Driving the Evo VI ½ (6.5) (Part 1 of 3)

Long ago when Mitsubishi was serious about rallying its flagship was the VR4. Competition forces the engineer’s hands and demands improvement of even the best products, if a manufacturer/ factory team intends to remain ahead of their rivals.

Despite being a rally winning machine, Mitsubishi wanted a more nimble-bodied car than the VR4, one that would be faster on the stages, thus guaranteeing their success and securing the demise of the competition. It was out of this desire that the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution was born and it exploded on to the rally stages in 1992.Conceived to survive sweltering heat, a blizzard, the arid, barren conditions of the Australian outback and anything else the World Rally Championship could hurl at it, the Lancer Evolution was designed to conquer even the most extreme natural conditions available on planet earth.

Tommi Makinen Edition

Homologation, homologation, homologation. If you appreciate performance cars, if you admire or own a fast car, you owe a debt of gratitude to homologation. When factory teams go racing, their mega-budget, carbon fiber laden, technology driven beasts, must be taken from a production platform. This when it is translated, means that detuned race cars are produced for John Public.

With Andrew Cowan navigating at Ralliart Europe and the frightening pace of their new driver Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi thrashed the opposition and hurriedly raced to a string of titles, securing four successive drivers titles (1996-2000). Any car maker would be proud of those achievements and to honor Makinen for his accomplishments, a special Evo was produced, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI ½ (6.5), Tommi Makinen Edition – TME. The 6.5 was essentially an Evo VI on steroids, an improvement on what was already an awesome machine.

It is my view that the Evo VI is a styling and engineering masterpiece. It has the meanest, but ‘coolest’ stance of all the Evos. The Evo VI has a menacing stare, a get out of my way attitude, emboldened by the knowledge that it has the horsepower and torque figures to make other cars cringe with fear and vanish behind a veil of shame.

Giant Killer

Despite the frequency with which I see Evos, I am still blown away by its aggressive appearance. This is partially due to the fact that I know what it represents, its racing/rallying history is legendary and it has developed an enviable reputation of being a Giant Killer. Porsches, Ferraris, you name them – a well tuned Evo will have them for an early breakfast, before going to the car wash to be cleaned, waxed and ready again in 40 minutes, for the next unfortunate US $100,000 car, the ones they refer to as supercars.

So there I was at my friend’s house (Renaldo), very early in the morning. It was a Sunday. I was suspended in time, admiring his recently acquired Evo 6 ½, Makinen Edition, Mitsubishi’s tribute to a rally legend. I have been a passenger in several Evos. Mark ‘Spy’ Robinson’s 11 seconds Evo comes to mind and Doug Gore driving the racing line in a stock Evo VII at Dover raceway was memorable (I was a passenger in the car).I have been a passenger several times but, never a driver. That was about to change.

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer