I've seen a couple in Honda Challenge1 @ VIR and they are usually faster than any American Iron car. I have no idea what are the rules, so they maybe are pretty modified..
Honda S2000's, what do you think of them?
- Thread starter 9746Cobra
- Start date
Good point!
But I'd sell the 03 to get the s2000. I don't think I could do that!
Maybe since I"m not going to be road racing the 03 I should save up and do a port and pulley sometime.
Then I'd have a car for straightline and a car for OT...yea thats the ticket...
9746C
With an S2000 you can do a 2JZ engine sway and that would be the best thing
..talk about crazy fast:rolling:
..talk about crazy fast:rolling:
One of my students last year had an S2000 at Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit, a very tight and technical track.
I didn't know about the V-Tech thing at the time (Import Ignorant here) and when we pulled in, I told him how well he was handling the car when the Turbo come on. :bash:
But of all my students that weekend, which included a Limited Ed GTI (some ralley clone) and a 500HP Benz sedan, the Honda was the most fun to ride in, and looked like the most fun to drive.
I agree the track would play a huge difference in the enjoyment from one of these, but even at a high-speed track you can sit back and relax between turns, enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon drive in a roadster. Isn't that what life is all about? LOL
I didn't know about the V-Tech thing at the time (Import Ignorant here) and when we pulled in, I told him how well he was handling the car when the Turbo come on. :bash:
But of all my students that weekend, which included a Limited Ed GTI (some ralley clone) and a 500HP Benz sedan, the Honda was the most fun to ride in, and looked like the most fun to drive.
I agree the track would play a huge difference in the enjoyment from one of these, but even at a high-speed track you can sit back and relax between turns, enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon drive in a roadster. Isn't that what life is all about? LOL
^ No Greg it is not. It is about getting your ass around the track as fast as possible. I have riddin with you, so I know you feel this way.
oke:
oke:I have a 2004 S2K. It's a great car for both the street and track. I did two OT events last summer with it (Autobahn and Road America). It performed flawlessly, handled great, and didn't burn through brakes. As someone mentioned, it's very tight for a convertible with no cowl shake whatsoever. I don't use it as a daily driver, though, but if I did, I think it'd work fine with a decent trunk for it's size and a reasonable ride for such a short wheel base and firm suspension. Mine is a weekend-only car and I use it for road-tripping to events when I'm not participating. It makes a great cruiser on backroads; stay out of the VTECH and it even can pull 30 mpg on the highway. Chris
I've seen a few at Buttonwillow that were much faster than a lot of well driven Vettes and Mustangs. All were relatively stock cars. One looked like it had a few mishaps as the driver's door was pretty beat up. Much better chassis and overall package than any Mustang out of the box for track events.
Oh... and it's VTEC, not VTECH.
Oh... and it's VTEC, not VTECH.
Last edited:
I wouldn't say that they were alot faster. I also wouldn't put those two cars in the same class. The vette is a much better car overall. I would say that the s2000 stock is equal to a stock vette and slightly modded mustang (or stock 03/04 cobra) all running on street tires with equal drivers. Once you start adding "r" tires, engine mods and suspension the vette pulls ahead.
It's a Honda :nono:
At the end of the day the Cobra is more of a mans car.
Fixed for ya :burnout:
Never said the Vette wouldn't be better with things done, just stating what I saw. The S2000 is better than pretty much any stock Mustang right out of the box for track events though. Not that I don't like Mustangs, my parents own an 03 Cobra that I do all the work on (tuning, clutch installs, brakes, and the list goes on and on). But, I do know how soft the chassis is and a lot of the issues that I'm constantly fixing (head cooling, TOB, clutch related things, etc...). From my limited experience with the S2000, and my lengthy knowledge of things Honda, I surmise the S2000 is better engineered piece than pretty much anything Mustang (Not including Steeda, etc...) from a whole package perspective when it comes to track days.
