There are plenty of reasons why a timed flying lap of a race track is gaining wide appeal in our community of modified import car enthusiasts. Unlike drag racing, where it’s all about straight-line grunt, or drifting, where deep perpendicular angles win kudos and points, circuit-based time attacks are a total test of machine. Engine performance is one thing, but without a decent suspension, brake and chassis setup, it doesn’t count for much when the timers beep into action. In the globally growing time attack world where records fall by one hundredth of a second, a red Lancer Evo built by HKS is the car to beat.

To set the ultimate lap time, you need the ultimate track weapon. This is it!

Back in 2000, the Japanese aftermarket parts manufacturer embarked on a project code-named ‘Track Attack’. Its task: to bury the lap record for a production-based tuned car at the famed 2.2km Tsukuba Circuit in the Ibaraki Prefecture. The track, a couple of hours north of Japan’s capital city, Tokyo, was — and still is — a favourite among tuners. To get the job done, HKS’s competition division, HKS Racing, built a machine based off an SXE10 Toyota Altezza.

When it emerged it wore a full carbon fibre body over a heavily modified chassis and packed a sequentially geared 600hp 3S-GTE engine. As planned it decimated the then current 59-second record by two full seconds. But TRB-01 (Tsukuba Record Breaker-01) would never race again. The record-setting run was beset with criticism. Other challengers felt that the Altezza was too far removed from a tuned road car, and if you have ever seen pictures or the very rare footage of it, you’ll know they were right.

“Parts deemed unnecessary are gone. Parts that are not have been modified and fitted in the most advantageous way. Tipping the scales at 1060 kilograms, it’s light. With 560PS and 637Nm at the treads, it’s powerful”

With interest brewing, Option Video gave the Tsukuba run a name and the Super Lap was born. Tuners from all over Japan began preparing road-tyred race cars specifically for the event, and HKS’s standing record soon fell to a 56-second lap time. Leaving the tarnished success of TRB-01 behind, HKS moved on to a new R&D project more in line with the event’s loose rules. Aptly named TRB-02, HKS’s new programme was based around a CT9A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII — a car enjoying plenty of success at Tsukuba in the hands of other tuners.

When the HKS car made its debut, it was in a whole other league. Wrapped like its predecessor in raw carbon fibre panels, the Lancer hit the track in late 2003 and instantly proved its time attack worth. Private tuning workshop Garage HRS had blasted into the high 55-second zone a few weeks earlier with its Sun Auto ‘Cyber Evo’, but it was no match for the HKS Hipermax machine. At the hands of seasoned SuperGT and D1 driver Nobutero Taniguchi, its first official timed lap recorded a flat 55. Naturally, a 54 soon followed, confirming its status as the quickest tuner car in the land.

Not a company given to resting on its laurels, HKS kept on pushing the envelope with the car. The TRB-02 project was in continual progress, but the carbon grey car’s development would eventually take a new turn after a crash bent the front end good and proper. A suspension system breakage was blamed for the incident, which saw Taniguchi lose steering control of the Lancer through Tsukuba’s high-speed chicane, sending it into the wall nose first at pace. Patched up and repaired, however, TRB-02 would return in ‘Stinger Red’ war paint under the new guise ‘Racing Performer CT230R’. If there was ever a car worthy of pawning your left nut on Yahoo! Auction Japan for, this is the one.

The CT230R takes its name from the Mitsubishi CT-based chassis it’s built upon and its worked 2.30-litre engine. ‘R’, of course, is for its racing pedigree. But there’s much more to this car than a cryptic code call. Engineered for a purpose, the Lancer is the result of years of performance tuning experience by HKS. Parts deemed unnecessary are gone. Parts that are not have been modified and fitted in the most advantageous way. Tipping the scales at 1060 kilograms, it’s light. With 560PS and 637Nm at the treads, it’s powerful. Unhinging the bonnet reveals the car’s energy source: an HKS 63L engine based off the Lancer’s factory-fitted 4G63 mill. But these days it’s a far cry from standard Mitsubishi specification, boasting extra displacement, a custom cooling setup and more prototype parts than you can point a big, fat stick at.

Balanced with bullet-proof HKS N1 pistons and HKS H-section rods, the engine’s increased cubic capacity and added muscle come courtesy of an HKS Full Counter crank offering up 300cc of extra stroke. Up top, the DOHC 16V has had a full re-work with HKS 272-degree cams in both directions, adjustable HKS gears and a complete HKS ‘SPL’ (that’s one-off and secret spec!) valve train. The ports also got the SPL treatment for increased flow, before the 63L was fixed back together with an HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket and SPL bolts.
The power-making part of the equation is, of course, the turbo system. In the case of the CT230R, it revolves around a substantially sized HKS GT3240 (56T, 0.87A/R) compressor. The turbo setup runs a low-mount stainless steel HKS SPL exhaust manifold, HKS GT-II racing wastegate and, for cool running, an HKS S-Type intercooler. The exhaust system is a complete HKS SPL creation.

On the intake side an HKS Super Power Flow filter cleanses the charge, which is duly met by the mother of all fuel systems. To feed the fire the engine runs a multi-pump arrangement in the boot, feeding HKS racing fuel through an adjustable pressure regulator and an HKS SPL fuel rail into HKS 820cc injectors. The whole setup is controlled through an HKS F-CON V Pro engine management system, with an HKS EVC handling boost duties.

