Shan's S2000: Hitting the Books

When you’ve had so many formative driving experiences in something as light as a kart, or as purposeful as a Formula SAE, many production cars feel a little cumbersome. This was Shan’s perspective and the impetus to sell his E92 M3 for something responsive, svelte, and raw.

While a college student, Shan was both powertrain lead and test driver on his Formula SAE team. As part of getting the most from their bike-powered spaceframe car, the test drivers – he was one of several – were expected to refine their driving techniques through go-karting. As his own development as a driver dovetailed nicely with his expanding understanding of chassis setup, he developed an unshakable confidence that, years later, would enable a rapid ascent in the world of time attack.

Before he could put himself in a car which would benefit from his years of racing experience, he took a left turn – one that was unpredictable, yet understandable.

He had his foray into time trials with a heavyset production car unlike the other machinery he’d grown accustomed to: an E92 M3. “There were some cars I was considering, but this one was the most versatile.”

Its heft and plush GT-designation left him feeling a little lukewarm, and after five track days, he recognized his need for something with a bit of that single-seater urgency he missed.

First kiss

Rather than go full-180° and buy another spaceframed car, a trailer, and a tow rig, he decided to compromise in the name of practicality. For him, the S2000 was the only fendered car in his price range that had the pointiness he was after. Plus, he didn’t mind hacking one up.

He found an AP2 that, while a little rough around the edges, was a suitable candidate for a track build. A little patina and some missing interior panels didn’t upset him, but the blown Konis certainly made the trek from Los Angeles back to San Francisco less than comfortable. Thankfully, he knows a good chiropractor.

However, those minor annoyances faded when he took the car to Laguna. There, he was reacquainted with all those familiar feelings from his college days — plus a new form of fear.

“I don’t think I’d ever driven something with so much lift-off oversteer before, though that was due to the setup in some part.”

The Honda had teeth; its mystery alignment kept Shan guessing when it would slide. However, even on ancient RS4s and a comically snappy setup, the car was eagerly responding to his subtler inputs. It kept him alert and, with a little time to learn its habits, it raised his confidence.

After adding the first round of track-day bolt-ons – brakes, wider wheels, and a set of forgiving NT01s – he could start exercising his old approach to finding speed. Shan had a few areas of focus:

Ergonomics

Ensuring everything is easily reached was paramount. As he learned from FSAE, the more comfortable one is, the harder they can push. For this reason, he added a very bright shift light directly in his line of sight.

Chassis first

Aside from a Hondata piggyback and a testpipe, the motor would remain stock; the gains would be made in cornering speeds.

No more than necessary

Only parts that had proven to cause a bottleneck or had failed would be replaced. This was done to save, but also to ensure his engineering abilities would be put to good use making the most of what he had.

After accepting the limitations of his Konis, he splurged on a set of JRZ RS Pros. They’d been vetted by his car-crazy colleagues. Raised to an appropriate ride height and aligned correctly, he started putting in the seat time.

The car stayed as it was for some time as Shan delved into the data and refined his technique. “I analyze my laps through RaceStudio and take very detailed setup notes after a session to make sure I'm aware of what's going on, what changes i'm making, how the car responded to those changes, etc.,” he stated.

Complex, but simplifying

When it came time to add some aerodynamic pieces, he used his analytical mind and his engineering ability to make the most of the new alterations.

“My first laps with aero weren’t much faster than my previous best,” he started. “I was still driving the car like I had been before the wings; tentative at corner entry, braking somewhat gently. The aero changed that. I used to worry about oversteering too much at turn-in, but I can throw the car into the corner now. If it needs to scrub some speed, it’ll just understeer.”

He could start changing some parts to make use of the additional aero loading. “Previously I was running a less aggressive compound in the rear because the car was prone to entry oversteer, which would only get worse if the pad compound in the rear could cause momentary locking. With the aero grip, that’s no longer an issue, so I have a high-torque pad at the rear.

Clearly, the right sort of aero helps not only with outright cornering speeds, but stability as well.

