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Here is Nakajima-san and Tarzan talking about something that looked pretty serious. Nakajima-san will be returning to WTAC 2012 with the Top Fuel S2000 that will be driven by Taniguchi. 750hp, 1000kg, massive aero are the rumors, but being a brand new car it will be interesting to see how it goes. My memory of Top Fuel is a RB26 powered pro stock Z32 300ZX circa 1999 running high 9 second 1/4 mile passes at Palmdale's LACR drag strip. I hope they don't repeat that again…
A Varis carbon seat and Works bell steering wheel hub help Tarzan do his thing.
A KEY!S Racing steering wheel and some Defi gauges and warning lights make up the driver displays. There's also a lap timer on the left, a Greddy boost gauge, and an old school HKS scramble boost button next to the boost gauge. On the left hand side there's an HKS EVC 5 boost controller and an HKS A/F Knock Amp right next to the EVC. The A/F Knock amp is a combination wideband air/fuel ratio and knock determination computer to be used in conjunction with the HKS F-Con and V-Pro ECUs.
Both front and rear doors are fiberglass.
It looks like some of the datalogging duties are handled by a modded Race Technology DL1 datalogger. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that the circuit board on top probably isn't mil-spec, but it probably gets the job done once again.
A Race Technology Video4 video recording system is also used to capture video.
In the electronics department, the CyberEVO definitely falls into the JDM love for sub computers category. On the very left we have the Ultra CDI ignition amp, zip tied together on the bottom row we have the HKS Valcon controller for the variable cam control, the stock ECU, and the HKS F-Con V-Pro ECU. On the top row we have the Defi control unit for the gauges, some kind of control box, and then the HKS A/F Knock Amp amp unit. I'm sure that Takizawa found the stock ECU limiting for a race car and stepped up (just a little) to a F-Con to simplify life and increase consistency.
So as you can see, there's nothing extremely fancy or ultra trick about this car except for maybe the aero. It's almost as if a capable builder could duplicate the car at the build level. As far as getting the package and all the small details correct, that's where Takizawa-san's secret sauce is. He's been building EVOs for a long time now and he definitely knows how to build a fast one. Plus you have to remember that he's a dentist that does this for a hobby!
Depending on who you talk to, you get different weights. I've heard 1000, 1050, and 1100kg, but nobody seems to really know and I'm not sure who to believe either. Regardless the CyberEVO kicks ass whether you think the car is safe or not. It's remarkable how intact the factory Mitsubishi unibody is considering the car's weight.
And that's about it for the CyberEVO. Look out for it at WTAC 2012. It's going to be interesting to see what Takizawa and the new Cyber team has in store. If I know Takizawa, he's coming to win again. Time will tell if he will be able to pull off a threepeat with his new team and partners. One things for sure: I'm going to be trying my hardest to prevent that from happening with the ARK Design BNR32. TEAM AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!!
Be sure to make it to Sydney for the best Time Attack event in the world – August 10-11, 2012!
