One great aspect of the Evo is that, while its dynamic abilities extend well into the supercar realm, it's easily useable as a daily driver. There's plenty of room for friends and cargo, plus it's reliable. If that weren't enough, an advanced all-wheel drive system ensures a year-round capability its fair-weather competition could only dream of. And the Evo responds so well to modification that many people wonder where the principle of diminishing returns actually sets in. There's always someone who believes you can't have too much of a good thing. And that someone will almost always find the threshold the rest of us were curious about. This time, we found five someones, who each tried to coax more than 1000bhp from the venerable 4G63 engine.
There was a time when this kind of output was considered miraculous from a Supra Turbo--and that car had two more cylinders, 50 percent more displacement, an extra turbo and half as many driveshafts to break. Regardless of make, though, it's been our experience that any time a car spins dyno rollers to the tune of 1000bhp, it's best driven a couple times a month--with a support team to rival a Paris-Dakar rally effort.
Typically with cars of this caliber, finding the appropriate maniacs who actually build them is pretty easy. With the ever-increasing importance of Internet forum bragging rights, a quick sift through a few popular sites quickly reveals five cars making such bold claims.
In Nevada, a madman by the name of Dan Bajalis came through with an Evo resembling Shamu with a paratrooper's pack strapped to its dorsal fin. From Florida is Eddie Pagan, a man whose passion for pizza drove him to create a rolling yellow billboard with an impeller wheel peering through the grille. Also out of Florida, Anthony Perrea's Evo has a sticker on the back window that says it all: World's Highest HP Evolution VIII. Connecticut's John Malinkowsky runs the only widebody of the bunch. And from Chicago, it's the notorious AMS (Automotorsports) drag car.
While we're almost sure the AMS car would be capable of nailing the magical grand on the rollers; the fate of the other four remains to be seen. The number of people who can make a Mitsubishi four-banger churn out the kind of power we'd expect from a twin-turbo Viper are limited. And that number gets even smaller when you filter out the ones who can pull it off without grenading something.
Miami
It's winter time, and those of us spoiled by Southern California weather aren't willing to travel north to do the testing. With two of the cars already in Florida, we decided to secure a Dynojet in Tampa. After everyone had tickets booked and drive routes plotted, the shop with which we had scheduled dyno time came clean and admitted to not having a Dynojet, or for that matter, a dyno at all.
Hustling beyond hustling, our man in Tampa, Charles Juckett, pulls through and finds a Dynojet in Miami--four hours away. Since Martin Musial from AMS and I were already booked into Tampa, the inconvenience meant that Juckett would have to stuff us in his pick-up and cart us all the way down south.
If it weren't for the guys at Fynetune Performance pulling through at the last minute, we'd be short one cover story and one editor. Because everyone had to truck or drive their cars down to Tampa, then to Miami in the wee hours of the night. John Malinowsky's drive was easily the farthest, taking just over 24 hours from Connecticut. The fact that his widebody Evo was driven to the shoot-out could prove the ultimate testament to its durability.
The Rules
Because this competition isn't designed to test long-term durability, repeatability of numbers is not considered a major factor. You can bet when you see dyno numbers posted on your favorite forum, they aren't an average of the three best runs. Each competitor is allowed plenty of cool-down time--as much as 15 minutes between runs. The goal? 1000 crank horsepower, which in an Evo, is an optimistic 800 wheel-hp on a Dynojet.
First to hit the rollers is the heavily stickered yellow Evo of Eddie Pagan, a man who hasn't slept in two days and appears in a coffee-and-Red Bull-induced haze. With the help of Central Florida Turbo, Eddie spent the previous night building the engine. The brand-spanking new mill drives from completion straight onto the dyno's rollers. There hasn't even been time to re-torque the shiny new head studs.