Drag bad, grip good

However, this all comes at a price; drag cannot be overlooked in a low-powered car like the S2000. Trimming the wings was vital to find a net improvement in speed, and after using the suggested window for optimal wing angles from 9LivesRacing, he timed every subsequent alteration until he found the fastest settings.

“One thing I did after the first aero day was try to visualize the corner speed increase and drag increase around Laguna. I made plots to understand the behavior better. I could reach out to people with more racing/motorsports experience too, to see if this aligned with what they would consider a car with properly functioning aero, so it was decent validation.”

Shan had to increase his spring rates by 100lb/in to handle the aerodynamic load.

Shan’s taken a studious, resourceful approach to building this gleaming AP2. It might not sport top-shelf parts in every area, but those used have been tweaked and fettled to get the most from them.

An ideal setup is only possible if one has the ability to run the necessary calculations. Shan’s background in racing a clean-sheet kind of car has helped him see what’s vital to speed, and that alone gives him an edge that primo parts alone cannot trump.

He’s clearly passionate about the engineering side of things, too. In fact, he’s used his engineering expertise to build new bits to improve the overall package. They might not be obvious, shiny, or expensive, but, in aggregate, they make a major difference.

“When I have the time, I’ve been using some of the 3D printers at work to build some basic parts to help. For example, I put together some supports to prevent the trunk from flexing at higher speeds.”

Though the car is fast and forgiving, Shan’s still seeking a sharper edge. “The front is much less effective than the rear, and, for now, I just deal with the understeer. I’ll try increasing the rear spring rates to encourage some rotation. It’s not a normal way of dealing with an aero problem, but it might work.”

He’ll find a solution — even if it keeps him in the garage all weekend. For Shan, staring at plots all Sunday to find a few tenths is time well spent.

Parts List

• Sakebomb rear sway bar, Eibach front sway bar

• Bump steer + roll center correction kits

• Recaro Profi SPG driver's seat

• JRZ RS Pro (900lb/in front, 800lb/in rear spring rate)

• Racebred Components front splitter kit

• 9LivesRacing rear wing

• Wilwood Superlite front BBK w/ Carbotech XP12 brake pads all around

• Hasport polyurethane engine and differential mounts

• Maxxis RC1 255/40-17

James Snell's Supercharged S2000: Bold is Better

Four years ago, James hadn’t even considered tracking a car. Though he was definitely a dedicated gearhead, he preferred lowriders and rock crawlers, mainly. Some of his friends had taken the track day plunge, however, and a few of them were adamant he branch out a bit.One Saturday morning, he drove out to Streets of Willow with a few eager buddies and everything changed.

The giddiest of his friends also had good taste; he brought his S2000 along and threw James the keys. He also had trust and good manners—he only asked that James bring it back in one piece. The casual introduction had clearly had an effect, because, just one month later, James had bought one for himself.

Good Hands

It was no ordinary S2000, either. This AP1 was previously owned by a Ballade Sports employee, so it’d been given lots of love and attention. Along with some choice body modifications, it came fitted with KW V3s, a square set of RPF1s, an exhaust, an intake, a halo-style seat, and an F22C motor with roughly 40,000 miles. For someone dipping their toes in the water, James couldn’t have been luckier—the price he picked this one up for would irritate a lot of prospective buyers these days.

The car came with an OEM AP2 front bumper and CR lip, a replica CR trunk wing, and a full carbon hardtop weighing only seventeen pounds.

As nicely sorted as this example was, the AP1 is not a forgiving car. “The first few times I drove it, I probably spent more time spun off-track than I was on-track, but I didn’t care. I set a 2:14 at Buttonwillow 13CW and I felt like a rock star. I may’ve been going off a few times every event, but—and I can’t stress this enough—I was having the time of my life.”

“My motto then was: ‘If you’re not spinning, you’re not trying.”

However, he adapted rapidly. “Smooth is fast in that car. The more I softened my inputs, the better the car responded. My lap times fell, and I set my sights on a pretty significant goal early on. The aim was to set a Buttonwillow 13CW lap under two minutes on 200TW tires without the help of any aero.”

