Prática de Shadowing: How Mitsubishi Terrorized Australia - Aprenda a falar inglês com vídeo
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Barely two months after New South Wales police took delivery of a small fleet of Subaru WRXs,
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Sydney's high-speed criminals have found a getaway car which will overtake them.
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The new preferred ram-raid weapon is Mitsubishi's 3000 GT Sports Coupe,
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which is so fast police have been told not to bother chasing it.
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In December of 1999, a special task force was created to combat the rise of robberies in New South Wales,
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the oldest and most populous state in Australia.
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were accustomed to small and nimble hot hatches being used in ram raids.
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But criminals found a new, more powerful and even faster car to challenge authorities.
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And it was Mitsubishi's premier sports coupe.
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When Mitsubishi's engineers started to design the 3000 GT, they had one intention in mind.
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To build a world beater.
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It had active aerodynamics, four-wheeled steering, electronically controlled suspension, all-wheel drive,
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and a twin turbocharged engine that gave it as much thrust as a Super Turbo or Skyline GTR of its era.
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But it lacked one important piece of technology, a security system.
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And once criminals figured it out, it began to terrorize the greater Sydney area for nights on end.
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It was a very obscure car to Australian authorities, but to the rest of the world, it was arguably the most badass 90s Japanese car of all time.
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This is the story of the Mitsubishi GTO, also known as the 3000 GT VR4, and also known as its drunk American cousin,
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the Dodge Stealth RT Turbo.
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This all started with a program by Mitsubishi Motor Company to dump absurd amounts of money into research
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and development to combat the big giants at the time, Nissan and Toyota.
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It was called the High Speed Research Program and this bred concept cars
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that were supposed to be what the future should look like in Japan.
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And they were pretty spicy.
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The first HSR in 1987 gave birth to the dual rear
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cam variant of the Ford G63T to be later used in the Gallant VR4
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and also 9 different generations of Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.
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The HSR2 in 1989 actually added two more cylinders
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and one extra turbo and then it had a top speed of 350 kmph.
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The engine powering it was called the 6G72.
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The HSR2's 6G72 differed from the naturally aspirated version with the addition of oil squirters to cool the lower compression dish pistons,
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better flowing intake and exhaust port design,
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and two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries TD-04 turbochargers that produced a modest 0.6 bar of boost after intercooling.
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The HSR didn't put an emphasis on this power plant, in fact you couldn't even see it.
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Its real evolution over the first HSR was active aerodynamics.
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It's obvious the HSR2 was never meant to be a production car, but what if you wrapped it in a very sleek,
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grand touring, Chrysler co-inspired design and sell it to the masses?
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Well then you get the HSX concept.
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The HSX wasn't even a concept in the traditional sense.
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It was the production car 99% ready to hit the road.
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The 6G72 Turbo V6 was detuned to 300 horsepower.
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The rear wing was redesigned and before production, the HSX name was dropped for one that would piss off the likes of Enzo Ferrari and Pontiac.
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It was called the GTO.
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In the United States and in Europe, it was called the 3000 GT.
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And Dodge had their own, it was called Jack Daniels, with turbos.
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The new all-wheel drive Stealth RT Twin Turbo.
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Excuse me, the Dodge Stealth.
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This technological marvel was the most advanced sports car out of Japan at the time.
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Viscous real-time four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering similar to Hi-Kiss on the R32 Skyline GTR.
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acceleration to 100 kilometers an hour was faster than the Honda NSX.
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And at 80 kilometers an hour the front air dam lowers 80 millimeters eliminating turbulence under the car
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and the rear spoiler angle is increased by 14 degrees to create negative lift which is what we know as downforce.
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And all that technology was condensed into a sleek grand touring package that undercut its contemporaries in price.
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The GTO slash 3000 GT VR4 should have been an obvious choice if you were cross-shopping Japanese sports cars at the time.
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Well, it had a slight little issue.
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It was heavy, weighing in at 1720 kilograms or 3,800 pounds, which in comparison to the weight of the Skyline GT-R,
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it was an absolute tank.
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When pushed to its limits in the corners, the transverse V6 all-wheel drive configuration
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showed its weakness with plenty of understeer as the weight distribution was nearly 60% over the front axle.
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Now just to clarify, the Nissan GT-R R32 did have 60% of its weight over the front axle
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and 40% over the rear axle.
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But the difference here is a Tesla ETS all-wheel drive.
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It can transfer up to 100% of the torque all the
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way to the rear axle to give you oversteer to make it fun to drive.
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Over its production cycle from the original Series 1 to the Series 2 and Series 3, it slowly shed those high-tech features like electronic suspension,
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active aerodynamics, and active exhaust flaps in an effort to save weight.
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The pop-up headlights were replaced with projector beams, and the engine was fortified with more boost and 4-bolt main caps.
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And the price kept creeping up as well.
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Now Mitsubishi did offer a superleggera-esque version of the GTO in Japan.
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It was called the GTO MR. MR stood for Mitsubishi Racing.
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The MR was lighter thanks to deleting all the tech except the all-wheel drive system,
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and it was famously quicker than the R33 GTR in a straight line. Where is it?
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Where is it?
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Toe!
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GTO!
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The GTO MR and N1 were mere blips in the JDM world, overshadowed by its little brother, the Lancer Evolution.
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In its last year of production in the United States, only 274 3000 GTVR4s were imported to the US.
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In the United Kingdom, only 125 were allowed to be imported per year, and everywhere they appeared a trend began to follow.
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They got stolen like a lot.
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The 3000 GT has a Japanese security system which basically relies on people being honest.
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There's certainly not a challenge to steal.
