- We're here in LA at Evasive Motorsport.
And one of my favourite cars
at the moment is the Toyota 86,
in the US market it's the Scion FRS, or Subaru BRZ.
And Evasive Motorsport here in LA
were one of the first tuning shops anywhere
to really embrace that platform and develop it.
And the Evasive Motorsport car behind us
has been kind of a giant killer
in both Global Time Attack as well as at Pikes Peak.
So we thought we'd take the opportunity to chat with Mike
about the development process for this car.
So Mike first of all you, as I've mentioned,
were one of the first in the US,
or probably anywhere in the world
to really embrace that FRS platform.
When you've got a model that currently
has limited after market support what was
your sort of strategy for developing the platform
and turning it into a competitive Time Attack car?
- Well the strategy for us has always been
develop the car as far as overall balance.
So we did most of the work in-house
as far as fabricating the aerodynamics,
as far as, you know, most of the roll cage,
everything is done in-house.
A lot of it, when the car first came out,
there was no after market support,
so we basically had to make everything ourselves.
So it is a kind of a, a process that takes time too,
so two years after we've probably gone
through many changes and stuff like that.
Overall the car has been well developed
throughout the years.
- And when you're talking about balance
there's still, even in its current generation,
it's probably not one of the most powerful cars
out there competing, and we'll talk about that,
that engine in a little bit more detail.
Most people we've seen around the world,
I won't say most people,
a lot of people developing this platform,
have gone with some known technology,
maybe an EJ25 swap,
or the Toyota 2JZ is another popular one.
What made you decide to stick to the FA20
when there really was no development
on that engine at the time?
- Well, I mean, for us here at Evasive
our business model has always been
to connect with our customers.
And I feel like, you know, by keeping the original engine
and developing it, and showing what,
showing what the average consumer can actually achieve
with their factory equipped engine,
is something that's really important to us.
And we could have gone the easy way out
and swapped a powerful engine or something like that
but the average guy is never gonna do that.
But, you know, a guy who sees our car could be like,
"Hey, you know what, I could supercharge my car
"and get, you know, almost the same results."
And that's something we really want,
to keep in touch with our customers as far as
letting them know that, what it comes stock has potential
but it just takes some work and patience with it.
- In terms of the modifications you've made to the engine.
I've followed the build on the FT86 forums
over the time you've been developing the car.
You're running the HKS Supercharger Kit,
can you give us some insight into
why you went with the supercharger?
I mean generally it's probably accepted
turbochargers are a better option for high end power.
- Uh-hmm
Well I mean HKS has been with us since day one
with this car as far as development goes,
and I feel like supercharging has emerged
as one of the, one of the preferred options these days.
It goes back to what the general consumers
are gonna be going after as far as reliability,
just everyday usable power, low maintenance.
That's what a supercharger can really provide.
One of the main things is that the supercharger
does not provide massive amount of power
you would get from a turbocharger.
But we feel like that's something,
that for everyday user of a car they probably
are looking for more of a usable power,
the linear response, and the mid range torque
and stuff like that.
- And when you're talking about that linear power as well
this is a centrifugal supercharger,
which you could kind of liken to almost a belt driven,
a belt driven turbocharger.
Now the advantage with that is your boost curve
is quite linear with relationship to RPMs,
so basically the further you rev the engine
the more boost you get.
So you're not gonna get that real big rush
of torque down low, that'd be fair?
- No, definitely not, I mean the car,
how I'd describe it is it feels like
a really powerful NA engine.
And, you know, some people prefer it,
some people prefer that rush
that the turbocharger gives you.
But
for us we actually,
we do a lot of HPDE track events on weekends,
and a lot of times when you're doing a technical course,
coming out of corners and stuff like that,
you kind of want that NA, zero lag, feel.
Which is kinda power out through the corners
and let the car's momentum take you through the track.
So that's something we kinda like ourselves.
- In terms of the kit is this still very much
a production based kit that anyone could buy
from HKS or from Evasive at the moment?
- It's actually, ours has been modified.
We actually use larger piping, and a larger intercoooler
because we're actually running race gas
and we're actually pushing the kit to the extreme.
But the charger itself, everything,
is same as the off the shelf unit.
So if anybody wants to actually get the kit
they can actually get it.
But if you wanna make, you know,
right now we make about 430 horsepower.
To get it to that point you do have to modify the kit
but all in all all of the components
are pretty much off the shelf.
- Now that 430 horsepower can you tell us
what boost you're using to make that?
- It's boosting about 24psi, yeah.
- Now in terms of engine reliability,
what you've done to the engine to support that,
what's in there?
- The engine is running a HKS Stroker Kit.
