But in this test, a test the usual car magazines can’t do (because they would risk their press credentials and advertising revenue), a car designed in the mid-nineties, which went on sale in 1999, beats it hands-down. With clear results so there shouldn’t be any controversy.

Of course owners will always find controversy. But personally, as an owner and driving enthusiast, and as a driving instructor who has put significant miles on all three ourselves, we enthusiastically agree with the results of the test.

Original article: Finally a road test comparison of the S2000 versus FR-S versus RX-8!

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

This is an interesting swap - for areas of the United States where emissions checks are a requirement (like ours), this swap – if done with the factory computer – could yield an emission inspection legal all-motor S2000. With the option of going forced induction later on. Lets hope that Trackforged puts the swap parts into production!

The following videos show the engine in the car and running as of August 2012. That, of course, is not enough: the swap must be completed with further engineering, a final wiring harness, possibly (hopefully!) provisions for the stock dashboard instruments (very closely tied into the original S2000 computer), parts that are able to be put into production, instructions written, parts mass-produced and stocked, and more. This takes a major investment in time and money and is not a fast or easy process (and any vendor who suggests it is should be avoided by you). So we’re looking forward to seeing more of these parts when they are ready.

Trackforged also has a cold air kit under development for ITB s2000s, and also has great experienced with turbocharged S2000s. Trackforged is clearly one of the best and most experienced S2000 shops in the country.

Follow our swap posts using the “Engine Swap” tag or category below.

J32A2

Original article: Honda S2000 with Acura J32A2 swap = S3200?

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But in both cars, anything above the original 4 cylinder engines is going to torque the chassis far beyond it’s design spec. Trips down the dragstrip will be a torsional nightmare for sheet metal integrity. And trips around a roadrace circuit will play havoc on parts such as spindles that were never designed for such torque. But those factors are not of primary consideration for engine swap enthusiasts: it’s the technical challenge and the sheer power that are the main attractions.

So here is what is probably the ultimate S2000 swap: a Viper V-10 engine. This swap is in progress right now, and you can follow the story over at www.V8S2000.com. We’ve saved some of the supplied pictures for the sake of posterity.

Will it fit?

Transmission tunnel widening.

It’s in, and it almost looks like a natural.

Highly modified front subframe.

Engine height is a challenge.

One downside to the S2000 is the electric power steering system… the electric motor is very large. In this swap, that system was discarded.

Headers under prep.

Side view showing the length. The front crossmember, normally directly in front of the factory 4-cylinder, has been removed.

Very tight clearance issues, but successfully solved.

Be sure to follow our Engine Swap posts via their category and tags. We’ve got a considerable set of swap stories, and are always looking for more.

Original article: The Ultimate S2000 Swap? Viper V-10!

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The S2000 was a game changer in it’s time… and Best Motoring created on of it’s most extensive videos to introduce it and to communicate Honda’s thoughts about it’s design and purpose.

And we’ll venture our opinion, based on our ownerships as well as our extensive drives: The S2000 was without a doubt the inspiration for the Toyota 86/Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ… and as a pure driver’s car it blows the Miata into a ditch. And after all this time it’s still a better car than any of them.

Set your video to full screen, sit back, enjoy this hour-long video, and remember the S2000:

We originally ordered two copies of this video from Japan for our library, and have showed them to S2000 fans and to the local S2000 club. Nobody knew what to expect when we started this video, but they were soon captivated by it. It’s part of what we call our “S2000 Shrine”, a collection of S200 memorabilia currently numbering >150 items. That’s the impact this car made on us and we were an original owner of a model year 2000 S2000. Read more about our experiences on our site http://s2000enthusiast.com/.

Original article: Best Motoring introduces the Honda S2000

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But how would a stock S2000 on the Nurburgring compare? Who else to ask but Gan-san himself, driving around the ‘ring in the prototype S2000 in 1999. Yes, it’s faster than an NSX!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Original article: How to drive your S2000 around the Nurburgring

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But sometimes not. This time a Chevy small block has found a new home in the engine bay of an S2000. And not just any engine – it’s an LS7! Yes, this is a 505-HP S2000!

