Auto Journo Recalls Test Driving S2000 Prototype
Test driving an S2000 prototype and racing a Honda cart sounds like a pretty solid day.
Good Old Days
It's hard to imagine the S2000 being 20 years old, but here we are. And while the car itself has become a bit of a legend in the enthusiast community, it was also quite a revelation for the automotive journalists lucky enough to drive it back before anyone knew if the S2000 was actually going to be a bona fide hit. That includes Classic Cars' Larry Edsall, who recently recalled the glorious day he got to drive an S2000 prototype.
Photos: Classic Cars
Photographic Opportunity
A select group of American auto journalists was invited to at Honda’s Twin Ring Motegi motorsports complex, which is 65 miles north of Tokyo. Initially, the intent of the visit was to simply give the press a walkaround and photo session with the preproduction S2000, which was sitting in a parking lot. A photographer asked if it could be moved to, well, a more photographic location, and that's when the story gets interesting.
Photos: Classic Cars
Quick Spin
One would assume that the car would be moved by a Honda staffer, but after some discussion, Edsall was chosen as the lucky person tasked with that move. Ultimately, he only drove the car across the parking lot and up an airplane runway. That was enough to lead to his next story: "'Quick Spin: Honda provides a peek at its S2000 roadster' was the headline on my AutoWeek cover story, though in the text I did report that I had driven the car, albeit briefly," Edsall said."
Photos: Classic Cars
Party Time
But Edsall and his fellow journalists didn't just fly across the globe to see the S2000. They also got to partake in Honda's 50th-anniversary celebration, which brought 50,000 fans to Motegi. There, Honda gathered a host of cool vehicles, including lots of vintage race cars and motorcycles. Motegi is also the site of the Honda museum, making it the perfect venue for this party.
Photos: Classic Cars
Track Time
The fun didn't stop after the party, either. The journalists got to take a few hot laps on one of the short Twin Ring tracks in a Honda Side by Side, an 850-pound open-wheel racer created by Nobuhiko Kawamoto, a former Formula One racing engineer and Honda president. The little racers featured Honda’s XRV750 Africa Twin motorcycle engine mounted just to the right of the driver for better balance and weight distribution.
Photos: Classic Cars
High Revving Fun
Though they only offered up 60 horsepower, the V-twin mills revved to 8,000 rpm and were connected to a five-speed manual transmission, making these Side by Sides a hoot to drive. "The package was gutsy enough to push the Bridgestone passenger-car tires to their limits through the turns, and the track was wide enough that we could run three abreast down either of its two straightaways, just like they do - at much higher speed and risk - at Indy," Edsall recalled.
Photos: Classic Cars
Fun Memory
Clearly, automotive journalists get to have all the fun. Edsall has been in the business for many years now, so he's obviously gotten to partake in quite a few cool activities like this one. But this experience in Japan stands out as one of the most fun, and who else can claim they were the first non-Honda employee to "drive" an S2000?
Photos: Classic Cars