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JRM 400RS WE TEST JRM's NEW TRACKDAY EVO X Official magazine of the Mitsubishi Lancer Register Issue 56 CONCOURS NIGEL SWINDELL'S STUNNING EVO 6 RS CLASH OF THE TITAN, HERE COME THE GIRL(S), JAPFEST REVIEW, CAR CARE TECH, EVO MOTOR- SPORT; MLRSS, MLR TRACKDAY REVIEW, TIME AT- TACK, MML WORLD RALLYING, AAA SALOONS, REGIONAL REPORTS AND MORE...! INSIDE

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Page 1: MLR + Cover Story

JRM400RSWE TEST JRM'sNEW TRACKDAY EVO X

Official magazine of the Mitsubishi Lancer Register Issue 56

CONCOURSNIGEL SWINDELL'S

STUNNING EVO 6 RS

CLASH OF THE TITAN, HERE COME THE GIRL(S),JAPFEST REVIEW, CAR CARE TECH, EVO MOTOR-SPORT; MLRSS, MLR TRACKDAY REVIEW, TIME AT-TACK, MML WORLD RALLYING, AAA SALOONS,REGIONAL REPORTS AND MORE...!

INSIDE

Wastegate C

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fficial magazine of the M

itsubishi Lancer Register Issue 5

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Feature Words by Mrk and Lee5 Images by Rich Sams

JRM400RS

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Mrk - JRM400RSAs we stood in the grandstands overlookingthe infamous Paddock Hill Bend wewatched with awe in our smile as ColinTurkington’s WSR British Touring Car BMWblipped seamlessly and rapidly around thissmall but hugely entertaining Brands HatchIndy circuit. Patience was not on Lee’s ormy mind as Turkington blitzed consistentlyin the 49’s - quicker by some seconds thanany other of the random mix of racecarcircling out there - as we waited withexcitement for the race practice to end andfor the new James Rumsey Motorsport EvoX 400RS to arrive.

JRM which is the now parent companyof the well known Sumo Power partssupplier who bought up all 60 of the ColtCar Companies UK allocation of the Evo XRS some 2 years ago. It has been steadily

selling the cars either in base spec or tunedto suit the National and International rallyscene since and the cars impressive resultsspeak for themselves.

Now James Rumsey has turned hisattention to the trackday arena by offeringthis incarnation of the XRS, which comesbilled as ‘the ultimate trackday car’, so Leeand I are here to see if his statement is true.Read on to explore our separate opinions.

My first impressions as the car arrivesdriven by Rumsey himself into the pits arethat it looks hard as nails with the fittedDAMD aero kit. Along with the white VolkRacing 9”wide x 18” Wheels that househuge AP 6pots front and AP 4pot rearCalipers it shouts trackday weapon, butwith a clean modern look. It also soundsraw and loud through its twin HKS exhaustwith a deep burble that vibrates the air.

A support crew pulls in behindconsisting of Jimmy Skyers the enginebuilder and his technicians Danny andHeinrich, who are all enthused to here aswell. A laptop swings open and is pluggedinto the Motec datalogger for a quickcheck, and then Lee and I are given thekeys. I walk around the car taking in theaspects of the car that are modified byJRM. Most notably is the bespoke bucketSparco/JRM seats nicely finished in a fauxalacantara - which are set a little high, butsince our test this is being remedied withnew custom mounts and a rear cage. Thishalf cage strikes me as a good idea as afull cage is often overkill and even the normof a front cage causes an obstruction toease of use. The race harnesses areattached simply to the cages bar behind thefront seats. This also means that the rear

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Feature Words by Mrk and Lee5 Images by Rich Sams

interior of the car is accessible forpassengers or spare wheels.

Under the hood it would look rathernormal if it wasn’t for the extra wires thatare there for data-logging and analysis ofthis prototype car, and the very nice redintake pipe. A standard airbox is also fittedbut with a Ralliart air filter. The rest of thecar is standard and basic RS fare.

On to the circuit to see how this carbehaves, and thrills. Immediately I am metwith a strong, urgent engine as I leave thepits. Even with a part throttle it’s smoothand feels much faster than the acceleratorsangle would have you believe. I keepaccelerating through the gears where theheavier Carbonetics/Ralliart clutch is of nosignificance and provides clean smoothchanges. Initial steering response is sharp,clean and linear with excellent feel from the

wheel and my seat. Roll is a littlepronounced but well damped and is normalfor the excellent but more road biased Exc-tc suspension. First application of thebrakes makes for a sharp nod of my headforward such is the crisp bite and velocity ofretardation.

Within the first lap I feel secure and veryconfident in the 400RS’s handling so muchso that I press on exploring the outer limitsof the handling quickly. The increase inspeed highlights the midrange urge out ofthe corners as explosive. This wonderfullystrong pull only begins to tail off above5500rpm where the power simply levelsuntil the redline, although the delivery doesfeel a little strained at higher rpm.