As James learned, trimming the first few seconds is easy. Three years passed before he was able to whittle his times down to something nearing his goal, but he didn’t care too much. Again, the thrill of driving and learning the nuances of the S2000 were the wind in his sails.

One of his biggest hurdles with the car was learning how to gel with its nervous behavior. “I was usually leaving some on the table because the rear was on a knife edge,” he said. It would give him the willies when the S2000 would rotate at higher speeds, but James realized that he had to suppress his instinct to lift his right foot. Backing out in that situation doesn’t always work well in this very pointy car.

After getting enough experience with the car’s edginess at higher speeds, he returned to Buttonwillow on a set of A052s which were well past their prime. Even after spinning the car six times, he didn’t falter. That day, he was determined to find those last few tenths.

When he saw a 1:59.7 appear on his AiM Solo, he whooped. “I went from setting a 2:14 in the same car, essentially. Sure, I moved from a Nexen to an Advan, but the car was identical otherwise. That gave me the permission, if you like, to take the next big step with this car.”

Forget Incremental Improvements

At this point, James was nearing his sixtieth track day in the car. To give it a commemorative special touch, he decided to douse it in a shade of green most often seen on Porsches. “I’d wanted a GT3 RS in Lizard Green, but I couldn’t justify the cost—I could buy a duplex for that money.”

Getting the professionals to paint it that color wasn’t cheap, either. Instead of forking out enough to buy two new motors, he set up a makeshift paint booth in his garage, studied YouTube, spent a thousand in materials, and gave it a whirl.

Not surprisingly for a car with such battle-worn exterior, prep took far longer than anything else. So much of the original panels were beaten beyond the point of sensible continuation. In the place of the old panels, he added J’s Racing front fenders and rear bumper, as well as a set of ASM rear over fenders. Over the course of four months, he spent three-hundred hours replacing panels, sanding, and swearing. The painting itself only took a few hours.

Then came a Voltex Swan Neck and a Racebred Components 3” front splitter. Along with the aero, he added a set of JRZ RS Pro coilovers and a Karcepts front sway bar which made a “night and day difference—it was almost a new car. I think the V3s were well past their prime, and I might’ve handicapped myself with those. When I finally got the right equipment, I immediately dropped my best at 13CW to a 1:55.7.”

Ready for Some Overdue Jam

The motor had been through the ringer and in July 2020, the motor dropped a valve. He spent the summer rebuilding another 2.2-liter Honda short block with a Port Flow Design cylinder head built by Tom Fujita. With Supertech dual springs, valves, and retainers, he’d be able to beat on it without worry. However, it was still lacking a little jam.

For that reason, he unsheathed his credit card one Black Friday and ordered an HKS GT2 Supercharger. That was the first of many modifications needed to double an F22C’s output.

With the guidance of Son Vo and FormulaS, the new engine package was fortified with a V-mount intercooler, plenty of ducting, 1300cc injectors, an AEM V2 ECU, and all the custom piping needed to keep the motor running cool.

Plans for a Forced Induction Future

The beauty of this supercharged motor is that it will remain as tractable as it was pre-blower, but with nearly twice the power at the top-end. Because of its linearity, it should be tractable, even with the stock differential.

To ensure over 400 horsepower is put to the pavement cleanly, he’s also widened the footprint a little with a set of Titan7 T-R10 wheels measuring 18X10.5”. Though he hasn’t settled on a specific tire, he’s thinking a square set of 295-section Hoosier A7s. Not only will the car put the power down, but it will stop in a fashion that might let him reuse his original braking points. Well, maybe.

“After seventy-five track days, I’m still ear-to-ear. Actually, I’m like a kid on Christmas the day before a track day. I purposely don’t drink caffeine from noon onwards so I can sleep. It doesn’t really work; I end up getting up at 3 AM and watching racing videos on YouTube until I leave.”

“What I’m looking forward to more than anything is that, once I pass Sunset, I’ll no longer feel like checking my e-mails.”

With the major drop in time he enjoyed after the last big step in modification, maybe his new goal of a 1:49 at CW13 is in the cards. Whether it is or isn’t, it’s certain that he’ll be grinning the whole way there.

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.