WHAT’S IN THE WORKSHOP – COX AUTOMOTIVE

What’s in the Workshop – Cox Automotive

TCR Australia driver Jordan Cox has had a pretty nifty project in his workshop and it promises to be one of the quickest entries in the class.

By HEATH McALPINE

‘The Zook’ as it is affectionately named is Cox’s Honda Civic replacement and promises to be as spectacular Improved Production entry to the one that shot the Sydney-based mechanic to prominence.

During this hiatus from racing, Cox has used the time to develop the Suzuki Swift, which was actually his first race car. As recently covered in a previous The Cost of Racing feature (issue #1789), Cox explained the modifications made to this rapid Suzuki.

“The engine is probably the proudest part of the car,” Cox said. “It’s the simple and cheapest part of the car.

“The engine is a standard 1.3-litre head with a set of cams, I got a 1.6-litre block from a later model Suzuki to the twin cam head because it’s a bolt on fit. We run standard cast pistons, put a set of rings and bearings in it, and upgraded the rods [and on a side note, a WRC-spec turbo].

“I got introduced to an engineer in Nowra, who made up what I drew up in terms of suspension pick up points to lower the car to the 100mm ride height rule and then we changed the roll centre, bump steer, aero-grade tie rods and bearings. I found a different upright off a different model Suzuki that had better stiffness and geometry. This is also including the non-adjustable Bilstein shocks.

“Although these didn’t make the car a whole lot quicker, it was nice to drive, better on its tyres and easier to make set-up changes.”

Brakes are Spoon 4-pot on the front and Wilwood 2-pots for the rear with machined hubs and adaptors. Electronics are a MoTeC M1 ECU, CDL3 display and E888 expander.

The aero has also been improved with a new spoiler and front splitter combo being added.

Anyway, with all those mods combined, the Swift is a potent package. Cox completed a test recently at Wakefield Park where it set some stunning times.

“It went surprisingly well,” said Cox.

“The whole question mark surrounding the build of it and if it would last, not so much the pace of it. It ticked two very important boxes last week, it was quick and it didn’t break!”

But how did it compare to the leaders of the class?

“It’s definitely at the frontrunning pace of the state level or even more so at a national level it’d be considered a top five,” Cox explained.

“We’re 0.3s away from the lap record at Wakefield Park, which is a very strong lap record.”

The first race meeting for the new and improved Swift is at Sydney Motorsport Park on August 1-2 ahead of Cox’s maiden full-season TCR Australia tilt with Garry Rogers Motorsport in its Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR.

As racing gets back underway, What’s In The Workshop will continue albeit in a staggered manner.

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