The last time we saw a Chevy LSx swap, it was never completed. This one certainly isn’t the first or only, but it does appear to be clean and well thought-out. It’s even got a wide-body kit, and the dry-sump system was retained. See the video for the car with the newly-transplanted engine, minus front fenders and cap:

YouTube is full of videos of V-8 S2000s: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=v8+s2000 – and there is even a forum specifically for this: http://www.v8s2000.com. Apparently V-8 Miatas are old news… the new news is V-8 S2000s. With better chassis integrity, more interior room, and enough room under the hood for the swap.

Original article: S2000…. after the LS7 swap!

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Very nice!

Original article: Spotted: a strange looking…. S2000?

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

• hot side: titanium-aluminide turbine wheel – half the weight of the typical inconel wheel with the benefit of extremely low inertia
• cold side: forged aluminum wheel with advanced aerodynamic optimization
• cast stainless steel turbine housing
• integrated compressor recirculation valve – allows a blow-off valve to be easily installed with modification of the compressor housing
• integrated boost control solenoid mounting pad with optional integrated swivel-type wastegate
• dual-row ceramic ball-bearings
• wide range of options and A/R ratios

Full Race Motorsports has kits planned for March 2011 release including the S2000, Evo X, Porsche 996/997, Honda CRZ, and the Subaru WRX and STI. The kits have enormous potential for any type of racing, as well as street-driven cars.

Crank up your volume and watch this introductory video from Borg Warner. Full-screen recommended!

The Octane Report (always a great read) has more story including images of pre-production test EFRs on the S2000 and other cars. Note the dual-scroll housing with dual blow-off valves: another advantage of this design and the upcoming kit.

Start your reading with the Technical Overview from Borg Warner: http://www.turbodriven.com/files/pdf/efr_technical_data.pdf. Then read and download the Borg Warner EFR Turbochargers Technical Training Guide here: http://www.full-race.com/articles/efrturbotechbrief.pdf.

A new era of performance turbocharging is about to begin. For S2000 owners, this presents an opportunity to realize the full potential of the engine. We’re going to look at this once it’s available for HPDE events. The only remaining question is tuning, since we have a requirement in our county for fully operational OBD-II for the yearly emissions check-up. We’ll be back with more information once the kits are released into production.

Original article: New Borg Warner EFR Turbocharger coming for S2000

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But look at this own “top” sticking out over windshield header – the one thing he is not equipped with is a hat. 

Enjoy the pics, and be glad it’s not you. And remember, driving enthusiasts, that it’s perfectly ok to drive an old “winter car” during the snow months.

The “Motor City” blog is a good read in summer or winter. Follow them here:

• MtrCty blog: http://mtrcty.com/
• RSS feed: http://mtrcty.com/feed/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/mtr-cty/126220994080141
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/mtrcty/

Original article: Top-down S2000 braving the winter snow in Detroit

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Remember of course that this is the DrivingEnthusiast blog – and that means no motorcycles. But stay with me for a moment.

When the S2000 came onto the market 11 years ago, a small but tightly coupled group of S2000 owners here in Austin, Texas USA started leading drives all over central Texas. Those drives often covered several hundred miles, and they were done in any weather,  hot or cold, dry or wet. And the top would always be down, no matter what the temperature, as long as it was dry. There would be a lunch or dinner break (usually at a BBQ or burger joint), but the purpose was to drive for most of the day. That included one day in January about 9 years ago, when the temperatures were well below zero. It almost never does that in central Texas, but this day was the exception.

Driving is what the best cars are meant for, and the S2000 is a superb example. Perfectly composed behavior on any road, no matter how twisty or rough. So on this day we just turned up the heat and pressed on regardless. I believe we started the drive on 71 near 620, but then quickly got onto Hamilton Pool Road and then out past 281, eventually ending up at Fredericksburg for dinner. And after, when it was even colder, our drive leader set the pace back to town – with the top down of course. What a drive, and as it was meant to be in an S2000. There was never anything remotely like an S2000, and by all indications there won’t be anytime soon.

So even though the following story was written by a motorcyclist, convertible owners will appreciate it too.  

————————————————————————————–

     There is cold, and then there is cold on a motorcycle.

     Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind’s big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don’t even feel like water. They feel like shards of sharp bone fallen from the skies of Hell to shred my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that’s just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.

     Despite this, it’s hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring; lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists. When you let a motorcycle into your life you’re changed forever. The letter “M” is stamped on your driver’s license right next to your sex and weight as if “motorcycle” was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition.

