did any one that went to EXPO3 get vids of the EVO VIII on the track? so far all ive seen is pics of it...vids would be good to see how this thing runs..thanx

 

had a power advantage and flew past us.... but it wasnt open wheel racing...so you wont get a good idea...unless the evo8 had an in-cabin video

 

The strangest thing about it was actually the sound, extremely unique compared to all the Rs. It sounded more like a vacuum than an exhaust, hard to describe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ford Prefect &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The strangest thing about it was actually the sound, extremely unique compared to all the Rs. It sounded more like a vacuum than an exhaust, hard to describe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i thought it sounded like a airplane

 

That Evo was mine.

Unfortunately I didn't have a cam aboard. I don't think there was anyone in my run group with a cam either. So unless someone grabbed some footage of my car when my instructer was driving it, or the one time I had it out in one of the other run groups.....it'll go undocumented.

But if you want to talk about how it felt at speed vs my previous ITR, feel free to PM me.

Cheese~

 

I have video of it on a few different parts of the track that will be in my expo video, stay tuned

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cheeseman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That Evo was mine.

Unfortunately I didn't have a cam aboard. I don't think there was anyone in my run group with a cam either. So unless someone grabbed some footage of my car when my instructer was driving it, or the one time I had it out in one of the other run groups.....it'll go undocumented.

But if you want to talk about how it felt at speed vs my previous ITR, feel free to PM me.

Cheese~</TD></TR></TABLE>

congrats on the EVO....just wondering if there is anything out for the car...if so got anything done to it yet?

 

Enquiring minds want to know...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cheeseman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
But if you want to talk about how it felt at speed vs my previous ITR, feel free to PM me.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tommy_Gunns &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Enquiring minds want to know...

</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes we do, feel free to post your thoughts here

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">had a power advantage and flew past us.... but it wasnt open wheel racing...so you wont get a good idea...unless the evo8 had an in-cabin video
</TD></TR></TABLE>

ummm... you're right, it wasn't open wheel racing.

 

I am new to the term open-wheel racing? what is that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR 01 886 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am new to the term open-wheel racing? what is that?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Like F1 and Indy.

 

There are actually lots of things out already. Aftermarket ECU's are netting 35 hp if you run 93 octane fuel. Exhausts are seeing 10hp gains.

Almost every JDM mod part from the Evo 7 will fit the 8. So the Japanese tuners have already done the R&D mostly for our US Evo 8's.

My car is absolutely stock. I'm thinking about doing a few small things to compensate for the boost drop off at the higher rpms.....but that won't be till the fall sometime.

Cheese~

 

I have shyed away from posting up my Evo experiences mostly due to the fact that this is an ITR site. I didn't want to step on toes or anger anyone if I ever approached a "the Evo is better than the Type R" attitude.. I know how I felt about other cars when I had an R. huhu But I'll try to say a few things....and prolly end up writing a small book. I'll spare everyone the magazine sounding stat oriented info....you can get that from Car and Driver. These are just my candid opinions.

The Evo, to me, was the perfect next car. It has all the attributes of a car I would want. Most of the "What makes a good car for Cheeseman" was created from having owned a stock ITR for 3 years. The things I loved best about my Type R was it's turn in and confident handling at speed, the raw feeling of performance, the pep of the 195 hp at the vtec crossover to redline and it's usefulness and practicality as a daily driver.

With the ITR steering was a point and shoot affair. You turned the wheel, and off you went in that general direction. The Evo demonstrates the exact same attributes. But the Evos razor sharp steering input was a step above. The inputs needed to get it to turn are very small. You turn the wheel even one degree and the Evo begins to turn. The lock to lock is very short on the Evo. So short in fact that I never had to remove my hands from the 10-2 position while on track at the Expo. At certain speeds though, the steering feels a little overboosted. I guess they over componsated for the extra effort that would be required to turn a wheel with such a quick steering ratio.

At the limit in tight turns, both the ITR and the Evo transfer to a push condition very slowly. So this should feel like a natural thing to a person who has an Evo, but had a Type R. With both cars, careful throttle and steering modulation brings you back to the proper line if you overcooked it into the turn. The process of doing this (considering my limited experience) seemed like it required a bit more manhandling in the Evo than it did in the ITR....which seemed a bit more graceful in hindsite.

