Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-Powered Yaris: More Racing, More Upgrades

We told you about Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-powered Yaris back in February. However, since then, there's been a host of updates and upgrades.

Firstly, owner, Tom Armstrong, has been doing a lot more SCCA Solo II autocross. He's been doing pretty darn well, too. This includes a recent first-place in Street Modified (SMF) on April 17. That makes five races with four wins, plus a third-place on the National Tour. He's now got a strong lead in the overall regional SMF category. But that's not all that Tom's been up to.

Subcompact Showcase: Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-Swapped Toyota Yaris Sedan

A few months ago, I wrote about Tom Armstrong and how he yanked out the 1.5-liter 1NZ-FE engine in his Yaris hatchback for a more powerful 2ZR-FE engine found in the Scion xD and Toyota Corolla, instantly upping the thrust by 26%. Now he's done it again. This time he's documented the swap and created the 2ZR-FE engine swap guide on Yarisworld.com. He also decided to swap the engine in a Yaris sedan for some four-door fun.

Armstrong Racing's 2ZR-FE-powered Yaris sedan lining up to start an autocross run.

Modifications to this killer subcompact sedan include Micro Image springs, Tokico HP dampers, a TRD rear sway bar, Whiteline bushings, and a custom alignment. The swapped Yaris rides on 15x7 Enkei RPF1 wheels and 225/45ZR15 Hankook RS3 V2 tires. And how about that old-school Toyota racing livery? It looks right at home on the Yaris.

Once up and running, Tommy took his tarted-up Yaris to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego for an SCCA autocross and did quite well. In fact, he won the SMF (Street Mod FWD) class with his setup. Check out the finesse at 1:30, too!



Tom also daily drives this car 80 miles a day and says he's averaging about 30 MPG with the setup, plus there are no check engine lights. He'd like to thank the racing community, who has been very supportive. "They never made fun of the Yaris!" he said. Of course he adds that it's street racers and "car meet people" that make fun, not real racers. And why should they? Especially after a first-place run. The proof is in the pudding.

I still find it amazing that no one had done this engine swap before, especially since the car was sold this way in other markets. But we give Tom and Armstrong Racing big kudos for doing the swap and continuing to blaze trails and search for performance in the Yaris realm.

Oregon SCCA Solo (autocross) Event #2

The rain held out, and the weather was great for event #2 held May, 3. There were a lot of cars, but everyone ended up with three timed runs and one "fun run." The 'ol Yaris did pretty well, although on parts of the course, I couldn't decide whether it was better to leave it in 1st gear and hit the rev limiter, or if I should put it into 2nd and not have a whole lot of power.

Anyway, there were a few other subcompacts that participated including a couple of MINI Coopers, a 1979 Civic CVCC, and an EP-classed VW Rabbit. Check out the videos below, including the supercharged Mazda Miata, which is a monster. Unfortunately, the way the track is setup, you can really only capture the first half of the track, as the second half goes behind a building. And if you were wondering what the noise in the background was, there was an Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) race on the road course.









LINKS
Oregon SCCA

Oregon-region SCCA autocross: Sunday, May 3

The Oregon-region SCCA is hosting autocross event #2 on Sunday, May 3 at Portland International Raceway's South Paddock.

Thus far, the weather looks like 58 degrees and a 60% chance of precipitation. I plan on attending, unless the weather sucks majorly.

Event flier below:

LINK
Oregon Region SSCA - Schedule: Solo (autocross) #2 flier (.PDF)

First Portland-region SCCA Autocross: March 21, 22

The first Oregon-Region SCCA Solo (autocross) event is right around the corner (no pun intended). On Saturday, March 21, there's a practice day, and on Sunday, March 22, event No. 1 is scheduled. I'll probably attend one of the two days for sure. Check out the link above or below for more information.

LINKS
Oregon Region SCCA - Solo Home

My Yaris at the autocross

I took the Yaris to the autocross today. It was held at Portland International Raceway, and was put on by Willamette Motor Club and the Alfa Romeo Club. Above is a video of part of run.

On the entire course, I could stay in first gear, thanks to the tall gearing. When I did have to shift into second, there wasn't much there -- hey, it's geared tall and has just over 100 hp; what do you want? The Megan Coilovers and TRD rear bar did a good job of keeping things in check. The course had some pretty decent sized dips/bumps, so you can hear the driver's-side front wheel rub just a bit over a dip. Overall, I think the Yaris did pretty well. And hey -- I beat my buddy Craig's Sentra SE-R Spec-V in one run (Sorry Craig, I had to mention it! To be fair, he was faster overall.). The Falken Ziex 912 tires did pretty well, although they certainly aren't optimal for autocross. Below are a few pics:





There were a couple of other neat subcompacts at the event, too. One was a very modified Ford Fiesta on race rubber, gutted, with a Mazda MX-3 engine in it, the other was an older Fiat (I don't know much about it).

First autocross of the year!

The first autocross of the year in the Portland/Salem area is coming up on March 30; it's hosted by the Willamette Motor Club.

The event will be located at the Les Schwab in Salem, located at 2350 Mission St. SE. If by chance anyone from the Portland/Salem area happens to be reading this and is going to go, let me know! Let's hope for sun and warmth.

My Toyota Yaris

So what small car do I drive? I own a 2007 Toyota Yaris, and I love it. In case you didn't know, it's the little white car parked between my friend Craig's Nissan Sentra SE-R (thanks for the photo, by the way) and that Lamborghini Superleggera. Yeah, that one. Although my car is no Lambo, I love it. And you know what they say: If you can't dazzle them with dollars, baffle them with bullshit. Well, OK; maybe not bullshit, but I didn't figure anyone would take a second look at my little Toyota next to an Italian beauty like the Lambo at the track.

To my surprise, I had several people come up to me and ask me about the Yaris. I had one guy even say that he hadn't even looked at the Lambo because he liked small cars and noticed my Yaris. (That's my kind of guy, but c'mon – it's a Superleggara!) Anyway, with it's bright orange Speedmaster SM046 wheels, and lowered stance, it hardly looks like a typical Yaris and does get its fair share of stares.

So a bit about my Yaris. It has the following upgrades:

15x6.5 (et 38)Speedmaster SM046 wheels (they weigh only about 11 lbs. each)

Kumho Ecsta AST (205/50/15)

Megan Racing Coilover Dampners

TRD rear swabyar

K&N Drop-In air filter (hey, I got it cheap!)

No, it's not very fast in a straight line, but it handles like a go-kart! In fact, I was able to do three laps on the racetrack as part of the re-opening, and it handled even better than I thought. The Kumho tires aren't my first choice (they came with the wheels), but they weren't too bad.

I'll be autocrossing the car this season, and it should prove to be a great little vehicle through the cones.

Yaris Links

Here a few of my favorite Web sites with Yaris-specific content:
Yaris World
B-segment.com
The Micro Team