NEVER STOP PUSHING
A DECADE ON FROM ITS COVER DEBUT, LEON SCOTT’S EVO VII IS STILL PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
GEN SIX OF THE LSM EVO
The year was 2009, and a new style of grip racing that focused on all-out, balls-to-the-wall single laps was emerging out of Japan. It was a fast-paced, edge-of-yourseat type of racing that shunned traditional circuit racing and inspired a whole new generation of racers to pick up a helmet. It was something that the import guys could call their own and a sport that others didn’t seem to understand. Although, for those in the know, like Auckland’s Leon Scott, it was the dawn of something special. Leon was what you’d call an early adopter, and his Evo VII was one of the first Time Attack builds New Zealand had seen.
“When I first built my car, no one knew what Time Attack was or cared for it very much,” recalls Leon. But he did, and it would be the start of a very long and enduring love affair between man and machine. It was one that would see the pairing clocking up countless laps locally, and eight seasons of racing, including a Superlap championship in 2016. Over that time, as you’d imagine, not much wasn’t changed, and, for many parts, those changes have been made countless times over, all in that quest for a lower PB. The latest version, dubbed ‘Gen Six’, is the most extensive to date and was brought about by an off-track mishap during the 2017 Leadfoot Festival: Leon parked the car on a tree at speed and was extremely lucky to walk away without serious injury.
The car needed to be stripped bare to repair; it was the perfect opportunity to make changes, as Leon explains: “I had to make a decision in life. Am I going to let it sit in the shed and do very little with it? Am I sick of blowing gearboxes and transfer cases now, is it time to hand it in, or is it time to go one last round, throw a ton of money into it, and go to the next level? I tell ya, it took six months of going back and forth to finally make the decision.” We bet you can guess what the answer to that question was.
The 4G63 makes use of a Tomei 2300 stroker crank, Manley Rods, and CP Carrillo pistons. The engine has been in the car since 2013 and, thanks to its new diet of E85, is making 470kW and a massive 830Nm from as little as 5000rpm
Six months on, all that remains of the old car is the shell itself and the Tomei stroker 2.3 4G63 with race-prepped head and Holset HX40RS Pro huffer. The engine, which was originally built back in 2013, has been the mainstay of the car. The reason being that it has proved to be extremely reliable for the team, only needing to have one freshen-up in that time. Leon’s not leaning on the motor all that much, and it really only spends about five minutes wide open on full boost during a session, so it’s pretty happy. Surprisingly, the actual combination is also relatively unchanged, including the race-prepped head with 272 cams. It’s always delivered what was needed, and that’s low-down and mid-range torque to punch out of corners. What has changed is everything around it.
One of the biggest of those changes has been the driveline. Previously running an Albins dogbox that was forever breaking fifth gear, the shift has been made to a Quaife five-speed sequential. While most sequentials are six-speed, Leon has elected to stay five-speed, as it allows him to sit within and use the 2.3’s powerband more effectively than a six-speed, which would see him unnecessarily swapping cogs all the time. When he does have to swap cogs now, this will be done with his foot flat to the floor!
To do this, the old HKS F Con had to go. Haltech has come onboard, supplying one of its 2500 Elite units, and a complete loom, from motorsport wiring specialist Rywire in the States, to replace the very tired factory loom. The motorsport-grade loom arrived essentially as a plug-and-play affair. The electronics upgrade dropping a whopping 15kg in the process. The tuning was a joint venture between Jacky at Jtune Automotive, and, through the wonders of the World Wide Web, Scott from Haltech. With Jacky on the dyno in Auckland and Scott in Sydney, the pair were able to extract 470kW and 830Nm from 5000rpm thanks to the new diet of E85.
While it’s not a massive jump in power from the previous set-up — 30kW, to be exact — extra grip is always a welcome accompaniment to a power increase. This has been achieved through some clever thinking on Leon’s part. He converted a set of Intrax remote-canister dampers to sit inverted in the BC ER lower clevis and make use of their spring perches and custom-rate springs. Not only is the Intrax damper a serious piece of kit, but running them inverted has also allowed the remote canisters to be
All that remains of the old car is the shell itself and the Tomei stroker 2.3 4G63 with raceprepped head and Holset HX40RS Pro huffer.
Shifting to a Haltech Elite 2500 has seen the move to an AiM Strada dash, ditching the previous stack of gauges
Following Leon’s crash, his personal safety has been beefed up. Most important, the inclusion of a head restraint Racetech seat
A full Voltex Cyber widebody has been punched out a further 45mm each side with the addition of Voltex extra-wide over-fender extensions. Up front, Voltex Cyber large front canards, and a carbon undertray
mounted in the engine bay, and thus fine-tuning can be made on the fly by the team, even in pit lane. A combination of Hardrace and Racefab arms completes adjustability.
For all intents and purposes, it’s going to be a new car to drive when Leon lines up for his eighth season of Superlap. As it stands, his current PB at his home track of Hampton Downs is a 1min 7.8s, which we doubt is going to hang around long.
“First, I’ve got to relearn the car. So much has changed, it will be completely different from behind the wheel. For me to get comfortable, it will take some time, so for starters I’d like to get back into the sevens, then push to the sixes, and then ultimately into the high fives. Yeah, it’s two seconds faster, but it’s not an unreasonable target,” he says.
By the time you read this, the new-look car will have completed a half-day test ahead of the season opener, where
Leon has his mind seat on one goal: lowering that PB.
Side by side with the Evo that we featured back in 2009, there really is no comparison. It’s both a reflection of how far Leon and his Evo VII have come and how far the sport as a whole has come. The hardware that you’ll find in it now is as good as anyone else’s in the game on the world stage. The only difference is that Leon runs the Voltex aero that won the World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) back in the Cyber Evo era, which is very mild compared with what the front runners are using in 2019. But that’s some serious investment in itself, and let’s not forget this is a privateer build, pieced together in the shed after work, by a passionate bunch who love nothing more than chasing that clock in true Time Attack fashion. Something that’s hard to shake, and something that is clearly well and truly in Leon’s blood for life.
Endless six-pot calipers and Endless Sprint pads clamp on 370mm two-piece rotors
Now on E85, the fuel system has been upgraded to handle the flow. A pair of 044s feed a single 10-feed line to the four 2200cc Bosch motorsport injectors