The Evo's suspension is very similar in ethic to that of the ITR. Both cars touted a ride that was uncompromized and stiff in the name of handling performance. But in practice there is a difference. The ITR's suspension felt as if it was absorbing, fairly well, bumps at slower roadgoing speeds. But at higher highway speeds, that same suspension felt a bit more jarring. Perhaps it is set to absorb slower speed stuff, but hold up stiffly against the fast suspension load changes? I don't know. but it seemed to work well....and would make sense to me for a car meant for smoothly paved road adventures. In this area, I think I feel some of the Evo's heritage. It doesn't like to absorb the slow speed stuff. At 35mph and below, it feels like the suspension moves very little. For city driving, the Evo feels much more harsh than my R ever did. But at highway speeds the suspension seems to absorb the quick load changes.....like seams in the road surface and pot holes. I figured that in rally, it's more important to be able to deal with road irregularities at high speeds than at slow ones. But this is just conjecture.

The engines performance was the single most noticeable difference from my R and previous Hondas. I'm used to wanting to run the engine up at the redline for performance. But it is not needed in the Evo. It has it's torque high point at 3500 rpms. A lot like the old US Muscle cars of yore....And thanks (sarcasm) to Mitsu having to tune for 91 octane gas, the boost drops off in the higher RPM range. So the peak performance is not found at or near the redline. I have to consciously remember to shift earlier than my instinct tells me. But the cure for this ailment is a mere ECU chip mod away.

The interior is quite toned down. Similar to the R, the Evo has minimal sound deadening, no cruise control, and very basic HVAC controlling. It doesn't have much of what you don't need to go from A to B as quickly as possible.

If you love the sensation of the crossover at 5600 in your ITR, you can still relate with an Evo. You get that feeling everytime you smash the throttle down and the turbo spools up. That spool up happens very quickly and it's quite a rush.

Similar to the ITR, if you are careful with the throttle and RPM useage, you can still see good mileage numbers. I routinely get 27-28 mpg in my Evo on my daily commute through DC/MD/VA traffic. I got 30 or so with the R. But if you like hearing the turbo, that number can drop to 15mpg very quickly! I got 6 mpg on track at the Expo. ach!

But the Evo had a few things I saw as advantageous over my ITR....personal preference...so don't flame please!

The Evo has 2 more doors....so I can take other out comfortably. I was sick of always having to take the GF's Saturn out when there was more than one passenger.

It has AWD...which gives added confidence on the road, and added ability to get out of corners over the Fwd on track.

It has a lot more hp than the normal compact (not that this is the be all end all in regards to perf). But in stock form, the car is very quick.

It's new and it doesn't have many parts readily swappable to other cars. This makes "peace of mind" something else I got with my Evo that I never had with my R. This could well be a fleeting feeling of security.....only time will tell for sure.



Cheese~

 

Great write up! I have one question though, How does these two great handling cars react to drivers input when on a road course? Confidence level per se. How about fun factor?

 

... nice write up Cheese... I have not tracked My EVO yet, but feel pretty much the same as you thus far... I still have my R though, and plan to drive them back to back at the next autocross I can attend...

 

Great write up - it's nice to get an honest opinion and non-biased perspective once in a while...

 

Here is a video of the EVO 8 running a 12.5 at the track......

http://www.ultimate-racing.com...s.wmv


the thread:

http://forums.evolutionm.net/s...ber=1

 

Great write up!
I was very impressed with how fast you and the Evo were going around the track at the Expo. I was in your run group, and waved you by at least 4 times during the weekend. There was no keeping up with you either, it was wave you by and let you go, hope not to see you for a while.

 

As far as confidence levels on course.... I remember the ITR feeling like it was very easy to drive quickly. The lightness gave me a feeling that the car just squirted through corners. But at the very edge I remember the ITR understeer being slightly more pronounced....but very controllable.

The Evo is slightly different in this regard since it is a good deal heftier than the ITR ever was....by 600 lbs I think. You can feel in the cars suspension transitions that this is a heavier car. Things seem to move a hair more slowly. But that is not to say that the car moved more slowly through the corners. It felt fast. When Ghetto Racer was driving my Evo, I could feel how the car liked sliding ever sooo slightly around the corners. He was employing a little trail brake upon corner entry to get the car into a slow oversteer condition, and was modulating the angle with very small wheel inputs. I used his technique a little bit when he was instructing me. It felt like it was at home on the edge of adhesion....eventhough my corrections were a bit more hamfisted than his were.

It moved very predictibly in my novice-ish opinion. Once the car was pointed in the right direction, you could start getting back onto the throttle. You could get back onto the throttle. I'm not sure it I could get back onto it earlier or later than the ITR since I didn't get a ride in anyones ITR that weekend. I remember having to be very careful not get back onto the gas too quickly while in the turn. The turbo could spool up suddenly and put the car back into the slow oversteer feeling. But it's not too hard to bring the turbo on in a controlled manner.

Overall, I think it is quite confidence inspiring at the limit. But the added speed, and ability to get to that speed quickly kinda scared me in my first runs!

Cheese~

 

great write up!!

Thanks