     But when warm weather finally does come around all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a summer is worth any price.

     A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car; the difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life. We spend all our time sealed in boxes’ and cars are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us from home-box to work-box to store-box and back, the whole time, entombed in stale air, temperature regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets.

     On a motorcycle I know I’m alive. When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight and substance as I push through it and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and the warm spokes of sun that fall through them. I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around, wider than Pana-Vision and IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard.

     Sometimes I even hear music. It’s like hearing phantom telephones in the shower or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise, raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind’s roar. But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock ‘n roll, dark orchestras, women’s voices, all hidden in the air and released by speed.

     At 30 miles per hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid. All the individual tree- smells and flower- smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony.

     Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it’s as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me, wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it. A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous.

     The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system, an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul. It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb, but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face, billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane.

     Transportation is only a secondary function. A motorcycle is a joy machine. It’s a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic. It’s light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other; it’s a conduit of grace, it’s a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy.

     I still think of myself as just another rider, but by now I’ve had a handful of bikes over a couple dozen years and slept under my share of bridges. I wouldn’t trade one second of either the good times or the misery. Learning to ride was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

     Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that’s no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride.

Original article: A motorcycle story that applies to cars…. certain cars

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Kudos to Honda for developing the car in the first place, and especially for doing development work at this great track. I remember reading an issue of AutoWeek back in the 1998 timeframe, and seeing a spy picture of a test car in a garage there with a giant stack of exhaust systems that they were testing. I wish I had that picture in my collection of S2000 paraphernalia, which numbers about 200 items at the moment.

Will we ever see this type of effort from Honda again? In their current condition, without a single sporting vehicle in production, it’s hard to see how or when they could ever do this again. What a disappointment the company has become. We have to wonder what Gan-san thinks about it, especially since his beloved S2000 replacement was cancelled. Rumor has it that he was under contract by Honda to assist in the development of the new car.  Now we’ll never know.

Original article: 1999: Gan-san drives the S2000 prototype at Nurburgring

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Exactly three years ago in 2008, Best Car Magazine in Japan published the following two pictures. We commented on them at the time. Back in those days it was well known that an S2000 replacement would be coming, and since then it became known that it was cancelled for economic reasons.

The gray car is a clay or fiberglass styling buck that was photographed being hauled into a Honda building in Japan. Somebody got very lucky, because shots of future models are very rare in Japan compared to North America and Europe. The light-yellow drawing is the guess of the magazine as to what a production S2000 replacement would look like based on their belief that the gray car was the styling buck for it.

Only problem is that they were dead wrong. Look at the distance between the front wheel wells and the door in the gray car: only a couple of inches. Their speculative drawing in light yellow shows a completely different car with completely different proportions - which is obviously an S2000-type front/mid engine rear wheel drive car. The current S2000 measures 18.5″ at the wheel centerline here. That kind of room allows the engine to be set well back into the chassis, contributing to the legendary near 50/50 fr/rr weight balance.

So the light yellow car below and the gray car are two different cars entirely. But the gray car existed at the time as a styling buck, so the big question remains: “what is it”?

We may now have an answer. Now take a look at the sketch below from the new Motor Trend. Yes, it’s clearly the gray car in it’s current iteration.

Why? Look at the same measurement up front, then look at the back of the car. The rear overhang would be the same, and the area immediately behind the seats (storage for the top) is identical. The headlights are a variation of current Honda corporate styling themes, and the grill is the new Honda styling theme that is currently developing. The hood is the minimum height required to meet the stringent European pedestrian impact regulations (which the departed S2000 did not and could not meet).

An image like this in a magazine is usually nothing more than speculation. The car magazines are full of them. However the new news is a patent that Honda has filed in Japan. Motor Trend interprets it as “mid-engined” but that is where they are probably wrong. Using a “subframe from a current car” more likely means that a transverse front wheel drive drivetrain was simply moved to the back, as Toyota did for years with the MR-2 and MR-S. Technically, “mid-engine” means a lengthwise mounted engine with the transmission at the back, behind the engine.  The dimensions of this car clearly do not support a true mid-engine layout, so this is obviously a rear-engine rear wheel drive car with a transverse engine. That would also provide an economy of production, because an existing FWD engine architecture and transmission would be used, whereas the other architecture would require a unique transmission. “Orphan” parts like unique transmissions are not possible in this day and age.

