This is the Brand New Mitsubishi Eclipse Ralli Art Concept. It is a incredible vehicle and hopefully it gets put into production. It was unveiled at the 2005 SEMA SHOW by Mitsubishi designers. I got some great ides for my Eclipse and we will def be applying some of these things to our ride. This is purely for enjoyment for all the people who love Mitsubishi, love the Ecplise, and love the Ralli Art models in the past. This will be the 1st for an Eclipse and it is looking like a bleak future for the Lancer and a very bright one for the Eclipse.
2005 SEMA SHOW VIDEO
What's Special About It?
This is an Eclipse done the way we would have done it. It's from Ralliart, the motorsports division of Mitsubishi and unlike the standard Eclipse this concept looks like it could be a serious driver's car.
Gone is the production model's front-wheel drive in favor of an all-wheel-drive setup pulled straight from the Lancer Evolution. Ralliart went ahead and used the Evo's turbocharged four-cylinder engine, too, but cranked it up with a laundry list of HKS performance parts. A new turbo, 264 cams, a high-flow fuel pump, high-flow injectors � it's all there along with a custom intake and 2.75-inch exhaust from the turbo back. Mitsubishi estimates the engine cranks out around 400 horsepower.
We were glad to see a six-speed manual transmission instead of the paddle shifters that every other concept seems to be favoring these days. The rear suspension was borrowed from the Endeavor SUV while Road Race Engineering provided the coil-over shocks. Brakes are eight-piston Brembos up front, four-piston in back with 15- and 13.5-inch rotors, respectively. Overall weight was reduced by using carbon fiber for the roof, front and rear fascias, hood, mirror housings and front fenders.
The interior of the standard Eclipse is one of its bright spots and the Ralliart designers didn't fiddle with it much. They replaced the rear seats with storage bins and swapped in Recaro seats covered in leather and Alcantara up front. Auxiliary gauges were added to the top of the dash along with a suede-covered steering wheel pulled from the Evo.
Page #1: Overview
Page #2: Exterior
Page #3: Interior
Page #4: Engine/Exhaust
2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse Ralliart
By Michael Jordan
There's just one thing wrong with the 400-hp, all-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Eclipse Ralliart turbo: you can't buy it. It's a one-of-a-kind SEMA concept that showcases Ralliart, Mitsubishi's new line of performance parts. But maybe one day you'll be able to buy it. Anyway, that's what we told ourselves when we showed up at Willow Springs International Raceway to become the first to drive the car in anger.
The Ralliart enhances the Eclipse's voluptuous teardrop shape by dropping it closer to the ground and adding wider fender extensions. Like the forthcoming Mitsubishi Evo X, this Eclipse uses carbon fiber for the roof panel, the hood, the air-gulping front grille, and the aero pieces. The twenty-inch Dymag wheels even have carbon-fiber rims fastened to billet-aluminum centers.
Mitsubishi commissioned John Mueller of Muellerized Road Race Engineering to slide the drivetrain of the Lancer Evo VIII under the skin of the Eclipse. Mueller's makeover of the Evo's 2.0-liter four features a big HKS turbocharger, but he's calibrated the powertrain for drivable torque instead of peak power, so the turbo four's quick bang of power is a huge step forward from the lazy personality of the Mitsubishi V-6. There's not much suspension travel, but Mueller's coil-over dampers keep the car from bounding off its bump stops, and there's no trace of awkward, all-wheel-drive-style front-end dynamics when you jump on the power. For all this, the Evo powertrain doesn't make this Eclipse any lighter, so it probably still weighs about 3500 pounds.
It's hard to know what the future holds for the Eclipse Ralliart. Mitsubishi left behind its constituency of street punks when the third-generation Eclipse was introduced in 2000 with its unexciting V-6, and the Eclipse Ralliart is meant to coax those guys back under the tent by reviving the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive formula. There's not as much money in the youth market as many manufacturers anticipated, but we think Mitsubishi needs to proceed with the Eclipse Ralliart anyway. Simply put, street cred delivers long-term sales in a way that even dramatic styling cannot.