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At the 1994 British International Motor Show two 3000 GT VR4s
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that were on display by Mitsubishi motors were stolen from the exhibition center.
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One of the 3000 GTs was found in a lockup garage.
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Other would go on a high-speed chase with West Midlands police to eventually crash
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and the thieves escaped on foot before police arrived.
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I guarantee you somebody at Mitsubishi got fired for this.
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You're fired.
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These 3000 GTs from its beginning all the way till 1999 didn't They didn't have immobilizers.
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They just had a passive security system.
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So if you armed the security system and somebody either opened the hood, the trunk, or the doors,
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it would alarm, but you can still break the ignition interlock and still start it and drive away.
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Like, what is the point?
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The NRMA, which is the largest automotive insurance company in Australia at the time,
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gave the Mitsubishi 3000 GT security system a 7 out of 100.
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Even common cars like the The Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores scored more than 80 out of 100,
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which quantified how subpar Japanese car security systems really were even though they were high-level performers.
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This exploit would become a headache for New South Wales police
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over a two-week stretch from late November to early December of 1999,
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where four Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4s were stolen in Sydney's inner west.
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Now, two months prior, New South Wales police already deployed Subaru WRXs to combat the ram raids of the time.
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But these WRXs were full of police equipment
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and they were only automatics to abide with the occupational safety regulations of the time.
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So basically, you had slush box WRXs that were four
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or five hundred pounds overweight with extra people and equipment inside going after the 3000 GT VR4.
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You can't make this up.
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The Mitsubishis were so fast that chases would become a real danger to the public, so pursuing officers were told not to even bother chasing them.
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Eventually the four 3000GTs that terrorized New South Wales for two weeks just disappeared.
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Nobody knows if they eventually were stripped of parts or ended up in a junkyard somewhere, and I did a lot of digging.
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It was like Gotham City back in the 90s in Australia.
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I'm just gonna say it like that.
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The 3000 GT VR4 story doesn't stop here.
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It actually was successful in the US market when compared to the Mark IV Super Turbo and the FDRX7, only behind the 300ZX, making them much more common
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and decently affordable on the used market during the tuner craze of the 2000s.
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The 6G72 was stout in the Series 2 and 3 cars
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and could withstand 550 to 600 horsepower before needing to upgrade the rotating assembly.
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The 2JZ was the obvious king during this era, but you were going to pay double
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or triple just to experience it thanks to the Fast and the Furious exploding in the market.
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But even with all the shortcomings, it was a force to be reckoned with from a dig race, since it could put all the power down.
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Today they are just starting to crest the six figure mark for perfect example last model year cars.
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Something the Skylines and Supras have been doing for what seems like a decade at this point.
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But nonetheless, I don't think there's a JDM Big 3, the Supra, the Skyline, the RX-7.
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I think there's a Fantastic Four, and the Mitsubishi that goes by many names is one of them.
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Thank you.
O Cenário: Quando um Carro Esportivo Virou Herói dos Bandidos na Austrália
No vídeo, contamos a história do Mitsubishi 3000 GT, um carro esportivo tecnologicamente avançado que se tornou a arma preferida de criminosos em Sydney nos anos 90. Com motor twin turbo, tração integral e direção nas quatro rodas, ele era tão rápido que a polícia até foi avisada para não o perseguir. Mas o que realmente o tornou popular entre os bandidos? A falta de sistema de segurança. Essa história real mistura tecnologia, crime e curiosidades sobre carros, e é perfeita para praticar sua pronúncia e fluência em inglês.
Trechos Úteis e Colocações para Memorizar
- "High-speed criminals": Bandidos de alta velocidade. Uma combinação comum para descrever criminosos que usam carros rápidos.
- "Getaway car": Carro de fuga. Essa expressão é essencial em histórias de crimes e filmes policiais.
- "Active aerodynamics": Aerodinâmica ativa. Termo técnico usado em carros esportivos para descrever sistemas que ajustam a forma do veículo em movimento.
- "Twin turbocharged engine": Motor com dois turbos. Uma colocação chave para falar sobre potência em carros.
- "Detuned to 300 horsepower": Desacelerado para 300 cavalos de potência. Usado quando um motor é ajustado para ter menos potência que o projeto original.
Seu Desafio de Shadowing: Pratique Agora Mesmo!
O shadowing é uma técnica incrível para melhorar sua pronúncia e fluência: você ouve um trecho em inglês e repete imediatamente, imitando a entonação e o ritmo. Para começar, escolha um trecho de 30 segundos do vídeo (como a parte que fala sobre o motor 6G72). Use um shadowing site para ajudar a sincronizar sua voz com o áudio, ou simplesmente reproduza o vídeo e repita. Lembre-se: o objetivo é não apenas repetir as palavras, mas sim shadow speak – imitar a forma como o falante usa a voz, os pausas e a ênfase. Faça isso 5 vezes, e veja como sua confiança aumenta! Se quiser um desafio maior, tente shadowspeak com o trecho sobre a aerodinâmica ativa, que tem termos técnicos mais complexos. Praticar diariamente com esse tipo de conteúdo real vai fazer você se sentir mais confortável em situações de conversa em inglês.
O que é a Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing é uma técnica de aprendizado de idiomas com base científica, originalmente desenvolvida para o treinamento de intérpretes profissionais. O método é simples, mas poderoso: você ouve áudio em inglês nativo e repete imediatamente em voz alta — como uma sombra seguindo o falante com 1-2 segundos de atraso. Pesquisas mostram melhora significativa na precisão da pronúncia, entonação, ritmo, sons conectados, compreensão auditiva e fluência na fala.