The prototype 311RS unit #00 is beginning to take shape. Look at this thing. The wheels, tires, and suspension were to be installed before the drive home to test how the package would handle a long distance trip with a couple friends and some film gear. The focus of the 311RS has always been street car. Track performance would come naturally, so this test was a great start to developing a legitimate street car.

The car cruises. Only way I can describe it. On the highway the RS1’s are incredibly smooth. There are some general misconceptions about suspension that are quite irritating. It has coilovers, it must be stiff and bumpy. It’s too low, it wont handle well. All coilovers are the same. NOT TRUE. With proper development, anything is possible. Bryan from JRZ and I worked very hard to get my Evo X to where it’s at today. It runs incredibly low, yet handles amazingly. We run fairly stiff spring rates (700f/900r), but the car is fully compliant. Those factors come into play on the 311RS. The only suspension modification to the 311RS is the JRZ RS1’s. The car rides perfect, firm but plush. Like a shock absorber should.

The 3,000 mile trip took us just over a day straight through. We learned a lot about the car on the trip, and we’re glad to have done the suspension and wheel installs at Evasive beforehand. Even with the fenders rolled, there was some slight rubbing on portions of the fender. That’s fine, because it allowed us to know exactly what needs to be done to fit this wheel and tire package before production of the 11 units. The 311RS not only needs to be up to our standards, but OEM standards as well. Tire rubbing is something that is not tolerated whenever possible.

After the drive from Sonoma, it was Tim to dig into the car and begin the process of building a 311RS. First, a few things we learned about the car on the drive home; It was beat! It ran pretty rough, the bumper didn’t stay on, and suspension was blown out. But it was an Evo…so it had that going for it.

At Evasive, we had a set of JRZ RS1’s, Volk CE28N’s and Nitto NT05’s waiting for us. These were the first parts I wanted to get on the car, for a few reasons. I knew fitment of the 285/35/18 NT05’s would be tight. Mike at Evasive rolled the fenders straight away to help fit the beefy NT05’s and 18×10.5 +18 CE28N’s. The JRZ RS1’s went on without issue, perfect. The story behind the Evo X RS1’s is pretty cool – all of the data, testing and results gathered from my Evo X went directly into the development of the RS1’s. That fact works perfectly with the theme of the 311RS!

With the wheels, tires and suspension installed it was time to get the car aligned. I had the alignment specs from my car on hand, Kel set the car up just as I specified. We obviously can’t run the sort of camber I run on my Evo X now, but I had the settings from 2008 on hand and those worked perfectly.

“This is it?” My first thought when picking up what would end up being the 311RS Prototype. Jonny from Film Matters and I drove up to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA from LA to pick up a Wicked White Evo X GSR to build as the first 311RS. In hindsight, it’s fitting that the car started its life as a Jim Russell car (used for driving schools at Infineon Raceway).

The car was beat on day in and day out by inexperienced drivers. It’s cool though, because it only adds to the Evo’s credibility. Being able to take that kind of abuse and still perform at a high level is what the 311RS is all about anyways. After a few words with the guys at Infineon, Jonny and I were on our way back to LA to get this whole program started.