Mattrojana NFR Time Attack Daily Driver
03-15-2015, 08:06 PM
#1
Mattrojana NFR Time Attack Daily Driver
Hey S2Ki, my name is Matt Rojana and this is my journey with my first S2000 ownership. After previously owning two turbo cars (GC8 STI and an Evo 9) and enduring a few years of constant reliability issues preventing me from doing track days, I decided on my next platform as an NA RWD chassis. What better choice to suit my daily and track needs than an S2000? My only requirement was it had to be an AP2 and in NFR. I came across a bone stock 2006 NFR, and never looked back.
Previous cars^
Specs:
Engine/Drivetrain
Challenge 76TA-R
Berk 70mm HFC
Ballade Sports header
Ballade Sports ZDX throttle body
Ballade Sports timing gear
Hondata Flashpro
Innovate 75a engine/transmission mounts
Footwork/Braking
-Ballade Sports Race Spec coilovers 16kg/16kg
-Project Mu club racers
-Ballade Sports stainless steel braided lines
Aero
-Ballade Sports double carbon OEM hardtop
-APR GT-250 wing
-APR GT mirrors
-Voltex rep bumper
Interior
-Recaro SPG
-Hard Dog roll bar
-Sabelt 6 point harness
-Personal neo grinta 330mm
-Works Bell short hub
-NRG 2.0 qr
Day 1
I found my ideal S2000. A stock 2006 NFR with a clean soft top, no modifications aside from a bluetooth headunit, which I was cool with. Finally. a car I could daily drive and begin tracking with. First things first, and I made a starting list of things to do. I was always a big believer of driving the car stock for driver development, however a few mods would set me in a good starting position at the track. The priorities began with routine maintanence, aka oil/trans/diff/brake fluid flush, followed with a bucket seat, 255 non staggered setup and some decent front pads:
-Recaro SPG
-Buddy Club rails
-Project MU front pads
-TR Motorsport C3s in 17x9 +48
-Federal RSR 255/40/17
At last, my first track day. I booked a hotel room and registered with Extremespeed for a weekend at Streets of Willow CW and CCW. To say it was fun would be an understatement, because damn, I was hooked. With the cash leftover from my Evo being sold, I went ahead and bought a coupon pack of 10 track days. Despite other's experiences with Extremespeed and these coupon packs, it provided me track days at a reasonable cost, and I haven't had any bad experiences to speak of. Anyway, going back to the track day, me being overly excited and ham fisted shifting every corner, I wanted to share a mistake I made in hopes of educating future first timers at the track to avoid this issue. Upon corner exit, shifting from 3rd to 4th gear, I threw it down into 2nd and over revved the car and had somehow managed to repeat that again later on in the day. I continued to drive the entire day and even returned for the Sunday event going clockwise. Finally a check engine and VSA light came on, and being that driving at the track is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do, I said fck it and continued to enjoy the rest of my day. Whatever had to be fixed, would have to be fixed later on anyway (luckily I didn't drop a valve). At the end of the day however, I was able to bring my lap times down to 1:30x for both configurations and was definitely happy as a first timer and even happier with how the S2000 handled on stock suspension with such minimal mods!
Bent Valves
Post track day, I did a compression test and concluded valves were bent. After so many headaches with my previous cars, and shops doing poor jobs, always leaving reliability issues stand in the way on bringing my cars to the track, I began searching online and looking for other's experiences to find a place that was reputable enough to do the valve job and one that I could trust if I wanted to continue tracking the car often. I decided to give Ballade Sports a call, and Alex answered the phone. Immediately he gave me a complete run down and was very professional and seemed to be extremely knowledgable with S2000s. Right off the bat I knew this was the place I wanted to have work on my car, so I set an appointment and dropped the car off. Another compression test and leakdown test resulting in 80% leakage in cylinder 3 confirmed my diagnosis, so we sat down and discussed options towards the repair. Knowing the purpose of the car, I ultimately decided on upgrading the head with the valve job along with Supertech valves, springs and retainers etc. Looking back, that was probably the best decision I've made, as my car has been bulletproof ever since.
