disclaimer - the 2008 S2K Club Racer is the first and only S2k I have owned. So if some of these, what I call "impressive features", exists on the stock S2k as well, please do not take offense.

I have very little seat time in stock S2ks. A few AP1's, never an AP2, and never in the context of a closed course race track.

Quick intro - 2 friends of mind used to live with me in Dayton Ohio. The 3 of us have done several DE's and lapping days at Putnam. Unfortunately one moved to Atlanta and I moved to Cleveland. So for this event, my friend from Atlanta flew up, my friend from Dayton had 2 cars and shared one with the Atlanta guy, I drove down in the Ridgeline with the S2KCR in tow, and the and after 4 years of missing the good old days, the 3 of us metup for a great weekend out oat Putnam Park. Definitly a weekend to remember.

The reading is a bit long - but very worth it. I wanted to give you a very comprehensive writeup of my experience with my CR on the track.


fyi - pics are coming below

If you're not familiar with Putnam, it's a 1.8 mile, 10 turn road coarse located about 45min west of Indianapolis.

I did an event with the 100speed club. Requirements are extensive experience at Putnam and a car fast enough to not hold up traffice.

This is a lapping day event, 2 days, green flag open track, no instructors.
I got a solid 8 hours of track time over 2 days.

I've had countless DE's out there and am an A class driver (which gave me the credentials to get in on this semi-exclusive event).

I just bought a 2008 Ridgeline and found it very fitting to trailer the car there behind the Ridgeline for the ultimate Honda track setup.

I ran the car in its show room condition - stock tires - stock brake pads - 2k miles on the motor. I know my laptimes from my bimmers and wanted to get a "baseline" of what the CR could do from the factory.

Experience:
- the chassis is stiff, I mean really stiff, I know the stock S2k is stiff from the AP1 I drove, but there is a noticeable difference. On day 2 I ran with the top off and it was every bit as stiff as my BMW ///M Coupe was which is nothing to be ashamed of (from the S2k's perspective of course)

- downforce is actually noticeable. I was running through turns 3, 4, and 5 in 3rd gear at first. The car stuck, but wasn't planted. I let my friend turn a couple laps (he's also experienced) and because of the short geared transmission, he didn't want to deal with trying to figure out what gear he need to be in, so for most of the track he just left it in forth. As we entered the turn 3, 4, 5 section I noticed he was unknowingly doing a good 10 mph faster than I was. I kept anticipating the rear end to get a bit frisky, but instead it was the opposite. The car was ABSOLUTELY PLANTED. I slowly came to the realization during the first morning that as much as my insticts told me otherwise, the faster I went through the turns and the quicker I got on the throttle, the more planted and confidence inspiring the car was going through the turns. I really do think Honda is not pulling a fast one on us regarding the front and rear spoilers decreasing lift by what... something like 30%. It is detectable.

- Steering ratio - absolutly perfect. I know, I know, it's the same ratio as the AP1. But this ratio on the CR is phenominal. I can see why the AP1 guys brag about the steering ration, they have every right to do so.

- handling... well... the car pretty much went where ever you wanted it to go. Turn in was instant and never pushed, and as long you were well on the throttle, oversteer was very easy to handle and progressive at the edge. One great thing about Putnam is there is plenty of runoff, so you can safely drive at 10/10ths. No matter if I turned in too early or went in a little hot, it was very easy to make mid-corner adjustments to ensure maximum exit speed.

- More on handling. no body roll - non - no cowl shake- none. and with the top off, the feeling of open top driving was about as close to an open top race car as you can get for the price. Lucky for me, the coordinator of the 100speed club is an S2000 fan, loves the CR, and really wanted go for a ride. Though he's kind of a big guy, so the only way to get him in the car was to take the top off.

- Tires - the RE070's are excellent track tires. They actually have a lower tire wear than my friend's R compounds (140 on the RE070's) which means the tire is REALLY soft. I had no problem keeping heat in them and coming off the track was running about 120 degrees on the outter edges. The tires are very squared off, so I ran slightly over infalted in order to maximize my contact patch and to keep some of the pressure off the edges. The tires were very consistent from the first time out till my last lap. I will definitly buy these tires again. I've owned A LOT of differet brands and models and I would have to say these are some of the best - actually let me rephrase that - these are some of THE BEST non-R compount tires I have ever ran on.

