Reinis Babrovskis Photography: Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX

The Perfect EVO

Text: Patrick McCullagh
Photos: Reinis Babrovskis

It’s no secret that I love the Lancer Evolution. To be honest I don’t think you could call yourself a true petrolhead and in the same breath say that you “don’t like the Evo” as it’s such a great car even in standard form. “Standard form” is something that can only really be said once when talking about Eddie McConville’s gorgeous Lancer Evolution – the “tech Spec” for this car is quite something. Normally I would run down through the parts this car has through the article but there is WAY too much to actually mention. Make sure you check out the full spec at the end of the article.

Eddie has been a long time Mitsubishi Lancer fan and indeed his first love was the EvolutionVI but in trying to buy one he could never find one that fitted the bill. At this point Eddie went to the darkside and bought an Impreza STi which done the job for a number of years. After that, a brief fling with a Lamborghini Orange TVR Sagaris and a Porsche 996 GT3 (neither of which particularly stoked the fire) led him back home…

After joining up on the MLR (Mitsubishi Lancer Register – the home of all things Lancer Evo) it wasn’t long before he had spotted the beauty above. Only 4000 miles and located in N. Ireland it seemed like we where about to land on Cloud 9. It wasn’t long before a test drive was completed and Eddie was the proud new owner of a IX.

“I won’t be modifying this one as much” – the famous last words of any petrolhead and in fairness if you take this as gospel from any car enthusiast you really are having yourself on. Indeed this car has had two phases when the car was running 500-520bhp but, apparently, that became a tad boring! Now we are here and a spec list longer than a giraffe’s neck!

The performance of the Evo was fine but Eddie had a few concerns about minor niggles and wanted to sort that. That’s where IndigoGT came in and a new era for the IX was born! Ant flew over and completed a tune on the car making it come alive again. Over the following winter Eddie’s mind got churning again with thoughts of doing more..

Before you knew it the engine was out and on its way to the mainland for a refresh and rebuild and you guessed it, Ant and IndigoGT were going to be involved.

Sooooooo, with the engine out… what can we do now? Ah yes, the exterior!! Eddie decided to go the full hog and have the car repainted as he noted the paint on Lancers can be quite thin. An additional big change would be the carbon roof skin that is now installed and in true O.C.D fashion, because the Vortex Generator carbon’s weave was running against the roofs what happens? You get the company who handles Mitsubishi UK’s Carbon needs to make you one that runs the correct way… INSANE!

AG Automotive are the guys behind the new paint work and, having seen their work on other cars, Eddie was in no doubt on using them for his car. My own personal taste for an Evolution is usually white but it’s very hard to argue about this red. Before too long the engine was back in and in Eddie’s own words “it’s been amazing and a total joy to drive”. Indigo GT had woven some magic into the Evo IX and Eddie was left with what was and is his dream car…. now firmly sitting aloft on cloud 9. I have to say I am rather envious and check out that tech spec at the bottom of the page folks because 1) it took ages to write and 2) it’s simply mouth watering!

You really have to admire Eddie’s dedication to this car and his approach. Bucket’s of love and attention and the odd £ here and there and it looks amazing and no doubt goes like “stuff off a shovel”.