The experience of driving this beast on the track is nothing like I'd hoped it would be. Sure, first and second gear are loud and awesome, but as the turns come up, my dream drive turns into a nightmare. The steering feels awful. The car is really darty and there's hardly any feedback in the wheel. It has instantaneous turn-in response, but before any weight transfers to the outside rear, the front end washes out into a massive push. I try to induce a little power oversteer, but the throttle-by-wire is surprisingly notchy. It feels like my old man's big-block Chevy. The only time that thing drives smoothly is while towing a race car. In an old truck, it's annoying; in a $90,000 car, it's inexcusable.
This throttle pedal seems to have about three positions. Position one gives constant understeer. Position two increases both speed and understeer, not good when trying to get down to an apex. Position three snaps the back end around into ridiculous slip angles that you can't accelerate out of. The only way to recover is to back off the gas until the front end is pointing the right way then roll back on it. So much for exit speed. To get the fastest lap times, I end up understeering daintily through the corners in position one then romp it briefly on the straights. It's depressing how inadequate I feel while driving this iconic mechanism of compensation. Here I am, lugging this heavy motor around the track, but I can't really use it. No wonder so many people crash these things.
Our opponent in this battle is M1 Fabrication & Development's Evo VIII GSR. It's shop-owner Mack Sunthonlap's real daily transportation: Recaro baby seat, full interior and all. It's not a stock car, but considering the competition, we think its bolt-on modifications make for a pretty even match.
If you didn't notice the 275mm Hankook Z214 R-comps sticking out from under the stock fenders, you'd never know the car was a dialed-in track machine. If you did, you'd probably consider Sunthonlap a hustler. In reality, it was time constraints that created this clean Evolution. Between manufacturing products and relocating suspension points on race cars, the guys at M1 don't have much time for personal projects. Aside from the four days they spent installing upgrades, all playtime spent on the car has been out on the track. But that's not to say it was slapped together.
Sunthonlap spent seven years working for Victory Race Cars where, among other things, he fabricated body mounts for Top Fuel funny cars and dragsters. Drivers like John Force, Tony Pedregon and Ron Capps depended on his craftwork to support several tons of downforce at over 300mph. Fabricating various components while keeping everything as light as possible taught him to balance performance with reliability. These same principles were applied to his street car. "The experience from fabricating successful race cars every day made the parts selection process easy," says Sunthonlap. "Every part considered was selected with total balance in mind. Each part must complement another. Nothing should have to be used at 100 percent."
As impressive as the aftermarket parts list is, their effective integration with the stock components is what really shows the research that went into them. The engine, transmission, axles, differentials, brake calipers, front anti-roll bar, bodywork, seats, and steering wheel all remain untouched. The valve cover had to come off to drop in the Tomei cams, but everything else was simply bolted on-and only if it made it faster. With its Tuning Technologies ECU flash set for Torco 118-octane track gas, it's time for the Evo to show what it can do.