Mitsubishi Evolution and the Subaru WRX STI have been fierce competitors since both models inception in the early 90’s, each redesign has seen the rivalry continue to blossom. Both cars were originally designed as a platform to compete in some of the toughest condition that the World Rally Championship could throw at it, but little did they know they would create such an allround package which has seen each model show potential in the tarmac world. It is apparent that the owners of each model are very passionate about their prides of joy and will never back down from a fight, so to speak, especially from their arch rival. This mentality is shared by the members of Evolutionoz.net and the WRX Club of NSW who jointly organise an annual Evo VS Sti track day at Eastern Creek International Raceway in Sydney, Australia. This year’s spectacle was held last weekend and I had the pleasure of being there to document all the action.
Once again the event copied the effective format of 35 WRX’s up against 35 Evo’ s and the fastest time from each driver would be used to work out an average lap time for the team. The concept is something you normally don’t see at a circuit and really emphasised the idea of team work rather than individual effort which created a great atmosphere in pit lane which is a vibe not normally seen... [read more]
Cameron Dyal continued on from his solid effort at Super lap to set the fastest time of the day with a 1.40.85 which would put to shame most Porches GT2 Race Cars.
The Tilton interiors Evo 9RS was out backing up after taking out first place at Super lap a few weeks back. Normally this car is piloted by a professional driver, but it was good to see the actual owner behind the wheel for this event and he was still relatively fast. Rumours around pitlane were that this car had no drive train in it last Wednesday so an amazing effort by Insight Motorsport to put it all back together in time for the event.
Martin Notaras also brought out his Evo 9 RS after a strong showing at Super Lap and was all business today setting the second fastest time of the day with a 1:42.2.
Jason Wright, National Supersprint champion was the fastest from the Subaru camp with a time of 1.44.29
Just JDM had their brand spanking new EVO X out with some nice JDM styling, I can’t wait for more people to unlock the potential of the EVO X.
The Subaru camp also had their latest model on display and was pulling some impressive times for a car straight of the factory floor.
The event really fostered a team spirit amongst the models with everyone helping out each other. Everyone in “TEAM WRX” was rocking the stickers on the top windscreen.
Eastern Creek Circuit has a very long straight with a fast sweeping first turn, I overheard some driving saying that they were hitting the anchors around the 250km/h mark before entering turn 1. It’s pretty scary when most of these cars are still street driven.
Not only were the newer models out circulating the circuit but some of the older models were out giving it a red hot go aswell.
One of my favourite shots from the day was of this WRX going over the Start/Finish line.
Although it was a friendly event the lap times were hot topic with a pack of individuals swarming around the time sheets after each session.
Overall Team EVO took out the honours for the 3rd year running with an average lap time of 1.48.42 compared to 1.50.50. All and all a great day at the circuit!
The official lap times from the day can be found here
For additional photos from the Evo vs. STI Track Day, click here
Photo/Editorial: Matthew Mead
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