Test Bench: Lancer EVO MR

The Parts
Our EVO MR was, until recently, the only car in our fleet that had yet to lose its automotive virginity to modification. Despite having been around for almost 11 months, the near perfection of its natural abilities had never been disturbed.

But Road/Race Engineering knew the EVO could benefit from slightly increased rear roll stiffness, especially when on the track. After a call to the pros at The Progress Group, a moderately thicker adjustable rear anti-roll bar was created.

The new bar is 25mm-3mm larger than the factory bar, and is three-way adjustable. The innermost adjustment results in the least compliance, while the outer hole offers handling that is closest to stock. Because the bar is a solid design, the diameter didn't have to be increased much to make a substantial difference in roll stiffness.

The Plan
The entire installation and removal process was simplified with the exhaust unbolted at the muffler. From there, the wrenching was straightforward enough, but it wouldn't have hurt to be an expert with a Rubik's Cube when finagling the stock bar out from the subframe and over the axles.

The same was true in the installation of the RRE bar, which came with bigger brackets (to allow for the installation of the thicker bar), polyurethane grease, bushings, and all necessary hardware for the install. The bar uses the stock end links, which are a ball-joint design. After a little wrestling, the installation was a simple bolt- up affair.

The Results
The middle setting is the happy medium between the other two, but we wouldn't know because we're the hard-core, inner-setting type. That means the EVO can now hang its tail out and tuck its nose in at will and it breaks traction neutrally and progressively around long corners.

With the addition of the Road/Race Engineering rear bar and 235/45-17 Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, we were able to eke out another .03g on the skidpad, bumping our Project EVO MR from .94 to .97g, on an extremely dusty surface.