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Mitsubishi Starion The Mitsubishi Starion is a two door, turbocharged four cylinder rear wheel drive five seat sports car that was in production from 1982 to 1990 throughout various locations around the world, and also marketed in North America as the Dodge Conquest. Although preceded by earlier turbocharged designs such as the Saab 99 (1978) and the Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 Turbo, it is still considered to be the origin of modern Japanese turbo-charged performance automobiles. Background The Starion's appearance in 1982 during a period in which a number of Japanese Grand Tourer (GT) Sports car's were increasing in popularity signalled the effective beginning of the turbocharger era. Launched to a marketplace against the other Grand Tourer's of the era, including the Nissan 300ZX, Mazda RX-7 and Toyota Supra, its turbocharged four cylinder engine enabled it to outperform its competitors in almost every category, many models of which later came with turbochargers themselves. Yet perhaps the most notable feature of the Starion was the origin of the name. According to an apocryphal story, the car was originally intended to be named the Stallion, in accord with the equine theme that Mitsubishi Motors was using at the time (e.g. Mitsubishi Colt, Mitsubishi Lancer), but the name was recorded incorrectly due to the Japanese pronunciation of the letter "L". Mitsubishi Motors stated instead that the name was an amalgamation of the phrase "Star of Orion", and that it was related to the series of models with similarly mellifluous but meaningless names (e.g. Tredia, similarly contracted from "three diamonds", and Cordia) and internal combustion engines with similar names (e.g. Sirius, Astron) being introduced at the time. On the other hand, Mitsubishi subsequently named one model the Pajero, which means masturbator in Spanish, and other models the "Lettuce", "Town Bee", "Pistachio" and "McTwist", precluding any analysis of the reasoning behind their model names. Despite the problems with the name, and subsequent poor sales throughout its production history, the Starion was received well by the motoring media who typically saw it as the harbinger of the turbocharger era. During production, the Starion was produced in both a narrowbody and widebody design. The design proved durable, and few changes were made between models, with only simple improvements demarking the change from one model to the next. In the United States market, there was only one major change when the car was upgraded to the TSi model, featuring an intercooler and five-bolt wheels replacing the four-bolt wheels it had inherited from the rear wheel drive Galant Lambda. Without any obvious flaws, the design was not without drawbacks. At the time, Mitsubishi opted for the Mitsubishi Astron engine with Single Overhead Cam design (SOHC) rather than the dual cam head, and also for a throttle-body fuel injection setup which mixed the fuel with the air prior to entering the plenum chamber. The design was somewhat unusual however, and didn't have widespread appeal. It may have been due to this factor that the Starion never brought Mitsubishi Motors the success it desired in the marketplace to match the vehicles success on the racing circuit. Production ceased entirely by 1990, and the successor, the Starion GTO - was fitted with the mechanicals of the recently demonstrated Mitsubishi HSX Sports Coupe concept vehicle. The result was named the 3000GT, and the era of the Starion was left behind. Many of the performance features of the Starion were integrated into later vehicles, and can be found in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution racing vehicles, in the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 and the Mitsubishi Eclipse in the US Market. Models A number of models existed throughout the World during the period from 1982 to 1990. Australia - 2.0 L 4G63 engine. - JA - 1982 - 1984
- JB - 1984 - 1985
- JD - 1985 - 1987
Japan - 2.0 L 4G63 engine, apart from GSR-VR which has 2.6 L 4G54 engine. - GSR-I, GSR-X, etc - 1982-1984
- GSR-II, GSR-III - 1985-1986 - can be distinguised from the earlier starions by driving lights in the front bumper
- GSR-V - 1986-1987 - some had sirius dash engine
- GSR-VR - 1987-1988 (widebody)
