Given its racing heritage and relatively low price, the S2000 is an obvious choice for a Sport Compact Car project. However, it's a project that must be carried out with caution. Because it comes so well tuned from the factory, the S2000 does not respond well to certain modifications. Poorly designed parts can easily degrade performance, so choosing our modifications carefully will be crucial.
Project S2200 is a used 2005 S2000, painted in Silverstone metallic with a red and black leather interior. It has approximately 16,000 miles on the clock and several minor modifications already installed, including an HKS Hi-Power exhaust and a Whiteline X-brace. Since Project S2200 was produced after 2004, it features the 'torquey' 2.2-liter F22C motor as well as the revised AP2 second-gen chassis. Because of alterations in the spring rates and shock absorber damping, as well as revisions to the rear suspension geometry, the AP2 chassis is less prone to snap oversteer, compared to the original AP1.
The goal for Project S2200 will be to sharpen what's already great about the stock car while maintaining the ability to drive it on a daily basis. We've seen many street-legal, track-day S2000s lay down lap times that no 240bhp convertible should be capable of. Our aim is to do the same. No massive turbo or roll cage for this S2000. Well, for now. Instead, we'll focus on modifications that address the weaknesses in the S2000's design and bump up performance without sacrificing reliability or greatly reducing driveability on public roads. Our build will be executed in four stages: handling, braking, power and refinement.
Before slapping on any parts, it was off to California Speedway in Fontana, California, to get some baseline performance figures. In a straight line, our car ran from zero to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and hit the quarter-mile in 14.3 seconds at 98 mph.
These are respectable times considering the horsepower level. But remember: the S2000 is not a dragster. The car requires high revs off the line and these hard starts can be brutal on the drivetrain, which isn't designed to handle heavy shock loads.
After acceleration, we put the brakes to the test and recorded a 219-foot stopping distance from 80mph to a dead stop. Finally, we ran the figure eight to determine handling performance, where we managed a 24.3- second course time and an average skidpad number of 0.89 lateral g on stock Bridgestone RE050 tires.
Now we're looking forward to getting our hands on some handling-related parts to begin stage one. Although we've yet to determine exactly what we'll be using, we'll likely go with a set of adjustable coilovers, a rear antibumpsteer kit, some chassis bracing and a set of lightweight 17-inch wheels wrapped in sticky rubber. With such high potential in stock trim, we're excited to see how much we can improve upon this already fantastic machine.
| Project S2200 Baseline Numbers |
| 1/4-mile (sec) | 1/4-mile trap (mph) | 0-60mph (sec) | 0-100mph (sec) | 80-0mph (ft) | Figure-8 time (sec) | 200-ft radius lateral g |
| 14.3 | 98 | 5.8 | 14.9 | 219 | 24.25 | 0.89 |