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| The world's quickest, fastest, craziest, insert adjective here Evo. The development of this car put AMS on the map. |
In 2003 the import world as we know it (in the US) would change forever with the launch of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. With their love of all things 4G (this of course was pre-cell network war) AMS had their hands on an EVO immediately and while the car was new, it was like an old friend to Martin and crew. They immediately began working on the EVO to make silly power and through careful cam selection and turbo kit development they had the Evo running 10 second quarter mile passes at the hands of Tim Salefski. Yet again AMS used its own people to engineer, build, and DRIVE their creation. With their success with the brand new platform AMS found themselves the leader in Evo performance and forged ahead with product development for the next 2 years and would continue to push the Evo to faster ET's down the 1/4 mile. If it was an Evo and it was well known for being fast chances were it had an AMS part on it somewhere.
One might think that after years of success in building fast Evo's and doing well going straight, that a company experiencing success would continue down the 1320', but in 2006 AMS decided to take a turn… left and right turns… They focused their efforts on building an Evo 8 for what is was destined for, circuit racing! With their engineering background and the masterminds at work their first season in this new form of competition went just like everything else had for AMS. Swimmingly! The AMS TA car would hit the One Lap of America and finish 3rd in its first outing.
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| AMS TA1, perhaps the first serious time attack car built in the US. It still kicks ass today in Jamaica in the hands of David Summerbell Jr. |
The car would go on to claim many other victories and in 2007 it would become what most of us know as TA1 with a graphics change and a now famous wing design. While not as radical as perhaps Rado's FWING, the TA1 proved that aero mattered and in the hands of Mark Daddio the TA1 would kick nearly everyone's ass in 2007 to become one of the fastest time attack cars we have seen on this side of the pond. A testament to the people behind the builds at AMS.
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| Speaking of people behind the builds. Ivan Phipps is not only the AMS special projects technician, he also is the pilot of their 9 second 240SX and AlphaOmega GTR. Some say he likes to 4 wheel drift at over 200 MPH. |
By this point I am kinda tired of writing about how nearly everything they tried seemed to work perfectly. I mean we need drama somewhere or it's just one big happy ending and that does not make for good ol' American journalism. The reality is that while AMS was successful in competition, the key to their success was failure. During product development they figured out what worked and what didn't.
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| Development for their Porsche intercooler kit. This one off piece was a mock up to simulate the cast endtanks AMS has engineered. Once this prototype passes inspection by the president (not THAT guy as he is clearly not qualified) it will undergo testing to determine casting viability. |
