjustable rear lower control arm, which allows rear camber to be changed. This particular shot is of a mostly-stock BRZ—notice the difference in mounting points for the shocks and sway bar.
This is the point in the story where the timing aspect comes in. As you saw at the top of this article, when I arrived at WORKS the front bumper had been removed from the car and the stock wheels were installed because they had just brought the car back from testing for CARB. They were able to get the bumper back on, but the wheels weren’t around. Well whatever, I was there, so I decided to grab some snaps anyway.
One thing that stood out to me was that rear camber, which looks to be very close to zero. With all the adjustable rear suspension, why would that be? Well, besides being their turbo demo car, this is also the shop’s drift car for the Wednesday night drifting held just a few hundred yards from WORKS’ doorstep. The combination of negative front camber with almost zero rear camber enables front grip at the limit and an easily slide-able rear.
Unfortunately, despite all the empty flat tarmac around the outskirts of the track, there would be no sliding on this day. Predictably, race tracks are a bit strict about that sort of thing.
Despite the stock wheels, I still think this is an attractive car; I really dig their black-and-blue livery.
However, I look at my own FR-S everyday, so it’s all the small details and additions that really stand out. Check out the carbon fiber brake ducts and canards!
Apparently there’s another set of canards, but they weren’t on the car at the time.
If you follow this site, you know I see tons of carbon fiber, and only the best weaves will do. The Seibon carbon fiber diffuser not only features more blades than the stock piece, the quality is absolutely top-notch: fitment is perfect and so is the weave.
Man, don’t those stock tires look silly? This trend of slightly-stretched tires from the factory needs to go. And if that alignment is what looks silly to you, just remember “drift setup” and you’ll feel better about it.
Being early or late isn’t necessarily bad; it’s that aspect combined with what should be happening that creates a problem. Well, in this case it was a double whammy of bad timing–not only did I arrive too early to shoot the car but I just waited to damn long to post all this. You should have read this over five weeks ago! Oh well.
Star Road 