Nerd's Eye View: UMS Time Attack Evo
By Wes Dumalski
Like all car stories this one starts as a tale of insanity… The 2003 Mistubishi Lancer Evolution VIII you see before you was one of the first Evos to hit the States and since it landed it has been within the sites of Tony Szirka. While he did not own the car when it arrived, his hands have been on it ever since several Arizona based shops were unable to deliver on the previous owner's requests. Like many cars, despite the fact that the title is held in someone else's name, the car belongs to the person who works on it, slaves over it, and pours their heart and soul in to making it all that it can be, and often (as in this case), that person is NOT the owner.
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| Tony's office away from the office. Read on to see why he is sitting in the back seat… |
While in Tony's hands, this EVO began life as a hot street car turned drag racing machine and in late 2003 the car was making 1/4 mile passes at 11.7 @ 122 MPH. By today's standards that is nothing crazy, but to put it in perspective, this was less than 6 months after the car arrived stateside. Back then Tony was a consulting tuner for many Phoenix based shops which is how he was introduced to this car. Over the next 2 years Tony would work with the car owner through various setups that would come and go through drag racing torture. Roughly a year in to the build the car would wind up making 670 AWHP on a 2.3 stroker motor. Where the story gets interesting is where the car wound up one night as Tony got a call that he did not expect! The less than upstanding car owner, who was in deep with Tony and his shop to the tune of 5 figures, called and indicated that his Evo was repossessed and as such he would not be paying his shop bill because he no longer owned the car.
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| As we begin our tour around the car the first thing we notice is the fiberglass wide body fenders, rear overlays, as well as front and rear bumpers from AIT racing. |
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| Here we see the front aero that is courtesy of Paul Kuzma. The splitter is 10MM Alumalite and extends under the car. This aids in cooling as it creates better stall to get air moving through the custom ducting and V mounted oil cooler and radiator. The roof was also replaced with an OEM base Lancer roof to delete the sunroof. The sheet metal canards help to create vortices on the sides of the front bumper to assist in keeping air moving down the side of the car rather than curling underneath and into the wheel wells. The hood is a carbon unit from AIT racing and is held down with Aerocatch latches. |
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| With the side profile you can get a better perspective of the AIT widebody panels as well as the sideskirts. These pieces were installed with an emphasis on ease of removal for servicing. The car is further lightened with Lexan rear windows and windshield. |
