Some may have seen this little black dot approaching them really quickly in the rear view mirror, usually, on Sepang. The Suzuki Swift 1.5 is far from being a slow car, even in stock form. Despite the car’s nippy performance, the obsession for track timings has convinced Aaron to make is Swift… well, Swift-er.

They say that what you drive reflects on your personality. Being the practical and sensible man, Aaron chose to focus on areas of his car that make the biggest difference. you might think that a track enthusiast would go straight for a manual gearbox, but surprise, this car is equipped with an automatic gearbox.

While having an automatic means a comfortable, fuss-free daily drive, it’s hard to feel engine power upgrades due to the nature of a torque converter based four-speed gearbox. Hence, Aaron focused most of his upgrades to the components that matter: Handling and cooling.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t fiddle around in the engine bay first. Instead of power upgrades – his tune ups were geared towards giving the engine a livelier response to the throttle. An enlarged air intake plus a custom ceramic coated and bored Swift Sport air intake manifold handle all the high-rpm air requirements, plus a new, less-restrictive muffler for less exhaust back pressure.

Lightened crank pulleys may be the rage for performance enthusiasts, but this Swift features a unique mod: A large diameter water pump pulley reduces the load on the engine – which robs less power to run the water pump effectively. Also, upgraded spark cables for the maximum spark performance. In order to prevent any blow-by oil from fouling the air intake, Aaron opted to install an oil catch tank instead.

Normally, most naturally aspirated cars with bolt-on air and exhaust upgrades will tend to see a drop in low-RPM performance. This Swift sees that the bottom end of the RPM range is well-taken care of with the GReddy E-manage and V-manage which are tuned to reduce power loss.

One of the biggest problems for a track day enthusiast? Heat. While the stock cooling system is robust enough to handle track duties, a new thermostat finds its way into the system, which opens up at lower temperatures, and has a higher opening as well, for increased coolant flow. The cap has been changed to a 1.3 Bar unit, which increases the boiling point of the coolant for an extra degree of protection.

With all the powertrain details sorted, Aaron’s next obsession was the handling of his car. Watching it bounce about as it approached, we were certain about one thing , it rides harder than a Swift Sport. How hard? How does a spring rate that is over two times the Swift Sport sound like? It may sound like a ton of butthurt, but on the buttery smooth Sepang, this hardcore coilover setup kept the Swift firmly planted to the track without very little hint of body roll – and rotates very well too.

All the suspension work is further enhanced through a rigid backbone – While a stock Swift has built in compliance to deliver a comfy ride, this car has everything thrown out of the window with mods to keep the flex to a minimum and keep the suspension working hard. Going beyond the various stiffening bars, a rigid collar kit was fitted to the front and rear to keep the joints firmly in place – which ensured that the tuned suspension geometry remains spot-on constantly. This keeps the car’s handling more predictable.

To aid the handling of the car, it sits on a wider wheel base thanks to the 15x7j +35mm wheels on custom 10mm wheel spacers at the front to aid in front-end stability. As the Swift runs on a torsion beam rear suspension, camber adapters were used to change the rear camber to a negative 2.3 degrees to prevent the rear wheels from breaking away in the corners.

Braking was not overlooked, with the sad stock brake calipers making way for big and beefy four-piston options from Wilwood with enlarged rotors and high-temperature brake pads to prevent fade from constant heavy braking. To keep the rear end from squirming, the rear drums received uprated shoes to compliment the increased front braking power, without having to resort to a much more expensive disc conversion.

We had the opportunity to ride this little rocket at a trackday once – and it was a complete hooligan. This Swift may only lose out to the big boys on the straight, but it could brake late into the corners, and the wide stance meant that Aaron can get on the power while still being halfway through a corner.

Further augmenting this well-thought out modification process, we were forced to brake and swerve to avoid a potential accident, while negotiating one of the fastest turns on Sepang. Despite going hard on the brakes and a quick flick of the steering wheel, this Swift was so planted, that other than a little tyre protest, we avoided some an incident with a turbo hatchback with overly-dark windows that the driver couldn’t see another car overtaking him in broad daylight.

Did we say we were going to overtake a turbo hatchback, on a fast corner in Sepang? Why yes. This car is a go kart, but with all the daily creature comforts. Most importantly, it dances brilliantly at the hands of its owner who has no fear of pushing the limits of physics. While Aaron is constantly being egged by jokes of having to crawl over humps, being shaken on the rough normal roads and denied entry to many carparks, sometimes you just have live with sacrificing some minor things in life to fully enjoy the ultimate happiness, 3’01″205 at a time.

Suzuki Swift 1.5A
Engine
HKS Performance Racing Suction HKS Intake, Cusco Progressive Equipment Oil Catch Tank, Monster Sport Water Pump Pulley, R’s Racing Service Middle Range Thermostat, Suzuki Sport Racing Racing Plug Cord, Blitz 1.3 BAR pressure radiator cap, Trust Greddy Water Temperature Sensor Adapter, Neodymium Magdrain Bolt, GReddy E-Manage Ultimate and V-Manage, Apexi N1 Evolution Muffler, Customized Suzuki OEM Ceramic Coated / Bored Suzuki Swift Sport ZC31S Intake Manifold

Undercarriage
WedsSport TC105N Silver (15″, PCD 4 x 100, 7j, +35), BF Goodrich G-Force Rival Extreme Performance Tyres (205/50/15), ARP Extended Wheel Studs (Pitch M1.5) Rays Engineering
Open Faced Lug Nuts (Pitch M1.5), Tryforce Japan G-Effect ZC Pro Coilover (w Pillowball Mounts) [F10kg/R14kg], Spoon Sports Rigid Collar Subframe Collar Kit (Front & Rear), Sunline Racing Inner Brace, Wilwood 4 Pot Dynalite Calipers with 292mm Rotors, ACRE Super Light Sport Brake Drum Shoes, Goodridge Steel braided brake lines, EBC Brakes’Yellow Stuff’ High Temp. Brake Pads (0 – 800 degrees), Trust Greddy Rear Camber Adapters (-2.3 degrees) Cusco Front Anti Roll/Sway Bar, Rear Anti Roll/Sway Bar, Front Strut/Tower Bar, Rear Strut/Tower Bar, Four Point Middle Underbrace, Laile Beatrush Roof Bar, To-Box VS One B-Pillar Cabin Floor Bar, Custom 10mm Wheel Spacers

Exterior
Trust Greddy Carbon Fibre Spoiler, OEM PU Lower Lip, Suzuki Swift Sport [ZC31S] Sideskirts, Scrit Rear Diffuser for Swift ’08, Chargespeed Sideskirt extensions, Ganador Aero Mirrors, Laile Beatrush Underpanel Aero Tray

Interior
Laile Beatrush Steering Rack Spacers, Nardi Personal Neo Grinta 350mm Leather Steering Wheel Daikei Turn Signal Assistor, Razo Aluminium Shift Knob, Zoom Engineering Monaco Rear View Mirror, Bride Ze
ta III Full Bucket Seat, Cuga Semi Bucket Seat, FO Type Rails (Dr
iver), Customised Rails (Passenger), Takata Corporation 6 Point FIA Harness, HKB Boss Kit, Works Bell Quick Release Kit [Red/Black], HKS Turbo Timer Type 1, Defi Advance CR 52mm Advance Control Unit, Water Temperature, Oil Temperature, Oil Pressure, Pioneer DEH-P80RS Head Unit, Suzuki Sport Racing 52mm Gauge Pod Holder, Footrest Shield (AT), Swift Sport pedals (Brake/Accelerator)