The engine is a savage piece of kit, not particularly complex in its make-up but exactingly pieced together. It’s only one part of the equation, though. To get the power and torque to the ground, the CT230R’s driveline is a serious piece of hardware. Mitsubishi’s motorsport arm, Ralliart, supplied the prototype 5-speed dogbox, running through a custom-built HKS GD-Pro SPL clutch. The front and rear limited slip differentials are HKS SPL components too.

The chassis and suspension setup is one area where HKS skimps on detail, but a quick sneak peak inside and under the Lancer reveals that some serious work has gone on here. To get the car sitting as low as possible while still retaining full shock travel, the Mitsubishi’s uni-body structure (now with an Evo VIII MR aluminium roof) has been substantially modified from factory guise. New, taller and wider wheel tubs have been integrated front and rear to house the 265/35R18 Yokohama Advan A048 on a mixture of sometimes gold, sometimes bright chrome 18×10-inch Advan RG-II alloys.

“To keep the car vacuumed to the track, the deep front bumper spoiler and side skirts eliminate the gap between the machine and the ground”

The prop shaft tunnel running through the centre of the car has also been raised. It means the entire running gear sits up higher in the body by 40mm, effectively lowering the centre of gravity and improving balance no end. Indeed, balance is a very important aspect of the car, and can be noted in much of the car’s cockpit arrangement. Surrounded by a chromoly roll cage, not only does Taniguchi sit quite far back, but HKS has even gone to the trouble of positioning many of the engine’s ancillary devices directly opposite the driver’s Bride Zeta III carbon seat in an effort to even out weight distribution. The control units for the HKS DB-Meter series gauges are here, as are the battery and even the heavy, remote-mounted differential oil cooler pump.

Outside, further enhancement comes from the HKS Racing SPL wide body kit. Not only are the carbon panels extremely lightweight, their form also serves huge purpose. To keep the car vacuumed to the track, the deep front bumper spoiler and side skirts eliminate the gap between the machine and the ground. Whatever air does manage to get underneath is quickly dispelled out the high-cut rear bumper. With a huge HKS Racing SPL wing adding even more downwards pressure, a plethora of SPL arms, rods and bars, and special HKS Hipermax SPL coil-overs, it’s no wonder this car corners as quickly as it does. It stops, too, thanks to Endless six-pot callipers on the front end and four-pot units out the back clamping on Endless vented rotors.

From any angle the CT230R is a stunning piece of race-proven hardware. And proven not only in Japan, we should add. The car, which was unofficially retired in early 2007 after running an unbelievably fast 53.58 seconds around Tsukuba, still managed to compete in the Super Street magazine Super Lap event at Buttonwillow Raceway in California late last year. Among some serious competition, it kicked some serious Stateside ass, re-setting the track’s tuned car lap record by a mammoth margin. With that in mind, and the fact that time attack events are gaining major traction around the world, I’m sure that’s not the last we’ll see or hear of the CT230R, a machine that has defined time attack racing. HKS pioneered the Super Lap and, more than eight years on, the company is still at the top of the game — and that’s a position I can’t see it giving up lightly.

Tuning Menu

HKS CT230R – Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII (CT9A)

Engine: HKS 63L (4G63), 2.3-litre DOHC 16V, HKS N1 forged pistons, HKS Full-Counter forged crankshaft, HKS forged H-section rods, HKS 272-degree in/ex camshafts, HKS adjustable cam gears, HKS SPL valve train, HKS SPL cylinder head porting, HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket, HKS GT3240 turbocharger, HKS SPL SUS exhaust manifold, HKS GT-II external wastegate, HKS SPL exhaust system, HKS Super Power Flow air filter, HKS S-Type intercooler, HKS Racing intercooler piping, 4x HKS 820cc injectors, HKS SPL oil cooler, HKS SPL aluminium radiator, HKS EVC boost controller, HKS F-CON V Pro engine management system

Driveline: Ralliart 5-speed S/C gearbox, HKS GD-Pro SPL clutch

Suspension: HKS SPL adjustable coil-over suspension, HKS SPL diff cooler, HKS SPL diff oil cooler pump

Brakes: Endless 6-pot callipers (front), Endless 4-pot callipers (rear), Endless vented rotors, Endless MA22B brake pads

Wheels/Tyres: 18×10-inch Advan RG-II alloys front/rear, Yokohama Advan A048 265/35R18 tyres front/rear

Exterior: HKS Racing over fender kit, HKS Racing front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, HKS Racing rear wing, Stinger Red paint, MS Revolution graphics

Interior: HKS SPL roll cage, Bride Zeta III carbon fibre seat, Takata harness seatbelt, HKS DB-Meter RS gauges, HKS Circuit Counter meter

Performance: Dyno Power – 441kW (560PS), 637Nm (65kgf/m), Tsukuba Circuit – 53.58 seconds

Driver Profile

Nobutero Taniguchi

Age: 36

Hometown: Hiroshima, Japan

Previous Drives: RS*R Group N+ Toyota Altezza, RE Amemiya GT300 Mazda RX-7 FD3S, Denso GT500 Toyota Supra, HKS D1 Nissan Silvia S15, Wedsport SuperGT Toyota Celica, Advan Super Taikyu Porsche GT2, HKS D1 Toyota Altezza, Yunker Power SuperGT Porsche GT3 and others…

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