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A Super Taikyu face, and a race car that does not break
The Evo IX dropped the Mount Fuji-shaped grille that had been unpopular on the Evo VIII and got a face resembling the front bumper of the car Nakaya and Takayuki Kinoshita were racing in Super Taikyu. Even after the hit of the Evo V, when crash safety, durability, fuel economy and everyday usability were also demanded, Nakaya kept making a faster lap time at Tsukuba than the year before his development goal. He rates the Evo VIII and IX MR especially highly: ACD and AYC could now be fitted to race-spec cars too, and durability rose greatly. Not only being fast but being able to finish without breaking was a major step forward for a competition car.
