Evo Soul

Wow, what a July its been.  I dont think I have every felt more pumped up then I am right now.  After hearing people talk about MOD 2009, and seeing photos and video clips I knew it was going to be an even bigger hit this year.  And I knew that I didnt want to go another year, miss out on seeing rare cars and get to hang out with / meet Mitsubishi owners from all over.

Now mind you, there was a little bit of planning and hard work that went into the EVOSOUL product line launch at the MOD 2010 show.  It helps when your shop fridge is filled with energy drinks.  Night after night of working hard putting together the cars + drinking energy drinks.  We never slept.

I landed in Cali a few days before MOD and we had to make sure that everything went accord to plan.  We made sure the lips were ready, the cars were where they needed to be for prepping.  And finally the cruise to set up.  I think it all kinda hit me when I was there at 5 or 6 am on the Saturday setting up.  I finally got to see whats its all about.  Setting up as vendor gives you a chance to meet with other vendors who make up the Mitsubishi Community.  The fabric of what everything Mitsubishi is all about.  On my 3rd energy drink of the morning and being wide awake, I was able to see the owners themselves who slept over night in their cars to get a good spot for the event.  Once the sun was up they just came alive, and without the use of energy drinks too

After setting up and the gates opening at 8 - 9 am.  I took a long walk, from one end of the compound to the other.  Making my way thru the rows and rows and then fields of EVO’s.  Thats right, there were so many evos the started parking them on the grass!!! And in some ways its very refreshing to see so many variations of custom mods.  Some were rare brand names, some were dreamed up by the owner and put in to living form.  EVO’s, Lancers, Galants, you name, even the close cousins of Mitsubishi was there, Talons and other stuff from the Eagle days.

After taking my tour and talking around, it was a bit besides myself to see some of the license plate mounts I sold make it all the way to the show.  And in some ways it was kinda funny when I approached the owners of the Lancer and said thank you.  They would ask why, and I would point at the mount.  most times they got it.  Saw my shirt saying evosoul and knew who I was.  But it ment alot, because it was throw that product is how I got my ticket to come to California to be at this event.

After spending 30 minutes talking around, I sat myself down at the EVOSOUL booth and was greeted by evosoul blog readers who try to follow my mini adventures.  Talking about my blog, how my car is doing, Mitsubishi as a car company, everything. Each conversation was different and engaging.  But it would always lead to one question.  What next?  What is the next thing EVOSOUL will do.  And thats when I pointed at the cars before me.  The product line that alot of people involved in the EVOSOUL group spent months designing and profecting, then refining some more.   With a strong online following, a supportive dealership network, and expanding development group, I think we are ready to take this to the next level.

Hey guys, I was hoping to get a bunch of small updates here and there leading up to the MOD event, but communications was a problem and had no access.  Also spent alot of time in the prep process.  5 days ago I got off a plan and began working with a great team of guys from all over the world to make something special happen.  The EVOSOUL line was launched with a lot of interest from the community and we are going to take that and move forward with it.

Now that the event has ended we set our eyes on the SEMA and LA Autoshow at the end of this year.  As for now, we all will head home, take what we learned from this event and continue to grow and make break thru in our respected fields and projects.

Special thanks for everyone who helped make this happen, and those who said hello at the show.  It was an honor.

Day one was pretty interesting.  Got to meet John from Rally Innovations in person for the first time.  He was nice enough to pick me up from the air port and give me a tour of L.A.  well to the area’s that didnt have the frequent traffic jams.  We went back to the shop to get started on the prepping for the Mitsubishi MOD Event. 

