A new club racer-inspired version of the Honda S2000 will take the legendary vehicle's track-worthy performance to an entirely new level when it makes its world debut at the New York International Auto Show on April 4, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today. Engineered around the expectations and needs of Honda performance enthusiasts, the S2000 CR will be available as a new trim level when the aggressively-tuned vehicle goes on sale in the fall of 2007.

Last week, Honda exhibited their incredible FCX Concept vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This futuristic fuel cell vehicle runs on compressed hydrogen and emits nothing but water vapor from its tailpipe. It can go 270 miles on a tank of hydrogen (refillable from your home natural gas hookup) with the kind of reliability and performance we’ve come to expect from Honda. A car like this could turn the tide against global warming, foreign oil dependence, and the continued depletion of vanishing resources, but how long will we have to wait for this future promise to become a reality??? How about later this year?!

As recently as 2002, hydrogen fuel cell technology had been dismissed as too cumbersome and impractical to ever be of any use to the automotive industry. Fortunately, Honda refused to listen. The Honda fuel cell stack, which just a few years ago was the size of a refrigerator and weighed more than most cars, has been streamlined down to the size of a small suitcase while output has beenincreased by over 40%. The current stack allows for a very comfortable cabin, while swiftly propelling the car to 100 MPH.

Yesterday marked the final day of the North American International Auto Show, and this has been a history making show for Honda. The first ever introduction of an Accord concept at an auto show, the intro of the beautiful and innovative FCX sedan concept (more on this breakthrough later this week…), and lots of other innovations in their other product lines, were all met with great enthusiasm by the automotive press as well as the viewing public. Perhaps the most exciting introduction of all was the new Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept. Since the HSC introduction in Tokyo several years ago, this has been the closest look to what the next generation NSX might very well look like.

The styling of this new concept is much more unique than the HSC which many felt looked like a Japanese Enzo. The car is powered by a front mounted V10 powerplant and features a new high-performance, rear-wheel-drive based version of Acura's exclusive Super Handling All-Wheel Drive(TM) (SH-AWD(TM)), the styling is dramatic with a long graceful hood carved with deeply sculpted lines and embossed air vents. The concept sits very low and encompasses a 108.8 inch wheelbase, anchored by grippy 19 inch front and 20 inch rear performance tires mounted to custom billet-machined, polished aluminum wheels. Large eight-piston calipers and ventilated carbon ceramic brake discs provide exceptional stopping power. Bold wheel arches and flares add to the concept's aggressive appearance.

Honda took square aim at Toyota’s segment dominant Camry this week with the introduction of the Accord Coupe Concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This next generation Accord is more powerful, sleeker, safer, sexier, and more luxurious than any of its predecessors, and could be available as soon as the 2008 model year.

"The Accord Coupe Concept demonstrates the styling direction for the upcoming, eighth-generation Accord," said John Mendel, senior vice president of American Honda. "As the industry's target for midsize segment excellence, the all-new Accord will set a new benchmark for safety, efficiency, performance, refinement and style."

Critics were quick to praise Honda’s latest offering:

Honda has created a special new limited edition S2000 to honor their near 40+ year history in Formula One. The limited edition of 50 cars will prominently feature the actual signatures of Honda F1 drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barricello on the numbered faceplate of an upgraded audio system as well as upgraded leather and an exclusive pearl white paint job.

In 1962, Hideo Sugiura, a manager at Honda’s Saitama Factory, received an unofficial order from research director Yoshihito Kudo, "We are planning to compete in F-1. I want you to oversee the project."

"What is F-1? I have seen some photographs about it before, but I don’t know what it is. Please tell me what F-1 is," asked Sugiura.

"I don’t know, either," replied Kudo. "It doesn’t matter. Everyone’s a beginner, at first."

With the year slowly closing to an end, what better way to end the year then to compete in the 2006 Redline Time Attack finals.  This year’s closer was in Bakersfield, California at Buttonwillow Raceway, running configuration Clockwise #13 (CW13). These time attack events give an opportunity for tuner shops to build dedicated cars to strictly go fast around the racetrack.  At the same time, it gives us, the average Joe, a chance to compete against the “Big Dogs,” using our daily driven modified rides.  Throughout the year, Maxrev and I (StinkyTofu), have been attending track events to hone up our driving skills and to fine tune our suspension.  It has always been a mission of ours to extract the most speed out of the S2000 and to show what this car is capable of with just basic modifications.   

A little over half a year ago, Maxrev and I both took 1^st place finishes in Modified and Street RWD classes at Redline’s California Speedway Time Attack event (For more information, click on this link).  We were both pretty pleased with our results and did not want to disappoint for this next event. 

AJ-Racing returned to defend their title of Limited FR Class at the annual SuperStreet Time Attack event held at Buttonwillow Raceway in Southern California November 8^th, 2006. The limitation of the class being that the tires must have a treadwear rating of 100 and above.  The Time Attack event was designed to challenge tuners and their machines to clock the fastest lap around circuit.  It wasn’t a race in the traditional sense, but the drivers are all racing the stop watch.  The Time Attack is sort of "Time Trialing" competition based on a Japanese format of elimination. Fastest cars advance to the final rounds based on lap times. It also served as an invaluable tool to test aftermarket hardware under a controlled environment. 

There were more than 80 entrants at Buttonwillow competing for the overall win and 6 class titles on the line with participation of many of Japans top tuners.

AJ-Racing S2000 in 2^nd place in the “Limited” FR class which requires street registration vehicle with DOT approved tires of 100 UTQ or more.  AJ-Racing S2000, running on Nitto NT01 tires had the 18^th fastest time of the day (overall) at 1:56.773 which was an improvement of over two seconds from last year.  This lap time also makes AJ-Racing S2000 the fastest street registered S2000 to ever lap around Buttonwillow Raceway.  

While the Honda Cup season was concluding on the big track at Willow Springs this past weekend, the S2000 Challenge Series was wrapping up right next door on the Streets of Willow road course. The Stock, Modified, and Unlimited divisions had already been decided, but the Production Class was still up for grabs between the two top contenders Kelvin Yong (HunterEZ) and Sriram Balasubramaniam (pantyraider).

At the start of the weekend, Sri had a narrow nine point lead, but he was able to extend it Saturday with a class victory that gave him a 15 point advantage coming into Sunday’s competition. (Yong did not compete Saturday due to a previous commitment) Unfortunately, on the last run Saturday, Sri’s transmission failed and it looked like he would be unable to compete Sunday. This opened the door for Yong to move in and take the championship with a win in Sunday’s competition.

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This past weekend was the final event for the 2006 Honda Cup season, two races on the high-speed circuit at Willow Springs International Raceway. With two races to go, the championship was still undecided with the top three drivers, Derek Stevens, Rylan Hazelton, and Richard Laifatt, all still in contention.

Saturday was an adventure… There were dark rain clouds on the horizon all day long in the very chilly Mojave desert, but the rain cooperated by staying away until the sun went down, allowing the races to proceed in dry conditions.

Hazelton seemed to have an excellent shot at overtaking the series leader Stevens, by turning in some exceptionally fast lap times in the qualifying session. Unfortunately, his car developed clutch problems that prohibited him from participating in the qualifying session. Stevens and Laifatt were able to qualify one and two respectively.