Well, now that my mailman has finished reading the August issue of C & D, he finally left it for me to read. As stated in an earlier post, there was some great content in this issue. The article that seemed to have caused the most rukus was based around an S2000, naturally. After reading the earlier post, and reading the article, I just wanted to share a few observations of my own.

Car and Driver was very impressed with the car. This says a lot in it's own. Sure the straight line acceleration did not blow away stock numbers, but it is faster in every acceleration aspect. And this feat being done in the heat of the summer while the original test was done in the early spring.

Upon reading further, they review the refined handling characteristics. Characteristics that were so refined, that C & D had to ask King what they did. Thus the bumpsteer kit. They also mention the Mugen damper/spring set-up which is the only system for the S2000 that is height adjustable, yet maintains the stock amount of travel.

All in all, the King Motorsports S2000 is the only S2000 I have read about that is actually faster in every respect; handling, acceleration and so-on. Car and Driver must agree because I have yet to see another tuner's car in their magazine. If you are not convinced by the article, come out to the track with us sometime and see for yourselves.

On a side note, there is a great picture of Nick's Skyline and a nice blurb about Emanuel (JJ) and Nick's persistence to finish One Lap. Great job guys.

 

Gee and it only cost $56,000.

Results were pretty marginal considering the $23,000 EXTRA it is going to cost you to duplicate that car. Well you do get an extra .2 G on the skidpad and a whopping 15 extra HP,....and a voided warranty.

Think Honda is going to replace your engine if it happens to blow (regardless of what causes it) when you have bypassed all of their built in safeguards fo that extra 15 HP? There is a reason they programmed the ECU the way they did. Headers and a cat-back are one thing, eliminating the built in safety margine by swapping out the ECU is another. Of course you can always bolt the stock stuff back on after you blow it up and committ fraud but then I wouldn't brag about all the mods you made and how many "kills" you have or how much faster it is on the track on this forum.

Didn't Nick (GTR Power) blow his King/Mugen equipped engine up? Funny how we read about it first in Car & Driver and not here. When he was promoting all these mods we never heard the end of it. He blows up his engine and now he is keeping it very quiet. Blown engines are not as good publicity. Too bad he got his reported in a national magazine.

Kudos on what you have done for the S2000s reputation Nick. Nice work.

 

I don't want to hop in on the "war", but I do think Bieg has a very good point. Why didn't we hear from Nick or someone else about his blown engine, instead of reading it in Car & Driver? Seems like something a normal "active" member of S2000online would post.?

Let the war begin.

Scot


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]Gee and it only cost $56,000.

Results were pretty marginal considering the $23,000 EXTRA it is going to cost you to duplicate that car.

 

No, don't let a war begin.

I merely gave my opinion on an article. Lets remember that many other things were done to the car asside from modifications for acceleration. Don't ruin this thread by being financially closed minded. Yeah, thats a lot of money, but as I said originally, show up a track someday and tell me that the Mugen equipment did not make the car noticeably faster...no really, come out some time.

As for Nick's motor and the number 4 cylinder problem. This is old news, like 3 months old. I remember it did come up in at least one post, let alone, everybody is already aware that there is a #4 cylinder problem on certain runs of the motor. It was due to manufacturer error-period. If you also noticed, Nick has not posted very much lately becuase he has been working his a$$ off and hasn't had time to post, especially the time to reply to what this post is turning into.

 

Hi Mugen 2000

Did Honda replace Nick's engine under warranty?

 

I don't think $56,000 is at all out of line when I see stock Boxsters selling for that and, I know what King's car would do to a stock Boxster. It's a very sweet car and I think King worries more about cutting lap time than warranty. Many people ask for dyno sheets and King exceeds that with an actual project car.
As for those of us without factory dollars, we can remain stock or achieve a smaller, safer version at lower cost, but it's nice of King to show us the car's potential.

 

I agree that the article was complimentary and demonstrates just how good a job Honda did with this car and how hard Mugen had to work (and how much it costs) to improve it.

I personally think that people shouldn't look at the total cost of these improvements as this car is meant to demo a lot of products at once. The performance based enhancements are only a part of the total.

Having said that I'm perfectly happy leaving my car stock, as I'm not a bid mod person. I sold my 88 911 because its performance wasn't what I wanted, I could have modified it but it didn't make sense for me. I like the out of the box approach.


Hugh

 

Bieg

You really need to read better. Please see the other C&D thread and you will see that the short-block was replaced under warranty. The #4 cylinder problem is not effected by bolt-on exhaust and intake parts or a new ECU. It is a design flaw.

Also, the extra $23K was not all spent on straight-line performance mods. Let us not forget all of the aerodynamic benefits from the nose, top and rear spoiler. These are all wind-tunnel tested and are very effective.

The straight-line performance mods cost approx $6K and they don't void your warranty. Let me also say that I have first-hand knowledge that Scott's car and Nick's car are must faster than stock S2000's or even S2000 modified with some of the Mugen parts (mine).

As for Nick not posting here, did you ever think he might be busy or that it wasn't that big of deal to him? The great thing about Nick is that he realizes the car is a car and that is all. He realizes the faults with our car and he addresses them.

The car is not perfect - drive it at 8/10's, 9/10's or 10/10's and you will see. The thing is, those levels are so much higher than the average (or even above-average) driver that they will not uncover the problems. Uncover the problems and you will see there needs to be some work done to the car.

Also, if you doubt any of this, please come out to Chicago for one of our track days and I'm sure Nick will let you drive his car. Or even better you can ride shotgun while Nick's car walks away from a stock S2000 on the track. You can also visit King and meet Scott and the gang up there and realize that it is a top-notch organization.

Those Mugen guys know what they are doing. Well, the F1 teams trust them and that's good enough for me. King is also very knowledgable, just look at their racing sucess. Last week they finished 10 seconds back (2nd place) and didn't have 4th gear for half of the 3 hour race on a track where 4th gear is probably the most important gear.

To think that any car is perfect out of the factory is lunacy. if the word "budget" is attached to any vehicle, it can not be perfect.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]Didn't Nick (GTR Power) blow his King/Mugen equipped engine up?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]Gee and it only cost $56,000.

Results were pretty marginal considering the $23,000 EXTRA it is going to cost you to duplicate that car.