It's a 2.1 litre stroker kit,
HKS original,
crank, rods, pistons, head gasket,
and it also has HKS camshafts.
So everything has been reinforced.
And one of the weakest component on the FA20
is the connecting rods so with that beefed up
the engine could take quite a bit of boost.
- With that stroker kit 2.1, you're only
talking about 100cc's of capacity gain,
what sort of improvements in mid range torque
and performance did you see from going to that stroker kit?
- It definitely improved the overall
feel and response of the engine.
I think it's a very minor difference
as far as displacement goes but you are
using lighter, lighter engine components too.
So everything all in all it does help
with the response of the engine.
- Okay let's talk about the rest of the package on the car.
So again the gearbox in these cars
is probably not designed around 430 horsepower
so what have you done there to keep that reliable?
- We're using a Hewland five speed dog box.
Originally the unit is designed for Corvettes
so we know it can take whatever power we can throw at it.
So got a custom bell housing made,
mated up with the Hewland.
And then a drive shaft shop, carbon drive shaft.
So far it hasn't given us any issues
and we like the fact that we can change gear ratio
on the fly to accommodate whatever track we go to.
- Rear differential, is that still the factory unit?
- Still the factory unit, we just have a larger cover,
and then we also have dif cooler,
and we also have one halfway Cusco LSD.
- Now obviously the aero package on the car,
we've already mentioned it briefly is quite dramatic,
and that's in terms of getting that balance
between the power and the down force.
And this is really what's letting you
foot it with cars that produce a lot more power
both in Global Time Attack and at Pikes Peak.
So with the results you've got so far
can you tell us how you've performed
at Global Time Attack and Pikes Peak?
- Well at Pikes Peak, the first time we went
was two years ago, and we actually, surprisingly
we went under 11 minutes.
And that's not bad for a car that's never been
really taken up in the mountain
or it's the first time pretty much out.
From there we developed the aero more and chassis,
everything except for the power.
We actually returned the next year
with the same amount of power
yet we shaved off about 22 seconds from our previous time.
So that goes to show you that changes
besides power actually do make a difference.
And as far as Global Time Attack goes
this previous Super Lap Battle at Global Time Attack
we placed second in our class
which is limited rear wheel drive.
We set the fastest time ever recorded
at Buttonwillow by a FRS.
The time was a 1:47
and just to give you an idea
there are Evo's, there are cars out there
that are running 5, 600 horsepower
running roughly about the same time.
So
what I like to say is basically
the time comes from the balance of the car:
the chassis, the handling, and the aerodynamics.
We were able to go in corners and not
brake as much as other people.
We were able to carry the speed and the momentum
throughout the track, so our average speed
is much higher than a car that even though
they have 200 more horsepower they will
have to slow down a lot more on cornering and so.
I think overall the car did really
well for a car that's under-power.
- We do see that all the time as well
where people get so caught up in that race for power,
they've got an ill handling car,
and instead of fixing the handling problems,
or getting that balance which you've
focused obviously so much on,
they go and throw another two or 300 horsepower at it.
And unsurprisingly that car that didn't handle too well
with less power just gets a whole bunch
worse when you increase it.
Now what have you actually done
to validate your aero package?
You've said you've gone through iterations,
you've said you've made some changes
between Pikes Peak last year and this year,
so how do you validate that?
I mean I don't see a wind tunnel here,
I'm guessing you're not going and doing some F1 testing,
what do you do?
- A lot of it is, you know, a lot of it
is based on a good driver.
We have a really good driver that provide us
with a lot of valuable feedback.
And I think these days it's hard to find somebody
who can tell you, "Hey I think the car needs
"a little bit more front down force,
"or the rear seems a bit loose."
Based on that we are able
to make minor changes to the vehicle.
And obviously aero's, aero's mostly a theory,
so a lot of times we are trying stuff out
that's never been done before.
And the best benchmark is lap time
and we have, we have data loggers in the car
that are running constantly when the car's on track
so we are able to tell entry speed, cornering speed.
And from that you could get a pretty good idea
of what's working and what's not.
And then every change you make, believe it or not,
it makes a big difference on track.
So throughout the years we've gathered enough data
to actually make the correct changes.
And I think right now we have a pretty good aero package
that will allow more power if we add to it.
- Look thanks for talking to us about the car today Mike,
as I said it's a car that I've followed
since you started developing it.
And I think for all of those FRS guys
out there around the world
it's kind of some inspiration, a giant killer if you will.
And just goes to show what can be achieved
with a focus on balance
and not necessarily outright power.
Now the car's headed, the end of this week,
over to Japan, so we wish you all the best over there.
And again thanks for chatting to us.
- Thank you very much.
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