There is a degree of understeer at thelimit which can be moderated by a small lift.This was especially apparent after the apex

at Clearways as you drop towards the pitstraight, making the exit speed slower. Therear though is securely planted at all times,even through and over Paddock Hill Bendand the deceptively quick Surtees, whereyou just dab the brakes before entry andthrow the car in and skim the two sets ofkerbs of this chicane either side before hardon the brakes; making back some of thetime lost from Clearways. I believe astiffening of the rear anti-roll bar wouldneutralise the understeer and complete thepackage, such is it’s general rightness now.

What I did have an issue with was thepoor choice of brake pad: DS2500, whichare road pads and not suited to a heavy carlike the Evo on track. Still these were acurio and went off very quickly, but thencame back. You had a strong precise pedaland fantastic retardation braking for

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Paddock - i.e. after the long straight allowedthem to cool - then a long soft stroketurning into a wooden pedal with half thebraking force for Druids; due to two heavyapplications so close together. Confidencedrained away and slowed the laptimesconsiderably, but this can be easily fixedwith a good choice of ‘track’ pad as thebrake setup is excellent.

Another issue that we highlighted wasfuel surge on left handed corners with morethan a third of a tank remaining. A realsurprise to me as I did not realise the EvoXsuffered this, certainly the EvoVII, VIII & IXdid not until fuel was below an 1/8th of atank.

Checking the data-logging later wefound the quickest lap was in the 56’s -quicker by nearly two seconds compared toa Time Attack prepped Subaru that wassharing Brands Hatch with us! So with thecorrect type of brake pad and more timeexploring the brakes I believe that wouldeasily come down by as much as 2secondsmaking this car rather special and rapid.

This JRM400 has the basics to becomethe ultimate trackday weapon, as it standsthough it’s too soft and not singularlyfocused enough, but as a result it is

useable as daily transport or for a blast upthe Alps for instance. This also means it isthe perfect building block for a trackdaynovice or for someone who is moving upthe performance car ladder as there is somuch standard equipment, and a generalrightness about it with superb feedbackfrom the steering and the seat of your pantscoupled with the impressive midrangedrive. Plus it’s ready to be developedfurther with the strong forged engine, theMotec engine management, larger injectorsand uprated clutch all waiting for a largerturbo.

The potential is therefore unlimited, andwith the 400RS JRM not only can youpersonally tailor the car when ordering butyou have the vast parts bin from Sumo todelve into. And all with a 15% discount foras long as you own the car. On top of thisthe enthusiasm from Rumsey and Skyersspeaks volumes about their passion anddedication to delivering you a brilliant carsuited to your needs.

Lee5 – JRM 400RSIt was just a normal Thursday for me - upearly for work but today was going to be agood day as after many phone calls and

date changes I was going to get to drivethe new JRM EVO X 400RS developmentcar, the location Brands Hatch in Kent.

After meeting up with Mark (Mrk) at thetrack we both stood there waiting for the Xto arrive. Time was not on our side as weonly had a few hours to test the car and getas much data as we could and with both ofus driving we knew track time would betight.

After what seemed a very long wait, theJRM EVO X came in to sight and pulled into the garage, casting my over the 400, thedetail of the work on the car is what youwould expect from JRM; stunning!!!

As the JRM mechanics got to workgetting the 400RS ready I thought I’d takethe opportunity to have a look round it. Thefirst thing you notice is the DAMD frontbumper then the DAMD aero kit, which suitsthe 400 very well, as do the white 19” VOLKalloys running Pirelli road tyres which werehiding the AP 6 pot kit up front, 4 pots onthe rear, Exe-TC road/race coilovers and tofinish it off the HKS twin pipe system. Underthe bonnet is very much as you wouldexpect - clean, tidy and with a verystandard looking engine with a just fewminor pipe work changes and a load of

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sensors for the Motec. On the inside there are some very nice

changes with JRM branded Sparco seatsfitted with harnesses giving the driver andpassenger a much more support andfeeling of safety, although the seatingposition was a tad high for me, but withtime ticking away we didn’t get a chance tolower it, so it would have to do for now!There’s also a rear cage but speciallydesigned so you’re still able to use the rearseats.

After a chat with Jimmy who has donemost of the work on the 400, he told us thecar was set very neutral but alter this afterwe did a few laps if it was not to our liking -now we could get some track time!

I was first to drive with Mark ridingshotgun, as we travelled up the pit lane Idon’t know if I was more excited withdriving the 400 or more nervous because

Mark was sat next to me, but I was asked todo 3 laps just to make sure the car wasrunning fine so I did some fast paced lapbut how would I find the 400??

My first impression out of the pitlane wasWHOAA!! - the mid range part throttle wasso sharp with no lag from the turbo and thecar was ready to pounce with just thelightest of input from my right foot. After myfirst lap I was just getting used to the carwith the way it drove and handled, into mysecond lap and time to push a bit harderand the first thing I noticed with the 400 isthe ride, turn in and sheer grip levels werejust amazing for such a big car. It is verywell balanced in the corners with not tomuch body roll, feed back was very good ifanything the car was very easy to drive andplanted on the track, the engine was veryresponsive out of the slow corners with themidrange punch coming in very fast and

strong. Although top end power was a bitflat, all you needed to do is just chuckanother gear at it and use the nice torquespread, but with 410 bhp at 1.6 bar there isstill more scope for power with the 400RS!