Back on track
The car was done in just under 2 weeks and ran better than ever. What better way to enjoy the car and money spent than going to the track again? Lesson learned with the mis shift, since then I no longer shift with a closed grip, and "push" and "pull" the shifter into gear rather than forcing it in and have never had an issue since. I drove another few events and came across a brand new set of KW Clubsport for a good price. I bought them, installed the dampers, and had Darin at West End align and corner balance the car. A few things followed shortly after. With the seat being such a great deal, I wanted to continue improving the ergonomic mods and began with improving steering wheel feel and position. The Personal 330mm, works bell short hub and qr set the wheel position perfectly to my liking. Safety is cool too, so I went ahead with a roll bar and harness setup. Here's a list of what I bought:
- KW clubsport
- Hard dog roll bar
- Enkei RPF1s 17x9 +45
- Personal 330mm neo grinta
- Works bell hub/NRG qr
- Sabelt 6 point harness
- Bulkhead bar
- C west style n1 front bumper
First time at Buttonwillow
I've had the opportunity to ride along with many fast drivers at the track, but it was awesome to finally drive it myself for the first time. By then my RSRs had 9 events on them, but I managed to finish the day with a 2:05.1 which also won 1st place at the VTEC Club event! On the fifth session I decided to gung ho bus stop, which led to a big off in which I debeaded the tire off my rim, cracked my bumper and tweaked my alignment. I thought my weekend was over, however, the car still drove, so we headed off to Willow Ranch for dinner and returned the next day to drive in the Redline Time Attack competiton.
Previous cars^
Specs:
Engine/Drivetrain
Challenge 76TA-R
Berk 70mm HFC
Ballade Sports header
Ballade Sports ZDX throttle body
Ballade Sports timing gear
Hondata Flashpro
Innovate 75a engine/transmission mounts
Footwork/Braking
-Ballade Sports Race Spec coilovers 16kg/16kg
-Project Mu club racers
-Ballade Sports stainless steel braided lines
Aero
-Ballade Sports double carbon OEM hardtop
-APR GT-250 wing
-APR GT mirrors
-Voltex rep bumper
Interior
-Recaro SPG
-Hard Dog roll bar
-Sabelt 6 point harness
-Personal neo grinta 330mm
-Works Bell short hub
-NRG 2.0 qr
Day 1
I found my ideal S2000. A stock 2006 NFR with a clean soft top, no modifications aside from a bluetooth headunit, which I was cool with. Finally. a car I could daily drive and begin tracking with. First things first, and I made a starting list of things to do. I was always a big believer of driving the car stock for driver development, however a few mods would set me in a good starting position at the track. The priorities began with routine maintanence, aka oil/trans/diff/brake fluid flush, followed with a bucket seat, 255 non staggered setup and some decent front pads:
-Recaro SPG
-Buddy Club rails
-Project MU front pads
-TR Motorsport C3s in 17x9 +48
-Federal RSR 255/40/17
At last, my first track day. I booked a hotel room and registered with Extremespeed for a weekend at Streets of Willow CW and CCW. To say it was fun would be an understatement, because damn, I was hooked. With the cash leftover from my Evo being sold, I went ahead and bought a coupon pack of 10 track days. Despite other's experiences with Extremespeed and these coupon packs, it provided me track days at a reasonable cost, and I haven't had any bad experiences to speak of. Anyway, going back to the track day, me being overly excited and ham fisted shifting every corner, I wanted to share a mistake I made in hopes of educating future first timers at the track to avoid this issue. Upon corner exit, shifting from 3rd to 4th gear, I threw it down into 2nd and over revved the car and had somehow managed to repeat that again later on in the day. I continued to drive the entire day and even returned for the Sunday event going clockwise. Finally a check engine and VSA light came on, and being that driving at the track is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do, I said fck it and continued to enjoy the rest of my day. Whatever had to be fixed, would have to be fixed later on anyway (luckily I didn't drop a valve). At the end of the day however, I was able to bring my lap times down to 1:30x for both configurations and was definitely happy as a first timer and even happier with how the S2000 handled on stock suspension with such minimal mods!
Bent Valves
Post track day, I did a compression test and concluded valves were bent. After so many headaches with my previous cars, and shops doing poor jobs, always leaving reliability issues stand in the way on bringing my cars to the track, I began searching online and looking for other's experiences to find a place that was reputable enough to do the valve job and one that I could trust if I wanted to continue tracking the car often. I decided to give Ballade Sports a call, and Alex answered the phone. Immediately he gave me a complete run down and was very professional and seemed to be extremely knowledgable with S2000s. Right off the bat I knew this was the place I wanted to have work on my car, so I set an appointment and dropped the car off. Another compression test and leakdown test resulting in 80% leakage in cylinder 3 confirmed my diagnosis, so we sat down and discussed options towards the repair. Knowing the purpose of the car, I ultimately decided on upgrading the head with the valve job along with Supertech valves, springs and retainers etc. Looking back, that was probably the best decision I've made, as my car has been bulletproof ever since.