Motor Trend’s next supposition is that this car would replace both the Beat and the S2000. Maybe Honda could put such a spin on it… but we hope not. The S2000 was a classic sportscar, and that means a mid-mounted front engine and rear wheel drive and the handling dynamics that provides. As was it’s predecessors the S500, 600, and 800. The dynamics and balance of all previous Honda “S” models were outstanding, in a way that a rear transverse engine could not support. If we had a vote in this, we’d say to forget replacing the S2000 until it can be done the right way, with the proper architecture, expected dynamics, and the expected power-to-weight ratio. And it doesn’t have to offer a hybrid powertrain solely for the sake of being a hybrid (as everybody in Japan seems to be blindly running to these days). If Honda can create a hybrid powertrain that is oriented towards performance, then use it. But we don’t believe they can – yet. Even Toyota with their FT-HS prototype, is unable to blend a gasoline engine with a hybrid system without adding several hundred pounds in the process… negating the entire purpose.

So as usual our hopes were raised.. and very quickly dashed.

Original article: Another “New S2000″ rumor…?

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The answer is yes and no…

Yes, because better parts exist.
No, because very few people have the experience to correctly match springs, dampers, and sway bars properly. “Very few” is perhaps one tenth of one percent of the potential buying population for this particular car. This tiny subset of potential owners probably has a race track to test the car on, but not the equipment to incrementally measure the differences and improve the overall performance. You won’t beat the factory engineering team for instrumentation and testing.

Yes, because better parts cost more money than most production car buyers will tolerate.
No, There are very few car buyers that will tolerate a set of $3000 coilover shock absorbers, even in this tiny subset or buyers.

Yes, because most aftermarket parts offer a greater range of springs and damping choices. A set of Clubsport KWs for the S2000 would improve handling even more, if setup right.
No, because few people will take the time to learn how to adjust compression and rebound, much less ride height adjustment and the required suspension alignment to match.

Yes, because the factory track car has to meet Federal regulations, safety standards, and more. Examples abound, including factory seats that have to meet crash standards (more fore/aft in a crash, side impact, knee placement and lots more) and incorporate an airbag. These seats inevitably provide less support than would be ideal for a car that will be used on the track.
No, because the best seats for the track are the worst seats for the ride to and from the track, as well as for your daily commute. Try turning your upper body around to back out of a parking spot with race seats.

So here we have a factory track car, carefully tuned by factory engineers on their own particular test track, and with compromise rates and settings chosen to meet their goals as well as the required Federal regulations (such as ride height). It’s a necessary set compromises, but nonetheless a major improvement over the standard car for that tiny subset of buyers who are looking to take their S2000 to the track.

If you are looking to buildup a track S2000, and are committed to the long term, this would certainly make a nice starting place. With a set of stainless brake lines, fluid, and pads your first track day would be 100% productive. The S2000 CR will provide:

• excellent tires from day 1 (versus the compromised base RE050s)
• the rare factory hardtop, which is all but a requirement for track groups these days (since convertibles are being phased out of most groups due to safety issues)
• faster steering gear (from the earlier S2000 AP1)
• a platform with about 8 years of continuous improvements, such as reinforced front upper control arm mounts and improved rear suspension pickup points – both missing in the earlier AP1 models. And a transmission that has been considerably improved from the earliest models.
• Improved aero, which experience has shown is an important improvement on this car.

All in all, in our humble opinion (having tracked S2000s for 11 years), a bargain at the price.

Original article: S2000 CR – what’s the point?

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But thanks to YouTube, we can still enjoy the video:

Our concerns remain: the transmission has to be a Supra TT tranny or nothing, and the rear end has to be replaced. And that’s in addition to some serious cooling work. Anything else will never work for more than a few – very fun – weeks.

Original article: Whatever happened to the 2JZ-GTE S2000?

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Buttonwillow CW13 Config… Evasive Motorsports S2000: equipped with Voltex Aero, Evasive Spec Tein SR-C, Volk Racing RE30 wrapped in Yokohama Advan AD08. Driven by Robert Walker, Evasive Motorsports takes 1st place in the FR Street Class (and overall win in street class) with a time of 1:56.7 (New Street Tire Course Record).