Last edited:
The s2000 is better engineered. I was pointing out that cobras are alot better then the mustang gts. Where a cobra can barely keep up to some cars in the turns it makes up alot of ground on the straights either short or long. Yes the chassis is not nearly as stiff as the s2ooo. I really don't know why you are constantly fixing anything on a cobra. I have 27,000 miles on mine, 2nd clutch and most of the miles are going to track event and running the car. Most gts are under powered compared to the s2000, 240hp (flywheel) and 2900lbs vs 260hp (flywheel) and 3200lbs. A cobra with a few mods (cat-back, cai, pulley and tune) are 450rwhp and 3800lbs, so you can see with that much power it does go pretty good on the straights.
Last edited:
Lets see here: Cooling mod, cracked PCV hose (big vacuum leak), lots of play in inner half-shalf tripod, had head replaced (yes, done by Ford, but still a pain), creaking/popping noise now coming from rear end (most likely rear seat pan area separating from trunk sheet metal), doors are starting to creak from their weight, driver and passenger side windows never set properly in tracks causing them to rub and need to be lubricated constantly, never had rear window trim seal actually sealed with anything (there is all kind of junk in the lower seal), and the list can go on. These are not things that were caused by modifications, but rather under-engineered\poor build quality from Ford. Car has 35,000 and daily driven by my mother.
So, the Cobra has more power with fewer mods, but as a percentage on most road courses, where do cars spend the most time? Why is it that Spec Miatas do so well against some very capable cars on the track? Granted, some of the drivers are very good, but I'm willing to bet that it has a lot to do with a good chassis and proper setup. They maybe have 120HP. Maybe a little more.
I love the Cobra, but I'm not jaded to what it can and can not do. It is a big sled with a bunch of power and not very effective at putting it down. I have a list of things I want to do if I ever get the money to buy off the folks to make it far more effective on the track without losing its everyday daily driver abilities.
I would pretty much agree with this. I ran with one last spring. He was two cars ahead of me. The car between us was a gutted Honda Civic hatchback with a new Vtec (or whatever they call them) engine. The Civic couldn't pass the S2000 and I couldn't get around the Civic. Very embarassing but I just didn't have the torque to take him coming out of the corners. I was outbraking him and all over his butt going in to every turn. They said it was their first time out at the track. I told them "next time let the experienced person by in the straights and then try to follow their line...you might learn something". I am reconciling the issue now, getting ready to install longtubes and get a custom tune. That should give me enough added hp/tq to get by cars like this which are 1000+ pounds lighter. The Civic owner said his car was only 1950 pounds. Mine is about 3300!
I was at a track event last month. I tried staying ahead of a highly modded
s2000 (spoon logo, wide body, r tires, wing, carbon fibre hood etc) stock engine i was told. Yes he out cornered me but on the front straight i made up 15car lengths (his estimation and my speed was 120mph and his was maybe 105mph) and could've passed him but i would be holding him up in the turns. Just pointing out that with alot of power it does make-up alot of ground. His times were only about 1 second faster then i was.
pretty cool for a chick......I guess
I did some research on the S2000's and they overheat the rear diff just like our IRS Cobras.
That dissappointed me. Read the same thing about BMW's.
Seems like one of the few cars with IRS and a rear end that doesn't overheat itself is the Corvette. Maybe some exotics?
Also, the S2000 is all done at 240hp as factory equipped. If you want more accelleration you have to drop weight or put force air in it, which will build heat of course.
The aftermarket exhausts and intakes generally added no power, and more often took some away.
Honda did a top notch job sqeezing 240hp from a 2.2L naturally aspirated engine, have it daily driver worthy, reliable, and still get 30mph.
That dissappointed me. Read the same thing about BMW's.
Seems like one of the few cars with IRS and a rear end that doesn't overheat itself is the Corvette. Maybe some exotics?
Also, the S2000 is all done at 240hp as factory equipped. If you want more accelleration you have to drop weight or put force air in it, which will build heat of course.
The aftermarket exhausts and intakes generally added no power, and more often took some away.
Honda did a top notch job sqeezing 240hp from a 2.2L naturally aspirated engine, have it daily driver worthy, reliable, and still get 30mph.
Users who are viewing this thread
