Meet Minion, the 781kw nine-second street car

Words: Rene Vermeer Photos: Richard Opie

The Mitsubishi Evolution is the pinnacle for many automotive enthusiasts. For Rizwan, this rang true — now even more so since it’s packing over 780kW at the wheels; a true nine-second bright yellow monster. Technology: the advancements allowing us to obtain the previously unobtainable. Imagine telling the dreadlocked, chrome-dripping performance car enthusiasts of the early 2000s that in the distant future we’d be street driving road-legal, stock-looking, nine-second Mitsubishi Evos — you’d have been clipped around the ears for speaking such dribble. Yet here we are — technology, you beautiful thing. Gone are the days of spliced airflow meters with air–fuel controllers, octane boosters, and manual-bleed valves on spiced-up factory turbochargers. We are in a new era now, with previously high-end race car tech now in the affordable realm, and the result is what you see before you here: Rizwan’s 780kW street-legal drive-to the-shops nine-second weapon

“I don’t have much history with cars,” Rizwan tells us. “I never had any cars during my teenage years, as we couldn’t afford one. I did have a couple of Hondas when I came to New Zealand though. That’s how I came about this Evo; I swapped it for my last Honda, an S2000, in 2014.” Back then, the value of both those cars was fairly similar, and Rizwan came out on top with a bone-stock 2003 Mitsubishi Evo VIII GSR, in bright yellow.

“This is when the ‘Minion’ build began,” he says. What we love most about featuring people’s builds in the pages of NZ Performance Car is the story around just why a certain enthusiast built what they did. Rizwan’s 780kW Evo build started because of a joke with some good friends, he tells us enthusiastically: “Everything just started as a joke with the boys at Autech in the evenings, when I would visit. The next thing you know, we started building it.” Rizwan’s relationship with Sam at Autech began around the same time that he purchased the Evo, as, being new to the Evo game, he was looking for sound advice on the platform.

“Sam came to fix the Evo when I was stuck and it didn’t take long before we were friends,” he recalls. “From then on, everything Evo was Sam on speed dial.” As with most builds of this nature, this one progressed in stages — trials and tribulations all leading to the final result. For Sam, the initial engine build was a stock block, 4G63 producing a still-impressive 280kW at the wheels — plenty for a street car. In what seems to be a natural progression for torque-craving Evo owners looking to dominate the street, Rizwan decided to build a 2.3-litre stroker engine, which saw Minion producing 480kW at the wheels in its final form — a combination good for a 10.3-second quarter-mile (0.40km) time.

It wasn’t until the third build though that things got a heap more serious. If 480kW was enough for a 10.3-second quarter, what would you get if you added more than 300kW over that? Rizwan decided he’d like to find out. “Watching [the] Motive DVD channel and roll racing in Australia makes me itch, as the lads over the ditch can do it so well, so we should also try,” he tells us.

Sam and Shaq from Autech got stuck into the project with Rizwan as if it were their own, utilising the Autech workshop. It was decided that, this time, a stout rev-happy two-litre engine would be used, with the old stroker engine ending up in another friend’s Evo. With the usual swag of forged internals, a billet crankshaft, and some tricky head work, making use of custom cams and oversized valves, Sam and the Autech team were confident in the two-litre spooling the Precision PTE6870 turbo, with boost being controlled by two Turbosmart 40mm CompGates. Fuelling isn’t run of the mill though; Rizwan decided to head down the mechanical injection route, with a Magnus cam-driven unit and two AEM in-tank fuel pumps. With support from Hypertune, you’ll also find a 100mm cooler and eight-injector Hypertune intake plenum stacked with 1650cc Bosch injectors.

After taking inspiration from the rest of the Evo community, Rizwan knew for certain there was no way that the factory box would take the abuse of that much power being unleashed on a prepped drag strip. Instead, it was replaced with a five-speed PPG dogbox within the stock casing and eight-leg Quarter Master slipper-clutch — a must for smashing out solid 60-foots. “One of my favourite parts of the car is actually the KDN shifter,” reveals Rizwan.

With the driveline to take the abuse, 16x8-inch Buddy Club wheels wrapped in 225/50R16 drag radials, and an engine built for battle, Sam and the Autech team set to work dialling in the engine. Being that it’s a two-litre motor running E85, Sam wasn’t hesitant about shoving some serious boost pressure down its throat; 58psi on corn fuel at 7600rpm netted Rizwan’s new engine a wild 781kW at the wheels, with 1066Nm of torque — a decent whack more than the old stroker engine.

With no street capable of handling the power this Evo would put down, Rizwan and the Autech team held a private drag day to get their testing in — on only 610kW, Rizwan managed his first nine-second quarter. The final nine was run at an ST Hi-tec private test and tune day, where Rizwan was kicked out for running a 9.6-second pass and exceeding the allowed speed without a parachute, at 155mph (249kph).

“The true challenge with an Evo with this much power is getting it to stick. Next on the list is racing on a prepped lane to see what we can achieve, with my ultimate goal to continue beating my PB,” Rizwan explains. “We haven’t run it on full power yet, as we are getting wheelspin issues at 680kW.” With a modern ECU, readily available race-quality fuel, trick injectors, a quality engine package, and the right driveline and tuner, Rizwan’s very first street drag car has proven to be an incredibly fast package and one that is accessible to him as an enthusiast, with the help of a bunch of talented friends and the right commitment. With over 780kW at the wheels, we’re confident that when the Autech team dial in the Evo, it’s going to go much quicker and faster, all in a street-legal package, while still being comfortable enough to take the family out in on the weekends — what a wild world we live in!