Sanctifier
Zorce Moderator
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1794
Location: Good question!
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 Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 10:51 am Post subject: Beauty & The Beast - Mitsu MadMen style! |
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Beauty & The Beast -  MadMen style.
The Bozz Speed Lancer Evolution VI RS -
A two-part review covering a 16-month development period.
The Beast:
Part I - The self-destructive 600 hp Bozz Speed Evolution VI RS at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.
Link--> Bozz Speed Lancer EVO VI. ... Sorry no pix, someone "borrowed" the magazine. 
Beauty:
Part II (with pix this time) -
Bozz Speed's final 450 hp version of maybe the best handling Evo VI ever built.
Link--> The Wizard of Bozz.... Enjoy  
   
   
| Sport Compact Car wrote: | The Wizard of Bozz: Beauty and the Beast.
I've only driven two laps and already this car is like an extension of my body. No, my body could never be this good, it's more like an extension of my imagination. No, not even that. I probably couldn't have dreamed this one up if I tried.
I'm on a small side track at Japan's famed Tsukuba circuit. The track is short and tight, just over a mile per lap, and it's crowded with Mitsubishi Lancers. It's an open track day for customers of Bozz Performance, and every version from the original Lancer Evolution to the brand-new EVO VII is here. This should be a fast batch of cars, but from the driver's seat of this beast, it might as well be a meeting of the Chevette club.
Sliding out of Turn Eight onto the front straight, I spot a purple EVO VII already halfway down the straight and still accelerating. He's mine. I mash my foot to the floor. The car erupts, and emits a terrifying, evil sound from the exhaust, like Satan himself just ripped one in the back seat.
Third gear. I just passed an EVO III. The acceleration is ridiculous, there's hardly enough time to get your hand back on the steering wheel before you have to shift again. Fourth gear. I'm at the EVO VII's rear bumper and going way too fast not to pass him now. I dive inside and brake hard for Turn One, a 90-degree right. I notice a well-worn black path from exactly where I'm braking, straight off through the grass and into a bare dirt patch on the berm. This would be a bad time for understeer.
Thankfully, the car has wicked turn-in. The nose points around the corner. The tail doesn't follow. I slide, arse first, across the EVO VII's nose. He probably doesn't appreciate it. Mashing the throttle, there's nothing. I was so pre-occupied with slowing that I forgot to downshift. Still sliding, I fumble around with my left hand until I find second gear. There, boost! All four tires start spinning. All four 255/40ZR17 Bridgestone RE540 road racing tires. That's a lot of rubber. Actually, now that's a lot of smoke.
Even with spinning tires, there's bungee jump acceleration. The car straightens, turning my fumble into a heroic pass. There's another 90-degree right, so close, the two turns blend into one. I grab third, mid corner, and the car starts to understeer. I jump off the throttle and back on, making the tail step out. The tires start spinning again. In third gear.
Let me reiterate, just in case you didn't get that. The tires are spinning. The car is in third gear. All-wheel drive. That's four tires spinning. Just wanted to be perfectly clear on that point.
The tire-spinning slide continues all the way down the short back straight. At the braking point for turn four, a tight 180-degree right, the car is still arcing to the right; the steering wheel still turned left. I slide onto the rear bumper of an EVO VI. He drives off the track to get out of the way. Still sliding, top of third gear, I ease onto the brakes and the slide tightens. This is amazing. I haven't had traction for half a lap, I'm sitting on the wrong side of somebody else's car and I just managed to string three corners into one, beautiful slide. What a car.
Giddy with red-misted confidence, I grab second gear to power out of the slide and... no boost. I hesitated half a second too long, and slowed too much. Doesn't matter, there's traffic anyway. I crawl around the next corner, holding up the tail of a four-car EVO conga line.
Apexing late, it's hammer down the capacitor kicks in, and all three Lancers are gone at once. Looking in the mirror, I half expect to see two flaming tire tracks, and maybe Christopher Lloyd's dog, Einstein. Instead it's just a swarm of EVOs flittering around in my wake like so many autumn leaves.
Oh, left turn! Gotta look where I'm going.
Back on the brakes, the tail is wandering away again. I'm sliding left, the track's about to go right. There's a wall on the outside of the turn. My heart jumps and grabs hold of my trachea as I remember my freshman physics class. Then I remember rally school. A little picture of Tim O'Neil floats above the car, playing the air steering wheel and talking in his soothing New England accent. "Release the brake, stab the gas, release the gas, countersteer, downshift, back on the gas."
The car snaps around, the tires ignite again, the shutter clicks, we get the cover shot, and here's another 90 right. Brakes. Gas. Both at the same time. Whatever. Another whirling trail of tire smoke follows the car onto the front straight. The left rear tire just touches dirt exiting the corner. The guy in the flag stand is cheering. I need a cold shower.
You've seen this car before. Sixteen months ago, we drove this very Lancer on our home turf at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. At the time, Bozz Speed president Yasayuki Hisada claimed it was making 600 hp, and after a few minutes behind the wheel, we actually believed him. It was explosive, frightening, awe inspiring, self-destructive, and utterly stupid. Turbo lag was huge, power-on boost was JATO-rocket strong, and you had to stop every two laps because the transmission would start smoking. The car was utterly pointless.
We loved it.
Just as we're finally recovering from the first one, we get an invitation to sit on a plane for 23 hours for the chance at a few more minutes behind the wheel. We're hesitant. But then they tell us the most important part. "It only makes 450 hp now."
We're intrigued. "And it's 300 lbs lighter"... We're on the plane.
