Vanessa Zenklusen: Time out well used

MODIFIED IS-SUBARU Valais racer Vanessa Zenklusen used the past year to totally overhaul her Subaru Impreza. With a fresh engine and verve, she looks forward to the 2021 national racing season. Vanessa Zenklusen is one of the few women who enrich Swiss national racing with her performances. None has achieved more respectable rankings in recent years [...]

Editorial - January 5, 2021

This is how Vanessa Zenklusen's Subaru Imnpreza looked up to and including the 2019 season (photo: Stephan Körnli).

Vanessa Zenklusen is one of the few women who enrich Swiss national racing with her performances. None of them has had more respectable rankings in recent years than the 26-year-old from the Valais. But she wants more.

Welcome forced break
Vanessa Zenklusen therefore planned a total overhaul and modification of her proven Subaru Impreza Type R, a WRX model imported from Japan, for 2020. This was prompted by recurring engine problems in the 2019 season and the wish of sponsor Midland.

The colors of her touring car were similar to those of a competitor on the mineral oil market who also had a strong presence in motorsport - and so the trained automotive painter decided to give her car more than just a new look.

Vanessa Zenklussen: "Corona actually played into our cards. Because we - Sascha Schlatter and I - decided back in January 2020 to take a break from racing and look after the Subaru instead. We then decided to do everything right away from scratch, clean and partially new."

And so it presented 2021 on New Year's Day. This color scheme now fits Midland better (photos: Vanessa Zenklusen).

No more right hand drive
This included, for example, the conversion from right-hand to left-hand steering, which is now operated electrically rather than hydraulically. This was accompanied by the installation of a new pedal set and the relocation of the racing seat by around 25 centimeters to the rear.

There were no changes to the chassis apart from checking the material and the settings. Because she is not yet at the limit in terms of driving, the KW Club Sport suspension is still doing the job.

Except for the engine overhaul, Vanessa did all the work on the Subaru herself with her partner.

Power is not everything
The Boxer engine that Vanessa Zenklusen acquired from her Subaru colleague Remo Züblin (it was a new replacement engine), on the other hand, underwent more than a mere general overhaul. Eggenberger Motorenbau in Lyss disassembled it into its component parts, determined the problems caused by the original tuner in England and solved them. Test bench measurements revealed an output of 398 hp.

Vanessa would have a larger turbo in stock, which would generate about 30 hp more. However, she prefers the smaller turbocharger. Because of the more direct response without the famous turbo lag, the drivability is better with it.

From now on, the driver sits on the left like most of her touring car colleagues. Her car is now as good as new.

The young lady financed the reconstruction largely out of her own pocket plus donations from her personal sponsors. These include her employer Meguiars (vehicle care products) from Glattbrugg, where she works as a technical consultant in the office and in vehicle preparation.

Slaloms, hill climbs and now also circuit racing
The Valais native, who now lives in Hallau, gets valuable tips from her successful IS colleague Manuel Santonastaso. She has learned a lot from him and has always been able to get more out of herself and the car.

The Subaru, now shining in the dominant Midland colors, will continue to be entered in the Interswiss group. In the IS Trophy, Zenklusen most recently - i.e. in the 2019 season - finished seventh overall. Her class win in Les Rangiers was outstanding, along with five second places in hill climbs.

Now the two-liter turbocharged engine works better than ever after the Egmo cure.

Repeating or topping such rankings is their goal for the future, which, however, is still uncertain as it is for all motorsport athletes in the year that has just begun.

Vanessa Zenklusen: "I hope that we will be able to drive again in 2021. It doesn't sound bad from some quarters. However, I only compete on slalom and hillclimb tracks that I like and therefore I don't go to all the rounds of the IS Trophy anymore. Instead, I would like to take the Subaru to the circuit sometime, since there is a low-cost series in Germany in which other Swiss have already participated."

In that case, good luck and have fun with the new, beautiful sports equipment, Vanessa!