Continuing our glorious tradition, today we would like to tell you about another fan of the car customizing culture, who is also a Croooober user, and are glad to share his unique story, or rather about a realized dream of his youth.  Daniel is from Edmonton, Canada is a member of the local car enthusiast club, is a frequent exhibitor at car shows, and is a big rally fan.  Perhaps Daniel’s story will seem familiar to some, and some may recognize themselves, where you have a dream from childhood and slowly but surely go towards it, overcoming obstacles and difficulties.  Life is beautiful because it is not given easily, but it realizes any desire at the appropriate moment. Daniel is one fierce car enthusiast who grew up on the success stories of world-famous Rally drivers.  

Let’s move on to his story below.

From a young age, I grew up watching a lot of World Rally Championship, and Carlos Sainz Sr., Colin McRae, and Tommi Mäkinen were my childhood heroes. I dreamed that one day I would be able to design my own livery and drive my own Japanese rally-inspired car.  After graduating from University, I moved to Tokyo for a year for work, and quickly became friends with a coworker who shared the same passion for cars.  On the weekends, we would cruise around in his R32 GTS-T and visit the Daikoku rest stop, Super Autobacs and Up Garage.  My most memorable visit was the Megaweb History Garage in Odaiba, where I was finally able to see one of my childhood icons, a Toyota ST185 from the World Rally Championship! Seeing such an icon in person, intensified my desire to buy my own rally-based car.

After moving back to Canada, I saved some money for a couple of years and ended up buying a Lancer Evolution X.  I love the aggressive styling of the CZ4A, it reminds me a lot of the styling of the CP9A generation.  During my early ownership of the car, I started to do some small modifications bit by bit, and I spent a lot of time reading posts in car forums and watching videos on YouTube to learn everything about my car.  In Canada, there is a massive CZ4A community since this is the only generation of Lancer Evolution that was sold here. At every car show here, there are so many CZ4As with interesting builds.  After doing years of research, and seeing how other owners modified their Evo’s. I felt like I was ready to start on my dream build.

I designed my livery using a video game design editor and had my friend’s vinyl wrap shop bring the concept to life. For the exterior, I wanted to keep the appearance functional, as I wanted to use the vehicle in rallycross and track racing.  I had a local company create for me a rear diffuser, front splitter, and canards. A Varis carbon fiber hood, headlights, and rear bumper added to the aggressive styling of the CZ4A.  The Rays ZE40 wheels were purchased off of Croooober and provided weight savings and reliability when running on the racetrack. An Amuse Titan R1 Souen exhaust replaced the heavy stock exhaust and featured a great exhaust tone.  To finish off the exterior, a light pod was mounted in front to establish the theme as a rally build.

For the interior, the stock Recaro seats were replaced with Bimarco Grip bucket seats, and coupled with Schroth harnesses, provided excellent grip and lateral support when hard cornering.  The stock steering wheel was replaced with an OMP WRC wheel with a custom button plate, which allows access to the exterior light pods and transmission cooler, and allows for the retention of the cruise control system.  To allow for easy access to the seats, I installed a Works Bell short hub, and RAPFIX GTC release, which I bought from Up Garage on my last visit to Tokyo.

The engine bay of my build is quite interesting, and it contrasts a lot with the interior and exterior appearances. When someone looks at the interior and exterior, they might think of the build as a dedicated racing build.  However, when looking at the engine bay, that perception is shattered. I love the look of burnt titanium, and the theming of the engine bay is based around that.  All of the piping, bolts, and fluid caps have been replaced with titanium. The valve cover was hydro dipped to a rainbow color to match the colorfulness of the engine bay.  Additionally, the intake manifold, fuel rail, and ARC intake box were powder coated in a reflective rainbow color, which shines and sparkles when in direct sunlight.

A lot of my Lancer Evolution friends have moved onto different platforms such as GTRs and Supras, but I think I will keep this car for a long time.  It has been my dream to own a platform like this, and there’s still much more I would like to accomplish with my build!

Car specifications:

We thank Daniel for sharing his wonderful story and wish him further realization of all his planned projects and very much hope to see his new merits and awards on the expanses of Instagram.  In the end, we would like to wish everyone your fondest wishes come true, and please don’t stop dreaming!  

After all, dreams do tend to come true!

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