There are those cars that are crying out to be modified, and those that you accept as they are. The Suzuki Whizzkid (or SC100 GX to use it's posh name) would, to most of us, come in the latter category.There are those cars that are crying out to be modified, and those that you accept as they are. The Suzuki Whizzkid (or SC100 GX to use it's posh name) would, to most of us, come in the latter category.
But not to Janspeed. When an owner decided he wanted to add some urge to his Whizzkid - and this particular gentleman also had a Ferrari Boxer (his 15th Ferrari!) then who are Janspeed to question the idea? So our well heeled owner, who prefers to remain anonymous for reasons too complex to bore you with, bought the little Suzuki, and felt it was ripe for a little something. That little something turned out to be a Janspeed modified engine, Pirelli P7 tyres and wheels to match and numerous other detail improvements. Now, the Whizzkid is a fairly charismatic little car - but, it has to be said, not without it's shortcomings. With dimensions a shade longer and narrower and no less than 4 inches lower than a mini, accommodation is one of them. If you're under 6 foot tall, and are on good terms with your passenger, fine. But anybody who attempts to sit in the back will not love you for it. Sub ten year olds or luggage would be about the lot.
It performs respectably for a 970cc car, and brings a new meaning to economy motoring.
When Janspeed were asked to breathe some fire into the engine, they first put the standard item on their rolling road. With a maximum figure of just 26 BHP at the rear wheels (rear-engine, rear-wheel drive) they had nothing to beat.
A stage one cylinder head was Janspeed's opener - gas flowed with reprofiled valves and matched to the manifolds. The latter were both fabricated, the exhaust to mate up with the one off exhaust system and the inlet to accomodate a pair of Dellorto's neat little 35DHL8 carburettors. Standard carburation on the Whizzkid is a tiny Mikuni downdraught.
Back on the rolling road for a jetting session and a final set of power figures resulting in a staggering 60 percent improvement at 5,500 RPM. The actual figures are as follows:
Two Dellorto twin-choke carbs
| TEST RESULTS | R/T | Std |
| 0-30mph | 4.2 sec | 4.9 sec |
| 0-60mph | 12.8 sec | 19.2 sec |
| 0-70mph | 23.5 sec | 30.4 sec |
| Maximum Speed | 91 mph | 78 mph |
| 4th gear 30-50mph | 18.5 sec | 13.9 sec |
In order to handle this rice-pudding-skin-removing power, 13 inch Kiwi wheels and P7 tyres were used in conjunction with Koni dampers and uprated brakes (DS 11 pads and VG 95 linings).
We bolted our 5th wheel to the little one on a rainy day at Silverstone to clock a few performance figures. I managed to fold Andy Kirk into the passenger seat and off we went round the rain soaked track.
The Whizzkid is reminiscent of those post war Renault 750s and Dauphines, with amazingly direct steering, buzzy rear engine and wand-like gear change. Great fun and, in this case, the road-holding far outstripped the performance, which was good, but not earth-shattering.
As you can see from the figures, the zero to sixty has dropped from a lacklustre 19.2 to a very creditable 12.8 seconds and similar improvement comes to 70 MPH. Maximum speed could only be estimated - over 100 MPH had been mentioned, but I think this was based on a highly optimistic speedo. Just over 90 MPH was our feeling, and the rest of the figures supported this.
There was a trade off for this performance. Top gear figures were markedly worse than standard. With the vastly increased throttle venturi size on the two Dellortos, gas speeds at lower revs must be lower and this affects the mid-range snap-throttle response.
It has to be asked, why bother to squeeze more performance from such a slow car to start with? As the mountaineer said "because it was there", I'll drink to that.
Article previously published in "Hot Car" September 19836 January 2003