Now we get to the brakes; APs all roundwith DS 2500 pads. The first timeapplication was great but then they wentvery wooden which was very odd for the setup as big brakes is a must for serious trackuse , after my third lap which was a cooldown lap, we returned to the pits for JRM tolook at the data and they awaited ourcomments on the car.

With a few tweaks from James workinghis magic on the laptop to try and get us abit more power at the top end Mark was upnext for some flying laps and boy can hedrive, putting in some very fast laps but Iwill let him tell you about that!

With Mark’s laps over the 400RS

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returned to the pits for another tweak of thesettings this time due to some understeer inClark Curve. The front was softened up bya few clicks to try and dial it out, the mapwas tweaked once again as was the tyrepressures, now it was my turn once more toget in and do some hot laps.

On to my first flying lap and some veryhard braking into Paddock Hill bend the400 was very unsettled due to the front besoftened up but once off the brakes the carturned in very well and settled down whichmeant I could take Paddock flat in fourthgear on the run up to Druids, again thebrakes went hard meaning I had to brakeearly, but still allowed me to take Druids inthird with great turn in, then with a quicksprint down just pulling forth gear beforeGraham Hill bend which was again taken in

third, pulling fourth along the CooperStraight and in to McLaren – my favouritecorner at Brands. A little touch on thebrakes turn in hard and flat in fourth, all Ican say is that the 400’s turn in and grip isout of this world, for me if anything it’s toogood!!!! Then on to Clearways and ClarkCurve - this is where we had a bit ofundersteer and it was still there but not asmuch now, but the 400 would just not breakaway which would have helped a bit to getthe nose in earlier, then on to the BrabhamStraight and across the line in fifth with anindicated 120mph pass, so on to my nextflying lap which didn’t go sowell……………………………….

When coming out of Graham Hill Bendthe 400 picked up a misfire at around 6k,so with instructions to come in to the pits if

anything went wrong, it was time to come into look at the data to see if we could findthe cause of the problem. On looking,nothing could be seen in the data and aftera chat with the Jimmy and James we put itdown to fuel surge in the tank, which was ashame as I was lapping in the high 57s,being only a second off Mark’s times roundBrands, which I didn’t think was to bad forme being that I have been away fromtrackdays and sprints for a year now! Younever know I could have gone faster, whichjust goes to show how well the 400 is setup and easy to drive, so on to myconclusion of the JRM’s EVO X 400RS.

Looks mean, clean and not too “in yourface”. Engine has incredible part throttle,mid range punch and nice torque. Brakesgreat first touch bit lacking later on.

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Suspension / set up is out of this worldand maybe even too good! The interiorhas had some thoughtful additions to aidthe driving experience – and safety.

Which just leave the biggest question ofall; would I own one? The answer is yes Iwould, but could I afford one?? Sadly no!

As for the Issues we had, it’s sincebeen confirmed by JRM that it was fuelsurge and a bedding in problem with thebrakes, so to rectify these problems theyhave repositioned the pump location in thehousing and will be moving over to thenew Cosworth range of pad compoundsshortly to rectify the braking problem. Thiswas also one of our main goals with thedevelopment car to help JRM moveforward to give the best all round packagefor there future customers to give the besttrackday sprint car money can buy.

All in all the JRM EVO X 400RS is agreat car with a build quality that is secondto none also adding some very nicelythought out additions. Would it make agood trackday/sprint car?? Hell yeah, andboy does it handle or have I already saidthat???

I would just like to say thanks to JRMand Darin for making it happen as its noteveryday you get asked to test a £45ktrack focussed Evo!

Engine • ECU: Motec M800 • JRM camshafts• Cosworth intercooler & JRM pipe kit• JRM Conrods• Cosworth pistons• ARP studs• Ralliart air filter• HKS twin-pipe exhaust system with sports cat• JRM injectors• High-flow ‘in-tank fuel pump

Transmission• Mitsubishi short ratio, 5spd, 4WD with ACD• Motec MDC with programmable differential control• Carbonetics clutch and Ralliart pressure plate

Suspension• Exe-TC road/race to JRM specification• JRM geometry set-up

Brakes• Front: Cosworth AP Racing 6-pot callipers with

356mm discs• Rear: AP Racing 4-pot calipers and discs

General• JRM rear safety roll cage• DAMD Aero kit• Volk Racing 9”x18” alloy wheels• JRM/Sparco reclining front seats• Complete re-trim in Alcantara • Cd player with ipod adapter

Performance• Power: 425bhp @ 7000 rpm• Torque: 425lbft @ 4400 rpm

Price• 45k OTR (dependent on spec)

CAR SPECIFICATION – JRM400RS

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