Photo credit (unless otherwise stated): Luke E.
I am writing this article in July, three quarters through the race season,having already experienced the demise of my track car in a crash on Knox Mountain in BC. So there is going to be a measure of hindsight and reflection throughout this article.
Photo credit (1 image above): Club 456
The time attack season opener at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton Alberta was meant to be a final shakedown for the car prior to traveling to the Knox Mountain Hill climb where a mechanical failure caused me to crash in turn 8, destroying my car. Reflecting upon this situation leads me to a few conclusions: One being that if you are going to race, and by that i mean you are pushing your car to the limit, you will at some point crash. The other, that you better be prepared to start from scratch again or call it quits, one or the other.
I've chosen to soldier on, with lighter pockets of course, I am shopping for another Evo. This time my hopes are to make it last a bit longer. I will be prepping a new car for the 2018 season.
My goal for this season, before my wreck, was to better last seasons lap time and hopefully go sub 1:30 on the full course. Sub 1:30 is a bit of a barrier as it puts you in line with the more serious cars on the track. I will have been the first JDM Evo to do so with a 1:29 flat that day.
I am very happy with how this turned out. Unfortunately my belief is that the car could have gone much faster in its current form. I was still getting used to the new configuration and the conditions were cool and damp on the track.
In time attack it seems that big power has taken over. For better or for worse the pro unlimited 1000hp builds are the face of current time attack. My formula with my current Evo had been reliability above all else. I decided to focus on handling, aero, and weight reduction rather than power mods. At the moment I went sub 1:30's I was running stock boost, stock turbo on an Evo 4. the car was rock solid reliable and was competing with cars with far more power. I'm very happy with the results and in the face of being able to buy any version of the Evo again, I may very well stick with an E4 and build another wide body.
At the end of the day I didn't have a chance to maximize the current build with more seat time. That to me is more disappointing than the car being destroyed. Sort of untapped potential so to speak. The rest of my season will be supporting my 456 team-mate, which I am very much looking forward to doing.
I will end on a positive note with a video of me putting the car up on two wheels.... see you in 2018!
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