Bathurst is a sacred place in Australian motorsport circles and many manufacturers have paid homage to the world-renowned piece of tarmac at Mount Panorama.
Mitsubishi is one of those and its Lancer Evolution range of rally-bred performance offerings enjoyed great success at the Mountain.
Back when the Bathurst 12 Hour was the jewel in the crown of Australian production car racing in the late-2000s, Mitsubishi came to dominate.
Team Mitsubishi Ralliart led the way in local production car racing for many seasons spearheaded by mastermind engineer Alan Heaphy.
Part of Bathurst winning efforts at Gibson Motorsport and a leading engineer internationally as part of Nissan’s sportscar, then British Touring Car Championship efforts, the Australian began leading Mitsubishi’s motorsport program in 2004.
Transferring from rallying to circuit racing, Heaphy built up versions of the Lancer Evo IX and X for production car racing.
Spurred on by Subaru’s factory effort in the Bathurst 12 Hour’s return event in 2007, Heaphy mounted a factory attack on the 2008 race.
Although Subaru failed to return, the TMR Lancer Evo IX won the 2008 Bathurst 12 Hour featuring Rod Salmon, Damien White and Graham Alexander.
Returning to defend its title in 2009 with the new Evo X iteration, TMR managed to successfully do so as Tony Longhurst joined Salmon and White.
In celebration of this great success, Heaphy’s TMR organisation developed a Bathurst edition of the Evo X.
Retaining a full factory warranty and sold through Mitsubishi dealers, the Bathurst Edition featured key upgrades including more power to enhance the track day experience.
A remap and exhaust lifted power to 247kW compared to the 217kW of the stock version Evo X, while torque numbers rose to 436Nm compared to 366Nm.
Suspension improvements included a 30mm lowered ride height and TMR progressive-rate springs.
Differentiating itself from the stock Evo X package, the Bathurst Edition came with powder-coated wheels, bespoke body kit, special badging and an interior build plate.
The cost of all these extras came to $8250 compared to a regular Evo X’s price, with the option of a manual or dual-clutch transmission.
Just 100 Bathurst Editions were ordered as it remains a special and little known model range honouring Australia’s most revered circuit.