Trial By Fire
Kapral wasted little time putting the RS to the test. After putting only four miles on the refreshed engine, the RS was loaded onto a trailer and taken to the strip. At low boost, the RS ran an 8.92-second pass at 165 MPH. Rather than push too hard too fast, Kapral readied the RS for the 20th Annual Buschur Racing DSM/EVO Shootout. At the shootout, Kapral piloted the RS to a personal best pass of 8.71 seconds at 168 MPH. “This was my personal best pass despite being 0.2-seconds off of my usual 60-foot time. The car felt quick going down the strip and I knew it would be a good elapsed time. When I collected the time slip, I had to look at it twice. I was a little shaken as this was my personal best, plus I couldn’t find the parachute release until the sixth swipe at the handle. If the 60-foot time was in the usual range, we would have likely run an 8.4-second pass. That would be the quickest for any 4G63-powered EVO of any displacement,” Kapral recalled. Unfortunately, an incorrect adjustment to the clutch between rounds didn’t allow for complete release of the clutch between gears. The result? Damaged synchros.
Back To It
When asked about the future of the RS, Kapral assured us that his work with the car had only just begun. “We are far from done with this project, as we haven’t even begun the process of cutting weight out of the chassis. With a fresh transmission in place and some additional weight pulled from the chassis, I’m confident that we’ll reach the low 8s,” says Kapral. Based on STM’s record, we wouldn’t bet against them.