His car has been tuned little by little over the past 7 years

Cars from various genres participated in a driving event held by TRIAL, a long-established tuning store in Osaka, at Okayama International Circuit in the spring of 2024. Among them, we found a young owner driving a Mitsubishi “Lancer Evolution IX MR,” which is currently the most expensive of all previous-generation Lancer Evo models. We immediately asked him about it.

The final model with a 4G63 engine

The Mitsubishi “Lancer Evolution,” or Lancer Evo, from the “I” to the “IX” models are equipped with a 4G63 engine and 4WD system, and only the final generation “X” model is equipped with a 4B11 engine. Both are 2L inline 4-cylinder turbo engines.

Mr. “Ryo-chan”‘s car is the “Lancer Evolution IX MR” (so-called “Lancer Evolution 9.5″), which was sold for only about a year from August 2006. Lancer Evolution IX MR”, the so-called “Lancer Evo 9.5”, was only sold for about a year from August 2006.

The Lancer Evo’s specialty is to combine a high-power engine with the latest 4WD system. In particular, the late IX, the last of the CT9A series from VII to IX, is called the “9.5” and is equipped with MIVEC, a variable valve timing system, and is still considered by many to be the best in the series. Current used car prices are the highest in the series.

“I hope to continue to drive it for a long time as I evolve it further”

It has been seven years since he purchased the Lancer Evo 9.5. Mr. “Ryo-chan” has been steadily building up the car from the fully stock condition at the time of purchase. The engine was left stock, but the ECU was sent to Unlimited Works in Yokohama for a stock ECU rewrite tune. Everything from the turbine outlet to the muffler was made by Unlimited Works. This is an area of expertise for Unlimited Works, who had done maintenance work on the “Cyber Evo”.

The suspension is equipped with dampers from ZEAL, the suspension division of Endless, known for running Lancer Evo in Super Taikyu and other events, and the LSD is a Cusco RS on the front.

The tires are a pair of ADVAN A050 235/45R17 tires; 235 width is a narrower tire width for circuit driving, but they plan to over-fend the car and install 295 width tires in the future. Further plans include the use of VOLTEX aero fenders with a mounting system known as an “unlimi-mount,” which fastens the lower edge of the fender to the front edge of the side step.

The tuning of Mr. “Ryo-chan’s” Lancer Evo 9.5 is progressing gradually, and his goal is to keep his favorite body color beautiful and continue to drive it for a long time to come. We are looking forward to seeing how much his time will improve with the new 295 tires.