For many months now the internet forums and social media channels have been abuzz with stories of a certain Mitsubishi Evo being built up in Queensland by an ex-Porsche Cup racer that goes by the name of “PROJECT NEMO”.

The rumours started flying around before WTAC 2011 and by early 2012 there was a YouTube video and Facebook page documenting much of the progress to date and confirming what many already knew – that this is quite possibly the most extreme build ever seen to date anywhere in the world.

Excited fans have been asking why we have not announced as a competitor for the World Time Attack earlier. The answer is simple; neither we, nor the owner were comfortable announcing the car until we were fairly sure that it would be finished and actually entering.This has now been officially confirmed.



The man behind this madness is Queensland-based entrepreneur Chris Eaton and we caught up with him as he and his team were putting the final touches to the car before they head out and start the testing program in the lead-up to WTAC 2012.

Superlap Australia: This build is something the tuner community worldwide have been waiting to see for a while now. Tell us a bit about how this project came to fruition.



Chris Eaton: We have been shocked and humbled by the way the public has embraced Nemo around the world. We never thought we would create a car that would conjure such emotion amongst such a wide audience. All from our base in Queensland!

It all started in May 2010 when a few of my mates came back from watching the 2010 World Time Attack Challenge. They were talking about this amazing event they had been to, and how they were going to enter and be a part of it in 2011. Having been in the local Queensland Time Attack for a while, we thought we had to be in the big event as well.

As the car we had been competing in had a rear mounted horizontally apposed 6 cylinder motor we had to find another make. My mates are all tracking either Evos or Porsche 911s so we decided that it had to be an Evo.



It took about 2 weeks to find the right car in Japan. We never dreamt of building something like this at the start. If we had, I don’t think we would have started on her, the journey she has taken us on so far has been surreal.

The real starting point for her was fixing the inherent issues with the suspension geometry and a set of front uprights, from there it took a path and a life of its own, that I have to say has introduced me to new aspects of motorsports but more importantly to a lot of new close friends from around the world.



SA: Tell us a bit about the crew you have had involved with building the car.

CE: We initially had a false start with the car, but I was lucky enough to be introduced to Tony Porter from Porter Fabrications. Tony had originally been a lead fabricator at Stone Brothers Racing, and one of his close mates Nathan Leech (whom from here on in will be know as G), had also been at Stones. They are both responsible for a slew of other amazing cars but one standout is the rebuilding of Eric Bana’s “The Beast”. They are responsible for the suspension design, engineering and fabrication of almost the entire car.

To say Tony embraced this build like it was his own is an understatement. He made this build possible, when I think many would have stopped or turned back. By luck, beside one of Tony’s mates was Brad Cawthorne. Brad is a composite extraordinaire and has completed a lot of work on V8supercars and also on the offshore boat scene as well.



We were part way through the body kit fabrication when Alex and Dave of GT Auto Garage introduced us to Andrew Brilliant. That was probably the turning point for the car. It provided an important piece of the puzzle that we probably didn’t even know was really missing. Tony and G introduced me to Andy McElrea of McElrea Racing. Many people would know Andy as a driver, but Andy is also a Team owner whom has had a lot to do with again those rear horizontally apposed 6 cylinder motor cars.



Once Andy saw some of the work being completed on Nemo, he was hooked. Again luck stepped in and he had a guy from his home country of NZ, James Marshall whom has a lot of Time Attack experience in NZ and also a considerable amount of knowledge on Evos and WRXs. James and Leigh (The Team Manager at McElrea’s) are responsible under Andy for the assembly, setup and running of Nemo for us.

There are many other people that have been apart of the build, like my mates whom have toiled endless hours in the build. But that is really more than half the fun. Building it, Nemo is really a part of all of our DNA now.



SA: We are told much of the car was built around the aero package, is that correct?

CE: Andrew has been a massive part of this build, he was essentially the part that tied it all together and this has been integral in making Nemo what she is. When we started, we had very little idea of aero, and in particular on sedans.



In Australia, the classes competing are all very limited by Aero, they are so controlled they really have no Aero at all. When I spoke to G about it he said look to DTM and GT cars for inspiration. Then we met Andrew.

He saw the potential in Nemo immediately. As we were working towards a car that was chassis-wise superior to most other TA cars, it screamed for an integrated Aero solution. Andrew spent 2 days at Brad’s looking at the car and coming up with solutions.



Initially it was solutions that he thought we could cope with. It wasn’t long before he saw we were like sponges that wanted more. He provided more and then started to push the boundaries of Aero. Andrew’s single goal is for Nemo to be the test bed to produce the highest downforce car that has ever been created, not just in TA but in any form of Motorsport or otherwise.