Sean's S2000: Happy To Take The Abuse

Sean got his racing introduction through Spec Miatas. From 2006 to 2009, he spent his time on racing these little cars and learning the finer points of how to keep minimum speeds up. Close competition and no power acquainted him with the challenges of rolling entry speed and minimizing scrub—the two best ways to find speed in an MX-5. Though true with all cars, finding real speed in the Mazda depends entirely on those two. Whatever mark was left on him through those years of competition served him later in life when he sought the answer to a question that’s plagued many drivers: what really matters in a sports car?

After graduating in 2010, his new job started taking up more of his time. No longer would his schedule allow for the hectic race weekends, so he sought his kicks in a more cost-effective, flexible fashion: lapping days.

However, he found that his Miata was hopelessly outgunned by the V8-powered cars at track days. Even mid-tier Camaros using two-thirds of the track would walk away from him, so he wanted sometime more powerful to feel closer to the front of the pack. The answer was not a muscle car, thankfully, but another lightweight with more power and a better weight distribution.

His Lotus Exige was fast, but it was beset with problems. Setting one up took a lot of innovation as there were very few local HPDE drivers driving them back then. It also had a habit of heat soaking after a few laps, so he was pressed for time to put in a flyer. Plus, he was constantly sweating the inevitable repair bills. “At the end of the day, I realized I was only getting about twenty laps in on any given track day—tops. I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was working too hard for not enough payoff.”

What Really Matters

Sean’s foray into lapping days in an exotic was a little underwhelming, so he took what some may consider to be a step backwards and purchased his friend Tom’s 2005 S2000. The car was largely unmodified, with just a roll bar installed by SpeedSF veteran Dan Avon.

Rather than seeing this as a demotion, however, Sean saw it as a step in the right direction. The S2000 offered him some of that Miata reliability mixed with much more speed. Most importantly, it offered a better balance of time invested and emotional payoff.

“The car had to offer me a couple things. First, I wanted to focus only on my driving. Also, I wanted to have a car that had been well developed already, mainly so I could save time setting it up, but also so I could gauge my performance against other drivers with similar equipment.”

There was another realization he had after moving on from the Lotus to the Honda. The more mechanically sympathetic approach needed in a fragile, powerful car kept him from feeling truly alive. He preferred something he could push harder and harder until he found the limit—something not restrained by too much power, heat soak, or any other technical setbacks. “There’s a strong correlation between my happiness and the amount of time spent at full throttle,” he declared.

Naturally, the simpler S2000, all too happy to take the abuse, gave him an opportunity for unrestrained, aggressive driving without him feeling any need to baby the equipment.

Build Ethos

Inspired by the quick local S2000s built by Seigo and the Garys (Yeung & Wong), he got to work sorting his car out. The objectives were to stick to the proven parts, retain all the factory body panels and all of the interior pieces, and avoid JDM parts. The last aim mainly for price reasons.

The parts list is short, but a car that is so strong from the start doesn’t need much other than a committed driver.

Unmodified 183,000 mile AP2 engine

Ohlins DFV dampers (a little on the soft side)

Karcepts sway bars F/R

Racebred 3” splitter

Factory CR lip

AJ Hartman swan-neck wing

Stoptech C43/C42 brakes F/R w/ SR33 pads

Recaro SPG bucket seats

Sabelt six-point harnesses

Titan 7 T-R10 wheels

Maxxis RC-1 R2 tires

Despite trying hard to avoid the pricey Japanese parts, a Mugen steering wheel founds its way into his life and the price was too good to pass. Once the rule had been broken, he had less of a problem adding the renowned OS Giken limited slip differential. “I guess I failed with that aim,” he laughed.

A Motivational Sparring Partner

To get the most from the car, Sean had to set it up so that he could steadily increase his forcefulness behind the wheel. Therefore, it had to be confidence inspiring and somewhat stable—it had to encourage him to push.

Sean describes the Honda as neutral bordering on pushy. The mild downforce encourages smooth inputs, and its intuitive brake balance makes it fairly easy to trail brake. Despite the grip, it’s still a 220-horsepower momentum car that needs to be driven in hard. In fact, throwing the car around a little and tempering any excessive aggression is the way to get the most from it.

Though this footage Sonoma demonstrates a safe sort of understeer in the first two laps, he is able to unlock a little more rotation simply by pushing harder towards the end of clip. After a 1:52 and a 1:53, he found a little more confidence needed to start asking more of the front and neutralizing the push with more curb usage and a lot more entry speed. Getting on top of the car and ramping up his steering rate resulted in him chopping two seconds off his previous time, resulting in a S4 class win and a new class record of 1:50.6.

“I can set the fastest time on the seventh or eighth lap in this car, so I have plenty of time to put together a lap methodically. It allows me to build up the pace and drive quickly without taking too many risks.”

After the car’s competitive debut this summer at Sonoma, Sean looks forward to continuing to learn from the great S2000 pilots in the area. Thanks to the S2000’s encouraging nature and the supportive, relaxed format of the Speed SF Challenge, he’ll be able continue whittling away his laps and learn everything that raising minimum speeds requires. If he’s given some more time to fine-tune the setup and carry all the cornering speed he learned in Spec Miata, he’ll find a couple more seconds—no doubt about it.