United States - 2.6 L 4G54 engine. Mitsubishi Chrysler and Dodge Conquest TSi Europe With the exception of Australia, many models were available as either narrowbody or widebody shell styles. Overview Starions are a FR design - Front mounted engine, Rear wheel drive, as are most sports cars. Many came with a limited slip differential and antilock brakes (single channel rear wheel only) as standard features. The entire chassis was derived from the previous high performance variant of the Mitsubishi Sapporo or Galant Lambda sports coupe, with MacPherson strut front suspension and independent rear suspension. Engine capacity was typically 2.6 litres, although the Australian model was fitted with the now well-known 4G63 2.0 L engine, subsequently featured in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series of racing automobiles. Seating was a 2+3 arrangement, although the rear seats are not too suitable for large adults. The front seats were adjustable for lumbar, angle, knee support, position and featured variable-angle side-braces. One of the more unusual features was that the seatbelts were located in the doors for the driver and front passenger, and some US and European models also featured electrically operated seatbelts. A five speed transmission was standard in most models, however automatic models were sold as an option in some markets. The Cd or coefficient of drag was around 0.32 - quite efficient for the era, and although quite angular, the aerodynamics in general were exceptional at the time. Trim levels Trim levels varied from country to country, however leather seats were common in most countries. Motorsports The Starion was a prominent competitor in motorsports up to International level during the 1980s and performed well on the circuit in Group A and Group N races of the era. Although not that commonly used in modern motorsports, a number are still raced on both circuit and in special stage rally events, usually by privateers. The Starion was equally successful offroad, and found victory in Group A World Rally Championships and Asia Pacific Rally Championships, during 1987 and 1988. An all wheel drive version of the Starion was also produced for Group B specifications (one of the few Japanese automobile manufacturers to enter this class), but after an encouraging start as a prototype was not homologated before the FIA banned Group B cars for safety reasons. The Starion was converted to all wheel drive by adding a strengthened transfer box from a Pajero behind the transmission. This configuration allowed the engine to be situated well back in the chassis, for improved front/rear weight distribution compared to the Audi Quattro, whose configuration requires the engine to be far forward in the car. Although the wheelbase did not change, the use of regular headlights rather than the production model's popup headlights allowed the nose to be six inches shorter, as well as saving several pounds. Further weight was saved by the use of carbon fiber for the driveshafts, sumpguard, and lower arms of the suspension, and fiberglass for the hood, tailgate, door skins, wings, bumpers and spoilers, resulting in a final weight of less than 1,000 kilograms, lighter than the Audi Quattro. The car was developed with a turbocharged and intercooled version of Mitsubishi's two-litre fuel injected engine, but the final goal was to use a turbocharged and intercooled 350 horsepower version of the Sirius Dash engine that Mitsubishi announced at the 1983 Tokyo motor show, which switched electronically at 2,500 RPM from one inlet valve per cylinder to two. The car was campaigned for Mitsubishi by Team Ralliart in Essex, Great Britain, under rally veteran Andrew Cowan and engineer Alan Wilkinson, who had developed the Audi Quattro for Audi Sport UK. Major Results Circuit International - 1984 Australian Super Touring Car Series Champion
- 1984 SCCA Nelson Ledge 24 hours Race 1st
- 1985 British Saloon Car Championship 2nd in championship
- 1985 Guia Race in Macau Grand Prix 3rd
- 1985 Guia Race in Macau Grand Prix 4th
Japan - 1985 Inter TEC (JTC) 4th
- 1986 SUGO Group A 300km Race (JTC) 3rd
- 1986 Race de Nippon Tsukuba (JTC) 1st
- 1986 Suzaka 300km Race (JTC) 2nd
- 1986 All Japan Touring Car Championship 2nd in championship
- 1987 All Japan Touring Car Race (JTC) 1st
- 1987 GHiland Touring Car 300km Race (JTC) 1st
- 1987 All Japan Touring Car Championship 3rd in championship
- 1988 Hiland Touring Car 300km Race (JTC) 2nd
- JTC=All Japan Touring Car Championship
Major Results Rally Starion 4WD (1984–1986) - 1983 Paris-Dakar Rally 1st in Experimental Class
- 1984 Milles Piste Rally (French Rally Championship) 1st in Prototype Category
- 1986 Hong Kong - Beijing Rally 2nd
Starion Turbo (1987–1988) - 1987 Qutar Rally (Middle East Rally Championship) 3rd
- 1987 Kuwait Rally (Middle East Rally Championship) 3rd
- 1987 Rally Cote d' Ivoire (World Rally Championship) 4th
- 1987 Himalayan Rally 1st
- 1987 Oman Rally (Middle East Rally Championship) 3rd
- 1988 Scottish Rally (British Rally Championship) 4th
- 1988 Rally New Zealand (Asia Pacific Rally Championship) 4th
Starion
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