Original article: Evasive Motorsports / Voltex S2000 Super Lap Battle Finals, Buttonwillow FR Street Record 1:56.7

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The S2000 is a true drivers car and will be sorely missed. Honda cut both it and the NSX out of it’s product plans… there are no replacements.

Original article: 11 Years of S2000 sales: 66,457 sold

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Read the complete story here: http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2009/12/honda-s2000-with-acura-tls-37l-v6.html

This is an interesting combination built by Honda Performance Development, yielding approx 307 HP and 270 torque, more or less. The chassis easily handled the increase. Several parts had to be fabricated, along with the electronics, so this isn’t something that could be done easily at home. Not that electrical hook-ups ever stopped a true Honda enthusiast anyway.

Performance figures are not available, but would be impressive. What is already a 2800 pound car probably gained an extra 100 pounds, all up front. However, the engine is shorter than the standard S2000 F22 engine and is located entirely behind the front centerline. Change to the standard 50/50 weight balance is probably negligible (and some people will tell you that 1 or 2 percent more over the front wheels would provide better turn-in and help maintain a 50/50 balance in the turns as the weight shifts).

In our opinion, while this might make for a good car, the V-6 engine is a weak link. This engine is considerably out of date and far from state-of-the-art. With a single overhead cam (allowing cam phasing, not independently variable timing for both the intake and exhaust) and a single exhaust port cast into the head as a rectangular port, breathing is less than stellar and modification potential is nil. As you can see in the picture, MAP-based engine management was used again, instead of moving up to MAF measurement and the greater accuracy and flexibility that provides. So this was a parts swap with minimal new engineering.

Honda, a company that used to be known for its engines, has fallen considerably behind in engine technology. Nissan has the most widely recognized best V-6 engine and it has everything except direct injection (except in the home market). Ford and (lowly) GM have the next best set of V-6 engines. Ford’s EcoBoost is getting great press and is just starting to appear in aftermarket builds (and Ford recently supplied one for a prototype to a small-scale European sportscar manufacturer).

We think that a more viable and satisfying mod would be the installation of a KraftWerks supercharger. We’ve driven one of these on the track back to back with a Vortech supercharged S2000 and a Greddy turbocharged S2000. The KraftWerks car is far superior, providing over 350 horses at the wheels, and is emissions compliant (which is required in our county). Potential easily exists for well over 400.

And if your local emissions laws would allow it,  several S2000s across the country are packing a twin-turbo Supras 2JZ engine swap: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog/?p=2281 That’s truly crazy – and we truly want one.

More information: DrivingEnthusiast network engine swaps category: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog/?cat=374

V-6 S2000

Original article: Honda S2000 CR with Acura 3.7 liter V-6

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Another 20 sold were last month, with about 80 more left in stock at dealers across the country. Production ceased several months ago, so this is it forever. The end is near, and the final tally of S2000s sold will be clear in a few more months.

Original article: S2000 sales keep going and going

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Honda, Acura Drivers Claim Five Titles at SCCA National Championship Runoffs 

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Sept. 29, 2009) — In the first SCCA National Championship Runoffs since Honda Racing/Honda Performance Development [HPD] announced the Honda Racing Line program of support for grassroots racers, Honda and Acura drivers won five of a possible seven titles this past weekend at the famed Road America circuit in central Wisconsin.

Bob Boileau highlighted a weekend of outstanding performances by Honda and Acura drivers at the Runoffs, winning the Touring 3 race Saturday in his Team Honda Research-entered Honda S2000.

Original article: Honda S2000 wins T3 class at SCCA Nationals

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Driving around town for those weeks helped promote the race. And you never know who you are going to run into before an IndyCar event:

Each participating member also gets tickets to the event and a special parking area for their cars throughout the event.

Original article: Ohio S2000 owners contribute to the Mid-Ohio IndyCar event

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But what the heck… one last lap or two.  Onboard is a videographer from the “Temple of VTEC” website, who edited this film and – unfortunately – added the music overlay.

We did two laps after the event ended. The S2000 was flawless (as always) and wasn’t adversely affected by the temperatures. However after a very long weekend of well over 500 laps I’d had enough!

Image: my car going over the start/finish line earlier in the day. Shadowed by a bizarrely taped up S2000 on a very low line (who must of had a Miata instructor to teach him that line).