Back on track
The car was done in just under 2 weeks and ran better than ever. What better way to enjoy the car and money spent than going to the track again? Lesson learned with the mis shift, since then I no longer shift with a closed grip, and "push" and "pull" the shifter into gear rather than forcing it in and have never had an issue since. I drove another few events and came across a brand new set of KW Clubsport for a good price. I bought them, installed the dampers, and had Darin at West End align and corner balance the car. A few things followed shortly after. With the seat being such a great deal, I wanted to continue improving the ergonomic mods and began with improving steering wheel feel and position. The Personal 330mm, works bell short hub and qr set the wheel position perfectly to my liking. Safety is cool too, so I went ahead with a roll bar and harness setup. Here's a list of what I bought:
- KW clubsport
- Hard dog roll bar
- Enkei RPF1s 17x9 +45
- Personal 330mm neo grinta
- Works bell hub/NRG qr
- Sabelt 6 point harness
- Bulkhead bar
- C west style n1 front bumper
First time at Buttonwillow
I've had the opportunity to ride along with many fast drivers at the track, but it was awesome to finally drive it myself for the first time. By then my RSRs had 9 events on them, but I managed to finish the day with a 2:05.1 which also won 1st place at the VTEC Club event! On the fifth session I decided to gung ho bus stop, which led to a big off in which I debeaded the tire off my rim, cracked my bumper and tweaked my alignment. I thought my weekend was over, however, the car still drove, so we headed off to Willow Ranch for dinner and returned the next day to drive in the Redline Time Attack competiton.
03-15-2015, 08:54 PM
#2
So it continues. More track days, more maintenance and more enjoyment with the car. After nearly 10 track events on the RSRs, they were pretty beat, so they were replaced with a new set of Hankook RS3 255/40/17.
Some photos from round 3 of VTEC Club USA at Autoclub Speedway infield. Ran a 1:15xxx and took home second place in group N!
Big willow and ACS roval were interesting to say the least. Both tracks with high speed corners that sure require commitment if you plan to go fast! First times set at Big Willow were a 1:38.6, and a 1:59.0 at ACS roval. I really enjoyed both tracks more than I would have imagine, and certain sections of each definitely taught me good lessons and skills to translate back over to the other tracks.
Round 4 VTEC Club USA. I managed yet another 2nd place finish and set a new personal best of 1:28xxx clockwise! At this point I had been offered the opportunity to become a VTEC Club committee member to help organize and run future events. Their mission was to provide a fun and competitive series for grassroots Honda enthusiasts to run altogether. I was all for what this was about, so I gladly joined these awesome group of guys. I thought that these car and driver profiles were really cool.
Some photos from round 3 of VTEC Club USA at Autoclub Speedway infield. Ran a 1:15xxx and took home second place in group N!
Big willow and ACS roval were interesting to say the least. Both tracks with high speed corners that sure require commitment if you plan to go fast! First times set at Big Willow were a 1:38.6, and a 1:59.0 at ACS roval. I really enjoyed both tracks more than I would have imagine, and certain sections of each definitely taught me good lessons and skills to translate back over to the other tracks.
Round 4 VTEC Club USA. I managed yet another 2nd place finish and set a new personal best of 1:28xxx clockwise! At this point I had been offered the opportunity to become a VTEC Club committee member to help organize and run future events. Their mission was to provide a fun and competitive series for grassroots Honda enthusiasts to run altogether. I was all for what this was about, so I gladly joined these awesome group of guys. I thought that these car and driver profiles were really cool.
03-15-2015, 10:03 PM
#3
As the 5th and final round of VTEC Club and Round 8 of Redline Time Attack for 2014, the S2K was due for more maintenance, the car developed a slight ticking and a rich code had appeared. After having Ballade Sports doing my valve job and earning my full trust, I brought the car over to Alex Doan and the team to check out. After a valve adjustment and new Ballade Sports timing chain tensioner, the car was running like new. I had opted replace my old stock air filter with their filter and installed the Ballade Sports timing chain correction gear as well. Alex worked with me on a deal I was happy with and I left with no buyer's remorse. After dealing with multiple bad shop experiences on top of issues with my turbo cars, it was a huge comfort to find a shop that I count on and trust to deal with problems and handle jobs in a swift manner. With the car running solid, I decided to splurge on a pair of APR GT mirrors and it was now time for some love to the fluids, fill the car up and return to Buttonwillow. I ran a new personal best of 2:03.6 and won 2nd in overall season points for VTEC Club USA group N (non aero), and another 4th place in Redline Time Attack e class!
December/Jan became the "off season" for the competition events. That meant going out, having fun and hopefully showing improvements! With 9 track events now on the RS3s, I decided to go back to Streets of Willow cw for a day of fun and learning car control with lowered grip. Ended up setting a new personal best of 1:27.2!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV93mC6wss[/media]
December/Jan became the "off season" for the competition events. That meant going out, having fun and hopefully showing improvements! With 9 track events now on the RS3s, I decided to go back to Streets of Willow cw for a day of fun and learning car control with lowered grip. Ended up setting a new personal best of 1:27.2!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV93mC6wss[/media]
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03-16-2015, 07:43 PM
#8
Registered User
Awesome build man, lemme ask you a question, did you pull your fenders out for the 255s? I rolled with mine but on some aggressive turns on the track, ill burn the outer edges on the tire.
