Time attack racing is quickly becoming more and more popular, but it’s always nice to look back on the oldest heroes in the scene. So, we have the HKS CT230R EVO, a Mitsubishi-based time attack machine, backed by one of the largest Japanese tuners – HKS. The Evo was a force to be reckoned with before its retirement in 2007. In its racing days, the car was under the control of the driver Nobureru Taniguchi (NOB aka No One Better), smashing out an extremely impressive 53.5 at Tsukuba in 2006. This is a record that is yet to be beaten by a road car-based time attack chassis. It also did a 1:43.5 at Button Willow in 2007 in the USA. A few months ago GT Auto Garage gave me the opportunity to shoot the car in their garage and – to say the least – the car was a slight challenge with its reflective panels.
At first glance, this Evo may not have as much of an aggressive appearance as the Cyber and Sierra Sierra Evos – but when you look closer, it shines through. The guards have been specially moulded from dry carbon and are extremely wide and light weight, which is perfect to fit those 18×10 Advan RGII wheels! It would look right at home next to a Super GT car.
The absolutely massive wing looks to be a custom piece which is mounted solidly to the chassis in the boot area of the car.
Although it is a race car, the Evo still retains a full dash, albeit a full dry carbon piece. If you look closely you’ll see just how small the rollcage bars are as well: weight minimizing at the cost of safety.
Helping cut down the laptimes is a HKS MS sequential gearbox, which drives the power through to the huge 265/35/18 A050 tyres. Unfortunately for HKS, the 295 variant of the a050 were not available during the period that the EVO was racing.
Looking at the car’s aero, it’s hard to believe that it still hasn’t been beaten by the Cyber Evo, Panspeed RX7 or the Revolution RX7. Despite its lack of out there canards or overly huge splitters, it still seems to hold on the title.
Then we go onto the engine bay: the car is hosting a 2.3L stroker kit with a GT3240 turbo kit, HKS 272 cams and a HKS 1.2mm head gasket. You may also notice the carbon fibre intake manifold – yet another weight saver! Unlike most cars participating in time attack, this Evo only makes 550hp which isn’t tiny power but really doesn’t shine bright in a field full of extreme powered machines.
The car pulls to a halt impressively fast, due to the addition of some massive 6pot Endless brakes.
It really is a shame that the Evo is in retirement now, but I guess that’s how HKS runs their racing programs. Not to worry though, as they have got involvement in a very special GTR that is built by GT AUTO: see Matyas’ feature on the GTR HERE
Thanks again to GT Auto Garage for letting me shoot the car, if you want any modifications done to your japanese or european car please contact them if you’re after high quality work!!
Hope you enjoyed the photos guys, they were a pain!
Until next time, Foy.