 

Video: the finished product – unfortunately without the original in-car sounds. The wonderful scream of the F20C engine bouncing off it’s fuel cutoff at 9000 RPM is certainly more enjoyable than the lame teen-angst overlay that was added. But if you haven’t seen the track yourself, this shows the way around. It’s a great place and with the new owners has an even better future.

Original article: May 2002 S2000 event at TWS

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Another month, another S2000 rumor. Putting aside the fact that Honda confirmed that the cancellation of the successor to the S2000, all the rumors to the contrary so far have all been either wrong or (as in this case) a gross misinterpretation. This is not an S2000 successor – in fact it isn’t even rear wheel drive. Look at the location of the engine in the chassis – if this were rear wheel it’d have the worst possible weight balance from the far-forward engine placement. This is a front wheel drive car.

It’s obvious that this is a nothing more than a styling buck – one of many that are gone thru and discarded or selected to be taken further as a normal part of the design process. Yes, it is a convertible hardtop coupe, which fits in with earlier thinking that a convertible hardtop would make the car more appealing to the up-market

Original article: Carscoop misinterprets purported S2000 picture

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Original article: S2000s at the Nurburgring 24 hour endurance race

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The S2000 Ultimate Edition was announced in January and went on sale in March exclusively in European markets. The 2 liter powered S2K special package consists of dark grey painted wheels from the US S2000 CR model, black badging from the CR model, a hardtop from the European S2000 GT model, black badging, and other minor changes.

This means that Honda has made availabel a special model in each major market to celebrate the end of the S2000 line:

• Europe: Ultimate Edition (2009)
  
• Japan: S (2008-2009)
  
• United States: CR (2008-2009) 

The S2000 section of the Driving Enthusiast network has made available all materials from this new model for the sake of posterity. Visit s2000.drivingenthusiast.net for high-res images and the press release.

Honda of Europe Press Release and selected ilmages (out of a total of 26) follows:

Original article: Honda of Europe S2000 Ultimate Edition

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It’s the last year of S2000 sales, and they are still showing their seasonal trends – although numbers are way down. The data Honda provides shows only sales, not numbers of cars sitting on lots. So if you plan on getting an S2000 while the are still available, it’s best to buy now while they are still available. The dedicated assembly line at the factory will shut down for good in only a few months.

Original article: Honda S2000 sales for March 2009

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Road & Track takes the S2000 out for one last spin – at Laguna Seca !

Follow the link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=10&article_id=7918

Lots of photos and video!

Original article: Road & Track says goodbye to the Honda S2000

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As our readers know, Honda will end S2000 production this summer. Sales have dropped over 60% from the expected ~200 and are about a tenth of the peak years 2001-2002. Not a good sign… get yours while you still can!

Original article: S2000 sales for Feb 2009 take a terrible drop

©2013 DrivingEnthusiast Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Here’s an interesting and detailed new blog covering the conversion of a 2003 S2000 to full electric power.  The builder/owner has the car fully up and running. 130-140 HP and 220 ft-lbs torque. No final data yet on range or performance.

Overall the conversion is entirely professional and the nicely done blog makes a very interesting read.

Links: suggest <right click> and <open in new tab>

• Blog: http://s2kev.blogspot.com/


• 
  

  RSS feed:  http://s2kev.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Video: Walk-around

Video: Drive

Original article: New blog: Honda S2000 Electric Vehicle Conversion

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How much is too much? The answer lies in the specs of this car: 100% stock engine, transmission, and differential. That’s too much for a stock S2K engine: this engine *will* blow up. The only question is when – if it’s not dead already it will be soon. Like so many other conversions seeking a big number and a few fast pulls, no thought was given to doing it right. Which would have meant a sleeved and blueprinted block, a stronger tranny, and a new differential. Far more than literally slapping on a few parts.

Dumb… kid stuff, and it’ll be trashed very quickly. Oh well, there’s always Mom’s hand-me-down Accord.

Enjoy the video.

Original article: 701 rear wheel HP S2000: how much is too much

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S2000 sales have steadily declined over the past several years. The car is not for everybody – it is a very serious and pure drivers car with nothing in the way of frills (our 2000 MY S2000 came with an 8-watt radio!) but everything in the way of great driving dynamics. It’s a blast to drive, it’s very visceral, and here in Central Texas with all the fabulous back country roads it’s the only thing to own.

Original article: R.I.P. S2000

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