The 150 hp loss of power could mean only two things: Either it was running on three cylinders, or Hisada had realized a more tractable powerband and better driveability would make the car faster on a road course. The 300 lbs suggested it was the latter.
Indeed, the enormous HKS GT3240 turbo had been replaced with a smaller, more responsive GT3037S. The 3037 is an incredible turbo for a 2.0-liter, offering surprisingly little lag and enormous power potential. The most powerful street-driven SR20s we've seen have used this turbo. Fed by a gorgeous stainless-steel Bozz manifold, the turbo makes 1.8 bar (26 psi), though it is pushed to 2.0 bar (29 psi) on occasion.
With the exception of Bozz 8.9:1 forged pistons and HKS 272 cams, the engine is basically stock. "We wanted this car to be easy to replicate for our customers," explains Hisada, "so we use as many stock parts as possible." Then, with a smile: "Maybe that's why my shop is so poor."
Tuned carefully with an HKS F-Con Pro stand-alone ECU, and fed with massive 800 cc/min injectors, Bozz's Lancer runs on normal 98-octane Japanese pump gas. (Thanks to a different octane scale, that's roughly equivalent to 94 or 95 octane here.) In a strange way, the engine that once seemed determined to destroy this car is now the most streetable part.
If this car behaved as it did at Buttonwillow, my story would have ended with passing the purple EVO VII, shooting off the track and burying the car in the dirt wall. As impressive as the engine is now, it's the brilliantly sorted handling that makes it worth the trip.
The transformation started with a diet.
First the interior disappeared. Sitting in a carbon-fiber shell seat, you can look into the dash vents and see the firewall. The ventilation system, heater, and 10 lbs of unnecessary wires have been removed. A 10-lb Bozz titanium exhaust shaves 34 lbs compared to the stock system. The Bozz dry carbon hood eschews even the weight of clearcoat. Even the trunk hinges are gone. When the diet was over, the car hit the scales at 2,601 lbs.
Getting the car to handle this well took more than less weight and big tires. Adjustable everything was actually painstakingly adjusted. Hisada gathered a group of drivers, a shop full of technicians and took them to the track for a day of sorting. The drivers, Satoshi "Gorilla" Saito, Kasuhiro "Professor" Koisumi, Horoshi Hashizawa, and Yuichi Moriyoshi were chosen for the varied driving styles, from gymkhana specialists (Japanese gymkhanas are similar to our autocrosses, but with tighter courses that reward all-wheel-drive power slides) to magazine test drivers. The hope was their varied input would result in a well-rounded car.
Time after time, the drivers would take a few laps, make suggestions, and then stand back while the adjustments were made. Some, like damping changes, were simple. Others, like the pre-load of the Cusco front and rear differentials, required extensive teardowns.
No detail was overlooked. At the suggestion of Rays Engineering, the wheel sizes were even staggered, with a wider, 9.5-inch wheel in the front, and a narrower 8.5-inch wheel in the back, both wearing the same 255-width rubber. The theory here was the front tire's carcass would be more square, offering high grip and exceptional turn-in. The rear tire, rounded from squeezing onto the narrower wheel, would break away more progressively.
It worked. Combined with a very tight rear limited slip, a very loose front one, a massive 26mm rear anti-roll bar, the strangely distorted tires offer the grip you expect from a track car, with the progressive breakaway and easy slide control of a gravel car. To a rally-driving power junkie like me, this car is perfect... quite simply the most entertaining car I've ever driven. |
| Sport Compact Car wrote: | Bozz Performance EVO VI
ENGINE
Engine Code:.................. 4G63
Type :............................ Inline four, cast-iron block, aluminum head
Internal Modifications:..... Bozz Forged Pistons (8.9:1 compression), HKS 272/272 cams, AEM cam gears
External Modifications:..... Bozz stainless-steel exhaust manifold, HKS GT3037S turbo, HKS external wastegate with divorcedwastegate exhaust, Bozz titanium exhaust, Bozz intercooler (HKS GT core), HKS Super Sequential blow-off valve, HKS Super Power Flow air filter, Bozz solid engine mounts, AEM under-drive pulleys
Engine Management Mods: HKS F-Con V-pro stand-alone engine management, Bosch Fuel Pump, 800 cc/min injectors
DRIVETRAIN
Layout :.......................... Transverse front engine, all-wheel drive
Drivetrain modifications:... Mitsubishi high-close gearbox with stock center diff, Cusco twin-disc clutch, Cusco adjustable limited-slip differentials front and rear (adjusted very tight in rear, loose in front)
CHASSIS
Chassis Code :................. CP9A
Chassis Modifications :...... Stripped interior, six-point bolt-in chrome-moly Cusco roll cage
SUSPENSION
Front:............................. Cusco 02R street spec inverted strut coil-overs, Cusco rally-spec camber plates, Bozz control arm bushings
Rear:............................. Cusco 02R coil-overs, RalliArt prototype 26mm anti-roll bar (stock is 22mm)
BRAKES
Front:............................. Stock Brembo four-piston calipers with Winmax Quest Core-H pads
Rear:............................. Stock Brembo two-piston calipers with Winmax Quest Core-H pads
EXTERNAL
Wheels:.......................... Volk Racing SE37K 17x9.5-in. front, 17x8.5in. rear
Tires:............................. 255/40ZR17 Bridgestone Potenza RE540 GZ (Gymkhana Spec) front and rear.
Exterior:........................ Bozz Speed carbon hood, M-Technik front bumper, Cusco rear wing. |
IMHO it doesn't get any better than that!
_________________
Walk softly... and carry a BIG stick! 
Last edited by Sanctifier on Wed May 13, 2009 4:49 am; edited 4 times in total |
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