03-16-2015, 09:52 PM
#9
Thanks everyone, this is what I bought the car for and it will continue to see many more track days. 
Thanks Allen, read your build thread and it inspired me to make one of my own. Still have a bit of catching up to do to be up to date..
In the pictures I've posted so far, they were only rolled front and rear with the rear bumper tab relocated. On hard corners, the 255 rs3s did some very slight pulling of their own. I had just recently pulled the fenders after installing a set of AD08rs which seemed a bit wider than the rs3s. With negative 2.5-2.8 square camber, I had no issues. Just a heads up before anyone decides to pull their fenders: find someone who has done it before and is very very good at pulling. My quarters unfortunately got buckled, which I will have to have a PDR guy now fix.
Thanks Allen, read your build thread and it inspired me to make one of my own. Still have a bit of catching up to do to be up to date..
In the pictures I've posted so far, they were only rolled front and rear with the rear bumper tab relocated. On hard corners, the 255 rs3s did some very slight pulling of their own. I had just recently pulled the fenders after installing a set of AD08rs which seemed a bit wider than the rs3s. With negative 2.5-2.8 square camber, I had no issues. Just a heads up before anyone decides to pull their fenders: find someone who has done it before and is very very good at pulling. My quarters unfortunately got buckled, which I will have to have a PDR guy now fix.
03-16-2015, 11:21 PM
#10
Just a little warm up on a out lap..
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO90zXpMNZk[/media]
Round 1 of VTEC Club Prep
Next visit to Streets of Willow was for Round 1 of VTEC Club USA 2015. This current season I have set to compete in Group N again in hopes on scoring the season championship. Group N allows all B/K/F series in their respective chassis. 140tw 255 tire limitation and no splitter or 2 piece wing allowed. A new set of Advan Neova AD08rs were to replace the toast rs3s. Also picked up a passenger Recaro SPG from Ameer (sebring ap1). And last minute car wash as always.
Fitment with 255 AD08rs. Rolled and not yet pulled fenders at this point. -2.8 deg camber
Race day.
Round 1 of VTEC Club was held at Streets of Willow clockwise. There was a huge turnout of roughly 60 Hondas, chassis ranging from crx's, civics, s2ks, nsx and even a tsx. Everyone came out to set some fast lap times and have a good time. We had two run groups of strictly Hondas, and the vtak battles ensued throughout the day. I always have a blast driving Streets. It's definitely no Buttonwillow, but it has it's quite technical and has its fun sections which I really enjoy. Many fast drivers were out there that day and it was a blast talking to everyone and racing all day.
Narita Dog Fight has awesome round one coverage. Check it out: http://thenaritadogfight.com/2015/02...1-sow-gallery/
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5pqku-XnQA[/media]
Laid down a 1:26.1x in the first session. Set a new personal best and took home a 1st place win in group N!
Second place was a buddy of mine, Steve Dukeshire, in his TSX with a 1:27 and third, Connor in his AP1 with another 1:27.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO90zXpMNZk[/media]
Round 1 of VTEC Club Prep
Next visit to Streets of Willow was for Round 1 of VTEC Club USA 2015. This current season I have set to compete in Group N again in hopes on scoring the season championship. Group N allows all B/K/F series in their respective chassis. 140tw 255 tire limitation and no splitter or 2 piece wing allowed. A new set of Advan Neova AD08rs were to replace the toast rs3s. Also picked up a passenger Recaro SPG from Ameer (sebring ap1). And last minute car wash as always.
Fitment with 255 AD08rs. Rolled and not yet pulled fenders at this point. -2.8 deg camber
Race day.
Round 1 of VTEC Club was held at Streets of Willow clockwise. There was a huge turnout of roughly 60 Hondas, chassis ranging from crx's, civics, s2ks, nsx and even a tsx. Everyone came out to set some fast lap times and have a good time. We had two run groups of strictly Hondas, and the vtak battles ensued throughout the day. I always have a blast driving Streets. It's definitely no Buttonwillow, but it has it's quite technical and has its fun sections which I really enjoy. Many fast drivers were out there that day and it was a blast talking to everyone and racing all day.
Narita Dog Fight has awesome round one coverage. Check it out: http://thenaritadogfight.com/2015/02...1-sow-gallery/
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5pqku-XnQA[/media]
Laid down a 1:26.1x in the first session. Set a new personal best and took home a 1st place win in group N!
Second place was a buddy of mine, Steve Dukeshire, in his TSX with a 1:27 and third, Connor in his AP1 with another 1:27.