Paul Andronic’s outrageous Lancer Evolution V is every tuner’s fantasy and the epitome of hillclimbing excess. Its 4G63 spits out some 800 horsepower in one, abrupt bang. Kept to its stock 2.0-liter displacement, the engine is made manageable—just barely—by a Kaps six-speed sequential, but even with rapid-fire gearchanges, the car is usually out of its powerband or spinning all four wheels violently. Some say Lancer Evolutions are dull or overly competent; lacking character, though this is anything but.

Photo credit: http://www.paulandronic.ro

Underneath the Repsol livery, massive wing, and mile-wide splitter is quite characterful, the car is a bespoke racing machine. Autotehnica, the builders of this machine, fitted a tube-frame chassis and tubular chromoly subframes within the shape of one of the smallest Lancer Evolutions around, since weight saving is paramount here. With a carbon roof, carbon widebody elements, and Lexan windows, the pint-sized Evo tips the scales at just 2,250 pounds. Even with four driven wheels providing some stability, that power-to-weight makes it a terrifying handful.

In an attempt to make the motor more tractable, they’ve used the 4G63 from a Lancer Evolution IX, which has MIVEC to help with spool, as well as the audible anti-lag system. Despite this, the engine’s mule-kick power delivery has no difficulty spinning the Avon slicks through the first few gears. After all, it’s able to make 800 horsepower and 570 lb-ft of torque on full boost!

Tubbed front wheel wells for a little extra rubber. Photo credit: http://www.paulandronic.ro

Those figures are attained in large part through the high-end engine management systems implemented in this no-expenses-spared build. A MoTec M1 ECU control the mill and relays the pertinent information to Andronic via a MoTec C127 dash. Quite visible from the shots of this car’s backside is the rear-mounted radiator setup, which features an electric water pump controlled by the ECU.

That motor is better managed by a drive-by-wire setup, and though he can be seen using the centrally-mounted shifter in the footage below, he’s recently added a set of paddle shifters to control the sequential gearbox. It goes without saying that Andronic has enough to do while driving this monster through a narrow mountain pass without having to take his hands off the wheel.

In real WRC-style, the big paddle can move forwards and backwards to shift down and up, respectively. Photo credit: http://www.paulandronic.ro

The power is sent via the Kaps gearbox through a carbon driveshaft, and then on to Top Spec axles. With KW Competition coilovers dotting each corner of the Mitsubishi’s widebody, six-piston Alcon brakes in the front and four-piston Alcons in the rear, and Tilton adjustable pedals, it’s clear that nothing short of the best motorsports-grade parts were used to craft this monster, and it’s no surprise that this Evo has been crowned the Romanian Hillclimb Champion.

For those interested in experiencing what might be the world’s wildest Lancer Evolution, Andronic is selling his car for a hefty €130,000, or roughly $161,000. It’s the same price as a GT3, but with nearly twice the power, a lot more torque, and all the sense of occasion anyone could ask for.

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