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UK & Ireland S2000 CommunityDiscussions related to the S2000, its ownership and enthusiasm for it in the UK and Ireland. Including FAQs, and technical questions.
Well, as the saying goes, "cheated death again". Just got back from a great five day weekend travelling across France, Belgium and Germany to play at the (in)famous Nurburgring. This time, we took along my S2000, a Lotus Elise Series 2 and an Opel Speedster (VX220), oh and a Peugeot 306 support vehicle (in case any of us binned our cars on the track).
Its a pretty boring 7+ hour drive to get from my local port to the Ring, so we kept the speed to about 90mph. This guzzled the fuel, especially when you've got the hood down to enjoy the fabulous weather. At one stage, I decided to go for a high speed run, reaching 140mph in what seemed like no time at all, before some French arsehole decided to pull out in front of me. Good brakes these cars have got BTW!
We arrived on the Friday evening in time to put in a few recce laps - nice and fast with a largely clear track. The Lotus driver had never been on a track before so the Ring was a fair baptism of fire for him, but to give him his due, he was pretty quick for a newbie - perhaps a little too quick as we were to find out the next day...
Saturday saw mobs of people there, so the track was pretty busy. One of the early laps saw a BMW M Roadster badly crash right in front of the Elise and Speedster - the car was written off with a wheel totally ripped off and left parked half way up a bank - both passengers shaken but OK. Scared the hell out of my mates, too.
I then let Griff_Lurker drive the S2000 with me in the passenger seat. he was pretty quick, but came into a reasonably tight left/right flick a little too hot, the tail went right, he caught it, but had to then steer for the corner. The momentum caught up with us and around we went. Frightening as hell as the armco heads my way, but the spin headed us back out on track so he stood on the brakes and we slid off backwards onto the grass. He promptly jumped out and gave me the keys back with a rather sickly grin, to the applause of the spectators. I can't say I was terribly happy but glad that he'd kept my baby out of the armco.
The very next lap saw the Elise lead my S2000 with the Speedster following up behind. I'm close behind him into a very fast corner (approach at 130+, brake down to 100, then accelerate before a 50 mph corner) - I brake for the corner - he doesn't. Oh shit. Back came out one way, then snapped around into a full 360 spin that puts him onto the grass, spins a further 360 across the track, catches the spin, but then it flicks around for a final 360 on the opposite side, ending up facing up track and mere metres from the armco.
Its one of the scariest things I've seen to visualise that little Lotus totally out of control, lost at 120mph and spinning across the track towards a very solid wall. They were both fine, thank god, but pretty shaken. It slowed all of us down a lot that day!
We did gradually pick up the pace towards the end of the day, and by Sunday we were back up to speed. My car didn't feel 100% right after the spin (possibly from flat spotted tyres?) so I called a halt to my laps after 14 or so in total. I'm still getting quicker, so am now lapping under the nine minute barrier. Not much is getting past me - which is a really nice feeling.
The mods I made before the trip were fully justifed by the noticeable increase in speed on the track. The car doesn't feel much quicker, but it really gets to higher speeds faster. Certainly is quick enough to hold off an old shape M3 that tried to show me the ropes! Victims for this trip included a double decker bus (no joke!), several slow Porsches, quite a few bikes, a Boxster and an S3 that was ridiculously yawnsome. Oh and I comprehensively stuffed the Elise in a 0-120mph drag race.
Other highlights from the trip were seeing a brand spankingly new Lambo Gallardo being ragged on the track (sounds lovely), a rather tasty M3 CSL doing the rounds, being hounded by a new RS6 up to 135mph before he went past in a flash, and generally surviving the whole bloody adventure with nothing more than bruised pride by a few lads. Oh, and I posted a 14.9 second 0-100mph time with a totally fluffed gearchange. Nice!
I'll post some more piccies and links to a lap tailed by a camera car when I get the chance but in the meantime, have a glance at these:
No, the Viper wasn't one of ours but went past me like I was stopped.
Damn thats one nice looking bit of bodywork - I do mean the car!
I'll get an original of this one - would look nice on my desk at work, I think.
OK, sorry to have bored you all, but if you haven't been to the Ring, you really can't appreciate how good the place is. Get going! Oh yeah, and hi to the friendly German S2000 owner who gave me a great big wave as we passed each other!
Final point: lots of people stopped and checked out the S2000 in the pits, despite all the seriously tweaked and highly expensive machinery lurking around - made me feel pretty good about my choice of car!
Sort-of. They replaced one shocker and said bugger off. They still can't find the mysterious clank and are contacting Honda for a clue.
I can't say I noticed any problems with uneven responses between the two rear shocks, but I'm sure Griff_Lurker could blame these for his spin if he really wanted to!
Those bloody Lotus's are dead quick through the twisties - I was not happy that a newbie was keeping up with me - only struggling under the power sections and bits about 90mph. Sod it - he was hot as hell without a/c and with that stupid fiddly roof of his.
I briefly drove the Elise and the Speedster (having broken my spine to fit in it) and can't say that I particularly liked either one. I love the comfort and power of the S2000, and the noise with the mods is bloody wonderful. Shame I didn't get a drive by video clip this time as that would have been cool. Apparently the video lap taken of me from the Elise is quite good!
Trip to the Nurburgring - long!
Feels pretty special on the track
