Eddie’s Lan Evo | A Vehicle, Literally & Figuratively

There are many different forms of car enthusiast. We all have our preferences, but a commonality that runs true regardless of your specific niche, is the difficulty in conveying to the average person why we spent thousands of dollars a year on an object.

Modifying a vehicle, more often than not decreases the car’s ability to perform its most fundamental function: Getting a person from A to B.

Always thought that Evos looked like Gundams, Eddie’s particularly so…

For better handling, we usually stiffen the damping, which compromises the ride on the road, the environment in which any registered vehicle is used 99% of the time.

Yearning for more power, we modify the engine, leading to a decrease reliability, fuel economy and usability in a day-to-day setting.

If we’re looking to make a statement, we stance the car which makes driving around town a nightmare.

An ex-IS Motor Racing WTAC entrant, Eddie’s recently wrapped it through his work, VG Wrap Group.

Everything we do usually makes our vehicles less suitable for its intended purpose. This makes it incredibly difficult for us to justify to those that don’t understand (we’re looking at you, significant others) why this pursuit provides us joy and fulfilment. Seemingly every other hobby requires less sacrifice and compromise than the one we’re engulfed in.

Eddie is no different, he sold his previous bone-stock Evo to me, and proceeded to outlay three-times the amount he received, on a Clubsprint-level, former-WTAC entrant IS Motor Racing shop car. In the ensuing year-and-a-half, the car has spent a lot of time at the workshop, or just parked, unable to fulfil either its original, or repurposed function as a lapping car.

Putting out fairly conservative numbers right now, Eddie doesn’t want to be pushing a car that he’s hardly had the chance to take on track thus far.

However, all hobbies provide valuable lessons that can be applied across one’s life. If you’re into fitness, the principles of structured, consistent work to attain positive results are evident through years in the gym. Patience is a virtue, a notion emphasised by those who explore wildlife photography on the weekends. What about cooking? Amateur chefs will be quick to tell you that the perfect combination, lies in trial and error.

The automobile is unique, in that it serves as a product, an appliance and an experience all-in-one. You can purchase parts for one, while having it as a means of transportation, all while deriving the full spectrum of emotions before, during and after its utility has been served. The feelings you derive as a result of your car, sometimes have nothing to do with its primary act.

Those in the know will say that brakes dictate how serious a build is…

Most of us on the surface would see Eddie’s car simply as his tool to go really fucking fast around a racetrack, but for him, its taken on a specific role in his life. “She is a friend and a mentor, helping me form my attitudes and how I want to shape my life,” he told me after our shoot on a cold, Sunday morning at Eastern Creek. “The car means that my life needs to keep going, and I need to keep improving. When the car breaks down or suffers, it’s a reminder that we need to look after ourselves, and upgrade the areas we lack to make our lives more complete”.

The lessons we take away from motorsport and modification don’t need to be elaborated here, in my opinion they’re some of the most straightforward principles that can be applied to anybody’s life. Cause-and-effect, studying and repetition, solving problems, not the symptoms to name a few.

The sensations you feel while cornering an Evo, can’t find that in any other car.

Cars are so interesting because the term vehicle is used both literally and figuratively. Much like this blog, our rides are often the conduit to a much larger outcome. Achievements, milestones and important moments are all the end result of a journey, and for the enthusiast, their possession is often symbolic of this.

I’ve rarely seen Eddie with the car at any time, but his appreciation for what it means to him is undoubted.

Eddie agrees, “Cars bring different experiences to my life. Through them, I have broadened my horizons and done so much for my life, both personally and through other people”. Forays into the Simpson Desert with his Nissan Patrol, to finding his calling as a professional detailer after years on the fence studying at uni, and the pursuit to fulfil his childhood dream of owning a Time Attack Evo, it makes sense that Eddie feels this way.

Subtle but sinister, ducting on the headlights.

This is the part that most people from the outside looking in will struggle to understand, because these journeys are long, gratification is rarely around the corner and for the most part, the wins are small and seemingly insignificant to the untrained eye. However, those who form bonds with their vehicles will understand what it all represents: progression.

We’re blessed to have our cars represent the paths that we’ve taken, the destination they take us but most importantly, the lessons and memories that are formed along the way.