Track Suit 51 - Hot Stuff Dec 2004

It is all about balance and poise not brute strength and ungainly GT wings. This is an example of how it is entirely possible to clock off 2 minutes and 45 seconds lap times on the Sepang F1 circuit within the confines of a small budget with the base model WRX.

Michael's F1 Ferrari weighs in at 600kg. Our WRX breaks the scale at 1,400kg. To go around any track fast, weight is the biggest enemy. Bengs of yesteryears in their Civis are no stranger to this phenomenon. They strip their car totally bare in an effort to reduce weight making sitting in it like getting your hair cut with a lawn mower. Noisy but effectively fast nevertheless. Our executive driven WRX will have all its sound insulation and creature comforts intact which means custom fiber glass parts have to be the order of the day. First to go is the heavy sheet metal boot. A feather weight fiber glass boot with an integrated rear wing sits perfectly in its place providing sufficient rear end downforce. A custom air intake system, exhaust guards and the pillar gauge mounts are all fabricated with carbon fiber. The craftiest use of fiber by far is in the custom brake ducts. On the track having good brakes is just as important as having lots of power. The brake ducts blow the rotors clamped by Mintex M1166 pads to give laps of fade-free braking.

We have done our best to reduce centrifugal forces during cornering by lightening the car, the rest has to be handled by the suspension and chassis setup. Lowering the center of gravity and reducing body roll are a set of top of the line Cusco Comp 02R coil overs, a stiffer Cusco rear sway bar and a Cusco H brace to improve body rigidity. The setup banishes evil understeer to far corners of the galaxy. Charge hard down the straight, brake late and turn in to the apex with poise and balance. The composure through the corner is impeccable allowing our driver to point the nose in the right direction before powering out.Power going to the wheels comes from a stock factory EJ20 block with an equally stock TD-04 turbo force feeding the hot and humid air into the cylinders. Extra motivation is extracted by a TurboXS UTEC. This simple yet effective ECU package controls fuelling, ignition timing and boost all in one neat box. Many nights were spent tuning the car to extract maximum power with out expensive hardware upgrades. The overly rich fuel mixtures that come from the factory were painstakingly massaged by the TXS UTEC, removing all the flat spots making the rev needle sweep across to the red zone effortlessly. Ignition timing increase together with a raise in boost levels bump the torque curve higher through out the rev band. The problem with more ignition timing and boost is that you need higher quality petrol to prevent the engine from detonating itself to death. Broquet Fuel Catalyst addresses the problem perfectly. Broquet gives the effect of using higher octane petrol. This in turn makes any car much less susceptible to detonating. All new computer controlled cars come equipped with knock sensors to detect detonation and once it senses knock, which we cannot hear, the ECU will start to retard ignition timing and injects more fuel to reduce knock levels, robbing your car of power. Same with this WRX, knock prevention is of up most importance. A Boquet BoostMASTER High-Flow combined with Broquet In-tank units mix with the fuel improving the burn characteristics to the point where the turbo spools faster and throttle response is razor sharp. Also, driving to areas where petrol is not as high grade as Singapore does not pose a problem when Broquet is used.


In the cabin, Defi gauges line the custom-made A-pillar, feeding vital information about the engine running parameters. The Defi VSD heads up display allows our driver to keep his eyes on the road while monitoring his entry speed into the corners. Overall this is brilliant example of a daily drive which you can take out to the track on the weekends and have the occasional blast.

A director of a MNC in the automotive industry had the opportunity on 2 weekends to ride shot gun with our executive WRX owner. Here are his candid comments.

"Having worked in the automotive industry for the last eight years, you would expect that I would be fully prepared for the excitement and ride quality delivered by the combination of a well tuned, beautifully balanced Subaru Impreza WRX, I was oh so wrong!! By no means were we the fastest nor most powerful car on the track, on the contrary we were in fact one of the slowest in straight line speed. Having a good driver behind the wheel who can exploit the potential of the car is so important on the track. I experienced intensely exciting out braking maneuvers coupled with excellent handling round the bends followed by just the correct amount of power to punch us out the corner. Hurtling down the Sepang start/finish straight, watching the more powerful, heavier cars brake earlier than us while we shot by them. We entering a sequence of turns ahead of the pack and pull away subsequently, it's a feeling to remember. A true testament of a fine car, driver and of course the top notch products."