When we done, John tossed me the keys to the Ralliart and said “Ralliart has GPS, give it a drive let me know what you think… see ya tomorrow.”  Since where I was staying was 30 minutes away from the shop.  It gave me time to get myself familure with the Rally Innovations Ralliart. Sprintbooster, Eibach lowering springs, Intercooler and exhaust upgrades.  To top it all off we the car was tuned and provides the ideal experience when it comes to boost.  When you get on the gas, that turbo spools up fast and I find myself fighting the urge to press the pedal down more.    I would look down and notice, oh crap. 75MPH,  slow slow slow.  But that said, everyone on these highways was speeding.   Sprintbooster is a tease in that car.  Its even better than my Lancer non turbo experience.  If you guys have a ralliart,  GET SPRINTBOOSTER… you will know what I am talking about

I arrived to my temporary home without a problem.  Got some rest and woke up for Day 2.  I will get to that in the morning.

time to get some shut eye

Well technically day one was yesterday.  Woke up at 4:30am hit the snooze button till about 5:45am, then realized if I didnt haul ass I would be late for my flight.   Now the one funny part of day one was my attempt to bring a Upgrade Clutch with me in my luggage to Cali.  Short story behind it is, we are upgraded the Clutch in the Rally Innovations EVO X, but with such a tight time line between now and MOD, It was just smarter to bring it with me.   Now I walked up to customs in the airport and did a good job of explaining what I was doing.  The nice lady smiled and stamped my ticket and declaration card, and I was on my way.  Note to self - Stamp on your plane ticket (not good).   Greeted 30 second later by a Customs officer saying to me (sir please follow me).   “Crap”

Now right off the bat,  I dont blame customs.  Its very strange for someone to be carrying a Clutch in their luggage.

After about 2 minutes of taking to them, I realized that hey were just interested in what I do with the Mitsubishi stuff.  Mentioned the MOD 2010 event and also the sprintbooster I had with me.  Hell judging by the way the guy was talking to me I am pretty sure he had a Mitsubishi as well. 

Best of all, I thought I was going to miss my plane,  and they held it for me Sweet.  Anyways I will give you guys a better update of my day one later, now that Day 2 has already started I gotta jump right into it.

A few guys in the club already spotted this and mentioned it to me, so I will formally announce this. As you know I am heading out down to Cali to be part of the Mitsubishi owners day event at Mitsu head office. that said, we will also be kicking of an official line up of products branded under the evosoul alliance. A few vendors you should already know are going to be participating and we are hoping to harness the collective energy that exists within every major contributor in the Mitsubishi Community.

I am happy to announce that Road Race Motorsports has offered their feedback and is starting to carry the EVOSOUL line.

http://www.roadracemotorsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6_12&products_id=666

http://www.roadracemotorsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6_12&products_id=668

I wanted to thank everyone who was part of the beta testing and for the feedback for the above items, and as we test more items, I will be sure to announce when they become comercially available here in North America for direct purchase 

One of the things I love doing is testing hardware, evaluating things, and seeing what works and what doesnt.  Now as a hobby as you can imagine, its time consuming, and expensive.  I have spent also alot of time doing custom projects as well.

So its kinda a dream come true, to get the chance to work for a company that is right smack in the middle of the aftermarket world.  Johnston Research and Performance, has been the leading distributor of major after market brand names within Canada 10 years plus.  My roll here will be to in online sales, PR and Media relations.  That said, you can bet your ass that I will be evaluating every piece of hardware possible for the Mitsubishi Lancer, Ralliart and EVO X.

When I said Leading Distributor, I mean for everyone.  Greddy, HKS, INJEN, AEM, HAWK, BREMBO, etc…. etc…. etc….  There is a line card but even that doesnt list everything.

So from that perspective, I dont think I will ever run out of parts to throw on and evaluate.  So I can promise you its going to be a very busy remainder of the year.   With all the resources of JRP, expect pictures, video clips, even events.

On a final note,  One of the things I have been always upset about is how there is never parts available for the Lancer, and what pissed me off even more is when there was parts out.  They would never be in stock.  now that I work here, its my goal to make sure the well never runs dry in terms of stocking hot Mitsubishi Parts.  So if you canadian or usa guys are ever having a hard time looking for a part.  Brakes, Engine, Suspension what ever.  Shoot me an email with the part number and I will do my best to give you a fast quote and ship it right out to ya.  My email address is shaun@jrponline.com .