One argument that has always been a talking point between car enthusiasts the world over is Form or Function? The crowd who back up the former are ones who believe cars are built to grab attention. Hours upon hours spent researching wheel and tyre sizes to make sure the fitment was spot on. Surfing the internet for weeks on end just so you can find that one piece of carbon that no one else has. Spending in excess of $400 on wheel nuts just because they have that titanium rainbow colour. Where as the latter prefer to spend their money to improve on the cars overall platform, with engine builds and expensive sussy gear, chasing that 10th of a second no matter the cost. The Form guys believe that cars built for function are ugly and gaudy looking with no care taken in the cars appearance. While the Function guys believe that cars built for form are ricers and belong in the Fast and the Furious movies. The thing is, why must we be limited to just on side of the fight? Why can’t we do both?
The Mitsubishi Evo, since its release in 1992 has always punched above its weight in terms of performance and bang for your buck. The 2.0l Turbo 4cyl was a formidable engine and over the years it became better and better. To the point where it was simple to purchase a brand new Evo, add a few bolt ons and you would be relatively unbeatable. But another thing that Evo’s always had going for them, was that they look good from factory. While nothing was lost in the pursuit of the ultimate road going rally car, the fact is that Evos were always very tough looking cars and just like the engine with a few choice bolt ons for the exterior you can have that neck snapping ability, but not lose any functionality. This is why Evo’s the world over have built such a dedicated following of fans.
I have known Finn, the owner of this flawless Scotia white Evo 9 for some time now, while I struggle to remember how exactly I met him, the fact stands he is no newcomer to fast cars. Owning his fair share of them in the past and currently. But listening to him talk about his Evo 9, you can tell it was always his favorite. It isn’t hard to see why either, looking this good and regularly seeing the track, Finn was getting the best of both Form and Function. Finn didn’t want to go crazy with the engine work as he didn’t want to lose all practicality with the car. So he did what any concerning Evo owner would do, and contacted Force Performance ordering one of their famous turbos, the one in question is the FP Green. Once he had the turbo he did the rest of the usual mods such as a Tomei exhaust, Trust titanium cat back, HKS EVC, HKS Oil Cooler, Walbro fuel pump and a myriad of other bolt on goodies that would boost the stock performance with out making it a pig. However Finn caused a lot of jealous Evo owners when he splurged on the ARC catalog ordering some of the finest gear you can from the Abbey Road Company. Picking up things like ARC Ti Sparkplug Cover, Ti Shiny Heat Shield, Ti Radiator Cover, Air Box and Titan Intercooler Intake Pipe. Suffice to say it is one of the best looking Evo engine bays around.
On the exterior Finn went by the tried and true saying of “keep it simple stupid”. Which is sort of the direction he went for the entire car. A lot of people these days get far too carried away with too much aero and bodykits, or wheels that are just far to gaudy and big for the car. All Finn did was improve on the already great looking body style that Mitsubishi built from the factory. Bolting on Rexpeed Carbon side skirt extensions, Carbon front lip and Carbon rear bar additions. Matchinig the Rexpeed additions with some Work Emotion 11R’s in 17×9 +17 all round finished in Matte Black. Giving the car that aggressive but not over done stance is a set of big dollar DMS 50mm Coilovers. The only other noticeable add ons for the exterior was the Trust Ti exhaust and ARC Ti Mitsubishi emblem on the front.
While Evos handle like magic from factory, and would easily be able to cope with the bolt ons Finn had done to the engine. He decided overkill was better than being complacent so he ordered some of the best coilovers money can buy, DMS 50mm items and matched them with of course DMS camber tops. You can always tell how serous someone is about their track work when you spot those shiny DMS camber tops in an engine bay. Giving the evo even more rigidity an ARC ti strut brace, Whiteline roll centre adjuster and a Whiteline rear sway bar. Finishing it off was fitting up some bigger brakes in the form of some Performance Friction 2 Piece dimpled rotors up the front and DBA 4000 slotted rotors down the back. Clamping done on them are some Ferodo 3000 pads in the factory Brembo calipers.
Since the Evo was not Finn’s daily he could go to pretty extreme lengths when it came to weight saving inside the cabin. Stripping back the whole interior and having it resprayed in gun metal grey. He then went about ordering a Bond 6 point roll cage to fit into the back. After that it was on to flocking the dash in true race car fashion as well as ordering a Recaro fixed back bucket seat, a bunch of Defi gauges and a Defi controller. The next few mods were really just for sprucing up the interior, with the purchase of a ton of Okuyama race peddles and foot plates, ARC Titanium gear knob and a Personal Fitti Corsa suede steering wheel attached to a Works Bell boss kit.
As you can see, it isn’t hard to do both Form and Function, with a little research and some hard thinking you can have the best of both worlds and appease any amount of haters. Finn did just that and had a blast thrashing his Evo around Queensland Raceway. However due to peer pressure from friends and a craving for one in his life, he bit the bullet and bought an E92 M3. Meaning that the Evo had to find a new home, however his lucky brother bought it off him as it sits in these shots. In fact this was the last day Finn had the car before his brother was supposed to pick it up. Lucky for Finn the car isn’t totally leaving his life just yet.
