2004 Honda S2000 – The Total Package

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During the last four or five years, we’ve been fortunate enough to get a very close look at a number of S2000 and NSX builds by ScienceOfSpeed during our annual Tuner Shootout event, including last year’s Overall and RWD class-winning turbocharged NSX. As a result, we can easily attest to the truth that head honcho Chris Willson and his obsessive-compulsive staff builds thecleanest and meanest, and a lot bulletproof rear-drive Hondas we’ve ever encountered in the wild.which takes their famous OEM-like integration of the highest-quality performance parts on their NSXs and transfers that same approach to this AP2. As being the general manager and SoS founder further explained, “While built to be competitive, the main purpose of this car is for the testing and development of a number of new forthcoming products by ScienceOfSpeed for the Honda S2000. From powerplant to suspension, each product is being developed and place to the test on this rolling test bench in the most demanding environment we can think about, the racetrack.”

In the middle of this prototyping process is SoS’s new TS-MAX twin-scroll ball bearing turbocharger system, a kit that has been in development for any year. “This is the only twin-scroll turbocharger system intended for the S2000 that requires no modification for the engine bay, retains the factory heat shielding, retains the oil filter about the engine, and requires no scavenge pump or modification in the oil pan or girdle, as Chris explained. It uses a Garrett-based turbocharger (GT30-35) that flows enough for 400-500 hp at the engine. In race trim, limited by NASA TT’s weight/power rule, we produced 435 whp at 16 psi on the factory engine running E85 fuel. What is particularly impressive to me is the boost response as a result of twin-scroll turbocharger and manifold design. That response makes the car incredibly simple and easy , drama-free to drive.?, as a driver?The Complete Package

Naturally unless you’re lucky enough to actually drive this pristine white beast, what you’re inevitably confronted with first is its stunning visual presence. To call its J’s Racing Type-GT wide-body aero package “aggressive” would be an understatement akin to calling Red Bull space jumper Felix Baumgartner “kinda ballsy.” As this nine-piece aero package’s name implies, it is very much a GT-inspired design, with functional aerodynamics built into each panel (only the trunk and doors remain unchanged).

2004 honda s2000 fuses

2004 honda s2000 scienceofspeed roll cage

2004 honda s2000 fire bottle safety system

Add SoS’s DTM rear wing, and you’ve got an S2000 competent at making serious downforce to go along with massive amounts of mechanical grip, due to über-sticky Yokohama A005 racing slicks attached to perfectly offset Gram Lights 57Extreme 18-inch wheels (9.5-inch wide up front and 10.5-inch wide out back). Its tires are kept in optimum contact with the tarmac due to a set of JRZ RS Pro double-adjustable racing dampers, along with a number of new ScienceOfSpeed goodies, including roll center adjusters, bumpsteer joints, urethane suspension bushings, and rear noncompliance toe arms.

, even though efficiently converting almost 400 lb-ft of torque into forward motion isn’t just a matter of sticky tires as well as a well-sorted suspension For starters, you need a clutch that will hold that much twist, which SoS has addressed with one of its own billet twin carbon clutch and flywheel kits. You also want a differential with aggressive enough lockup to direct capacity to the tire with the most grip, and for this, SoS has gone having anand also the science of this, is also derived in part by mass, or how fat your ass is. If this just confused you, chances are you suck at physics but may still understand that less weight has real advantages when accelerating, cornering, and braking. To that end, the team at SoS reduced this AP2’s curb weight from the factory rating of 2,835 pounds to 2,635 pounds for as competitive a weight/power ratio as possible. As Chris told us, “The largest part of weight savings came from taking out the interior and seats, taking out the HVAC system, gutting the doors, and simplifying the wiring.”

To that particular end, the retractable soft top is replaced from a lighter and more rigid factory hardtop, and everything although the dash has become removed from the cabin to save weight and then make room for that custom SoS rollcage. What’s left will be all business, together with a Recaro Pro Racer HANS seat, a Sparco 350mm steering wheel, an SoS rapid shift knob, a fire suppression system, and a whole host of Race Technology electronics, such as a DASH2 digital display, a DL1 data logger, and AEM and GoPro interfaces.

If you’ve ever done any racing yourself, you’ll know just how critical braking is always to turning consistently fast lap times, the SoS team always emphasizes balance inside their builds, and. Peer beneath those gorgeous Rays wheels and you’ll notice the StopTech Trophy big brake kit front and rear, featuring full-floating mounting hardware that eliminates pad knock-back and veryIt might be tempting, given its SEMA debut and impossibly clean presentation, to conclude that ScienceOfSpeed’s new Unlimited S2000 project is really a show car disguised as being a race car. But you’d be wrong. Wonderfully, delightfully wrong, as evidenced by SoS’s track test video at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway back in December. Jump on YouTube and search ‘ScienceOfSpeed at Chuckwalla’ for three minutes of tasty HD evidence that its S2K is certainly the total package, capable of delivering blisteringly fast lap times while turning heads using its incredible appearance.