Saturday Night Special
4B Motorsports Suzuki Swift GT Dominates the Series.
Editor/Story/Photo: Eric Bewley
The Journey to the checkered flag at Indy doesn’t begin with the words, “Start your engines.” Countless hours, day ,and years go into design and development. Endless toil by suppliers, pit crews, and drivers push race-car designs to their limits. Sometimes, the journey begins with a lone individual, in a small garage, with little money, but a big dream.
The 4B Motorsports team in it’s second year of campaigning their Suzuki Swift GT has learned plenty. With hours of hard work, new products and ideas from sponsors such as Hawk Strictly Suzuki, CALMINI, and Hunzeker Chevrolet, and knowledge gained at the race track. The 4B Motorsports Swift has become a tough act to beat.
Behind the glitter and glow of IRL, Cart, and Nascar works an army of racers like the 4B team. In just about every county in the United States, Saturday night means racing at the local track. The fans are fierce, the cars are homemade, and the perks… what perks? Prize money is low for most events. The real thrill is making something you built with your own hands perform the best it can and the sense of satisfaction one receives when one whoops one’s buddies butt at the track.
For this year’s battles, the Swift has had the Hawk Strictly Suzuki 1.3B engine freshened up with a set of new bearings, rings, and water pump. A freshened Samurai 8-valve head was used that has been shaved, ported, and has the larger 1.6 8-valve exhaust valves installed.
Improved handling came from CALMINI with a full set of their bolt on strut tower braces. During last year, the car would wobble and bend so hard in the corners that the sheet metal rivets on the fuel cell cover would pop out during a race. Now, the car is completely solid and is able to run any groove on the track. Another upgrade this year was switch to a set of Kumho D.O.T. racing tires provided by Hunzeker Chevrolet. This new ‘stick’ combined with a the braced rigid chassis has made an unbeatable combination.
With only six races to go in the season the 4B team is a top the points leader board and is consistently timing in with the top 5 cars. A field that is 20+ cars deep including Hondas, Ford Mustangs and Pintos are finding themselves chasing the smallest yet most agile car out there.
Do you have a Suzuki participating in a Motor Sport or know some one that does? If so, contact us.
