Took an evo w/ my z/28 from roll. The evo runs strong complements of 19lbs of boost but runs outa gear at higher speed - function of the close gearing/small tire height... Wanted to run from a stop to see what it could do out of the hole but he wouldn't do it.
It comes down to pretty much a drivers race. The LS1 has the torque advantage, evo is lighter. Spin wheels on the LS1 and the evo is gone, will have to run it down. Launch the evo @5+ grand to get the jump and soon the clutch is gone.
19lbs of boost on a 4 banger is not good in terms of long term reliabilty. Clutches seem to be a sore point (one guy said he was on his third clutch in a few months-WTF??) Couple in the not so great reliability track record of mitsu ... Time will tell....
For the cost of an evo I'd rather get a turbo Supra or a supercharged Cobra. Both have forged internals and lots of potential for big HP... Both will smoke the evo and can take on additional boost without breaking a sweat. The LS1 fbody is the best bang for the buck. GM corked up the fbody LS1 to keep it out of vette territory (same engine). Its deadly with just an intake, headers and exhaust.
Bottom line is you can make even a honda civic run like a bat out of hell with high boost or NOS but it won't last... A naturally aspirated larger displacement engine is not working nearly as hard and still putting out higher output.
Its just a matter of physics...