LancerNation Close Ups (Vid-Evo)

Here at LancerNation we are all about the community as you might guess. Whether you have a stock, just purchased Lancer ready to start your first modification or a seasoned Evolution owner putting in a Stage III clutch, we are always interested in what your building and where your going.

Even better we enjoy checking out video releases on Instagram and YouTube of members Lancers as they build them or cruise down the highway. Let's be honest. Nothing is better than cruising down the road with someone taking a sick roller or a video with the full exhaust droning and blow off valve awarding each pull with a satisfying "WHOOSH". 

But what if the car that had the videographer recording your car wasn't just any car. What if it was an Evo? And even better. What if it wasn't a SLR or a camera phone they were recording you with. What if it was a full fledged production level camera on a camera boom mounted to that Evo? For this episode of "LancerNation Close Ups" we are going to take the Evo world to a new level with a sweet Evo VIII used to get the perfect shot.

This is Max Fuerst. Max is a director from Dallas, Texas and this is his 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII GSR. Max has only had this car for about 5 months and he when first got it, it was the 2003-2004 exclusive (Y01) Lightining Yellow color. This was one of his dream cars and he, spur of the moment, pulled the trigger and bought it. Max bought the car with some pretty sweet addons from the previous owner. All the parts on it are bolt on including cams, a set of Rota Form P45R wheels in gun metal black and a tune. All the work done on the car was done by Evo Dynamics, an Evo centric shop in Texas, and is still running a stock turbo on pump gas. According to the previous owner, the car makes about 400 horse power but Max has never seen a dyno sheet to confirm that but due to the responsiveness of the car he tends to believe it. And in Max's line of work responsiveness is key. To stay on top of newer high end cars as well as needing precise shots, you have to have a ride that can corner, pull, and stop when you need it. Max just picked up some lightening on four wheels but what would he do with it? Daily driver? Build car? Show car?

Max wouldn't tuck this car away to live in a garage. As a director and a video producer, Max creates car media including video closeups, performance shots, and movies on the automotive community and experience. This was about to turn into his work horse. But before he could prepare it for it's debut as a chase car it needed a bit of a make over.

At first glance you would think that the car was painted (X42) Labrador/Tarmac Black. When actually the car is wrapped in a custom Embossed wrap with his company logo and sponsors on it all done by Fortune Wraps. The car had to be wrapped to cut down on the yellow getting in the shot.

"We had to make the car satin black though because the yellow would have show up in reflections of whatever car we were shooting."

Max also added a set of BC Racing, DS Coilovers to help keep any shaking isolated so it didn't mess with the camera. And to really get the party started he had a friend over at Corsa Tecnica fabricate him a custom roof rack to sit pretty on top of his new black chase car.

Finally, it was time for the fun stuff. His camera rig starts with a Motocrane Ultra arm. A versatile rigging system meant to handle his camera and counter balance. Max built the Evo to handle the arm but he can tear down the entire arm and pack it into a few cases and fly it anywhere and reassemble it onto a rental or other car and make that his new production ride. The arm packs about 300 pounds onto the car when fully loaded with camera and the counter balances hanging on the back. At full tilt it can do a full 360 rotation around the car in 7 seconds even while traveling at 70 MPH. Max has even rocked it up to 100 MPH and with the low stance and stability of the Motorcrane, the car and camera were well planted and stable.

So Max has now runs a fully built Mitsubishi Evolution VIII GSR with a 300 pound camera setup to produce car videos. His first video was with Roush and based on his work, the car and the camera, his video made was nominated for commercial of the year. Max will shoot just about everything. He has done 18 wheelers, street cars, race cars, and even super cars. And you would think that what he is taping would be the star of the show.

"It always seems to be the center of attention on set. People love it. Its even crazier driving down the road. I've driven exotics around and it doesn't even compare to the attention you get with a damn crane hanging of your car."

The Evo community has also shown its appreciation. Max joins those who share the belief that the Evo is an amazing platform on it's own. He chose the car for this type of work because he believed it would be capable of keeping up with performance vehicles at speed and remain stable and secure. 

At the end of the day of shooting Max can pack up the boom from the car and place it away till the next shoot. And though this is not his daily driver, he does drive it a lot with only the roof rack still on the car. With everything packed away he blends in to the rest of the traffic as just another Evo on the highway. And this isn't all he wants to do to the car. In the future he wants to add some more power to the car as well as some Aero modifications to make it more stream line a stylish. And with those upgrades he will be able to get more stable shots, stay on top of newer and faster performance and super cars, and continue to get amazing pictures and videos with the boom camera. And with his boom camera mounted to the roof, we at LancerNation have to say, this is one of the most interesting Lancers we have covered as a close up so far. 

Max would like to thank Fortune Wraps and BC Racing for helping make his dreams a reality with his car. We thank him for such an interesting idea and car for this episode of "LancerNation Close Ups."