Flick through any tuning mag and it's not long before you're confronted with an extreme interpretation of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. In garages across the land, the moneyed and aspirational have been bolting on bigger turbos and claiming all manner of gargantuan power outputs. At the last count, the most powerful EVO treading the boards boasted the small matter of 715 hp, but there are rumors of a 1,000-hp version in the offing.
Even Mitsubishi UK's marketing gurus admit they've flirted with building such a car to celebrate the company's 30th birthday. But they concluded the exercise would be futile-even if they'd built a 2.0-liter EVO with 1,000 hp, somebody would have built one with 1,001 hp and proclaimed himself to be the father of the "ultimate."
So instead, they set themselves the no less modest task of building a 400-hp version of the UK-specific EVO VIII FQ-320 that could be sold with a proper warranty to ordinary folk.
Tuning a 2.0-liter engine to reliably deliver 400 hp is not the work of a moment. Mitsubishi UK's motorsport division, Ralliart, embarked on a thorough overhaul of the engine's electronic and mechanical systems in partnership with tuning specialists Rampage, Owen Developments and Flow Race Engines. In came a new, bespoke Garrett turbocharger, stronger forged pistons and con rods, a steel head gasket, a high-strength cylinder head and a trick, high-pressure fuel pump.
Controlling such explosive potential meant the careful mapping of a new MoTeC ECU. Boost level, ignition and fueling are now carefully controlled by a computerized matrix, which also logs everything from the engine speed to the oil pressure in its electronic brain. In other words, Mitsubishi technicians will be able to tell that you munched the engine at the dragstrip, and not while pootling down the highway at less than 20 mph.
Paul Brigden, the man in charge of the project, explains that a new ECU was an expensive but necessary modification. "The standard ECU is locked by Mitsubishi Japan and only the World Rally Team has the codes to crack it. To accommodate the new turbo, we had to move some of the airflow sensors, which rendered the OEM unit redundant. The only solution was to introduce a new ECU and Owen Developments are MoTeC agents, which made it the obvious choice."
The result of this thoroughness is a car that, according to Mitsubishi, is "the fastest accelerating four-door saloon car ever produced by a major manufacturer." On a rolling road, the EVO registers 405 hp at 6400 rpm and a no less impressive 355 lb-ft of torque at 5500 rpm, but the real bar-bore figures concern the acceleration.
Mitsubishi claims this EVO pummels its way from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds and hits 100 mph in 9.1 seconds. Consider, for a moment, that the ultraponcy Porsche Carrera GT requires 3.9 seconds. This is one mighty chariot.
And if anything, it feels even faster on the road. There's a pregnant pause at 3000 rpm as the huge turbo takes a breath before it exhales its venom all the way to the 7400-rpm rev limiter. As a driver, you are not so much propelled as flung down the blacktop in a manner that's faintly primeval. The sound, emanating from an exhaust large enough to hide a small child, is deep and vociferous enough to compete with the whistle of the turbo. Only a genuine racecar can match this car's guttural appeal.
The engine also proves to be an ideal foil for the six-speed gearbox. The mechanicals themselves are unchanged, but Mitsubishi's engineers have introduced a heavy-duty, race-derived clutch. This requires some delicacy at low speeds, but with familiarity comes confidence and the gearshift itself remains as crisp and positive as ever. You can actually feel the cogs engaging, which is exactly as things should be.
The UK-only Mitsubishi Racing (MR) FQ range boasts a number of modifications aimed at improving the handling. A Bilstein suspension system was developed to complement the ultrasophisticated, electronically controlled, all-wheel-drive system, which incorporates Super AYC (Active Yaw Control), ACD (Active Center Differential) and Sport ABS.
An aluminum roof helps lower the center of gravity, while Team Dynamics alloys reduce the unsprung mass by a total of 7.05 pounds compared with a standard EVO VIII.