- Tires (more). Unfortunately, with soft compound tires, they were absolutely trashed by the end of the weekend. Blistered, most of the tread is gone, definitly in need of replacement a 4 tire replacement and they aren't cheap. So temperarily I'm running a spare set of tires which are not nearly as good, but they are on a set of Konsei TS-1's (so at least they look good)

- Brakes. I did experience some brake fade, I think mostly due to the "dot 3 heavy duty" (what is that anyways? Heavy duty?) that comes with the car. Dot 4 will be in the car for my next event (dot 4 should have been OEM for this car). The rotors held up just fine. The OEM pads didn't fair so well.

- Brakes more.... after the end of day 1 my rear pads were gone, nothing left. Although I was able to get by the entire weekend on 1 set of fronts. Some of the Honda guys from Marysville was there with their cars. They said the CR was setup with the lowest center of gravity of any of the S2k's and some additional rear brake bias was factored in. Take that into consideration with the relatively long wheelbase, complete lack of nose dive on breaking, and based on their remarks, I can see why the rears wore out as quick. Take it for what is worth.

- Oil - 80% of my time was on the performance cam. Oil consumption was minimal.

- One last note: the cars ability to change direction is beyond comprehension. I have hours and hours of experience at this track in various cars and the S2kCR's moment of inertia combined with the lightweight, extra stiff chassis, and excessive mechanical grip just surprised me and any passengers I took along for the ride.

Results:
No car registered to drive on the street could hang with me. Before you flip out, I'm not claiming my car was the fastest car there, I know there were faster cars there. But sometimes, many times, they super high HP cars can be very difficult to get through the twisties with so much on throttle oversteer. The CR on the other hand came to live in the turns. I'm simply saying 3/4's of the track is turns, and in the turns, all but a couple of fully built race cars could put any pressure on me. As long as I got out of turn 10 (the last turn onto the longest straight) perfectly and maintain my acceleration, even big HP vettes running behind disappeared in my rearview mirror as we went through the turns (the key is to exit turn 10 a good 10 mph faster than they do, by the time they make up the difference and start to walk up to me it's time to brake for turn one, which means we're back in the turns).
I did have to let a couple Z06's go by, but only cause I couldn't get out of turn 10 good enough (too much pressure on me) and I'd have to give it up. but then through the turns I'd catch back up :-)

Measurable results:
- Best times in my 2000 BMW E46 with track pads and R compounds:
1:28's

- Best times in my 2000 BMW M Coupe with track pads, Pilot Sports, Shark Injector, and 8.5 UUCMotorwerks flywheel with an E34 //M5 clutch and pressure plate:
1:25's

- My friends E36 M3 (gen 2) with coil over suspension, corner weighted, track pads, R compound tires, and 4 point harnesses (plus he is an excellent driver)
1:27's

- My friends 944 Turbo, semi stock, not sure of the setup, fast nonetheless
1:29's

- My COMPLETELY stock off the showroom floor S2kCR using standard seatbelts, pads, tires, etc.
1:23's.

Let me say that one more time. My $38k S2KCR on showroom stock equipment was a full 2 seconds faster than my $50k BMW //M Coupe with track pads, and other minor track upgrades.

I was very impressed.

Ok, now, with the pictures. Feel free to ask any questions, I'm more than happy to respond.

And if there are any non- believers out there I've got backup (besides the countless people I could ping from the event who would back me up) - I'm going back in August for another event by the same club, except this time I will have R Compounds, Dot 4, and MUCH better pads. I'm setting my goals high.... 1:20's.

Any ways, when I go back in August, the entire Ohio S2k forum is more than welcome to tag along and it would be my pleasure to let you ride shotgun, provided you bring your own helmet.

Also, during lunch break, they let ANY car (which means you) drive the track with a speed limit of 60 mph. I used that time to take my Ridgeline out on the track (very impressive, that thing is darn near track worthy).

I would strongly recommend coming out for the August event. We could make it a group adventure. It would be nice to a pack of S2k's take over the paddock, and the whole group could drive on the track during lunch. Though you really need to ride shotgun with me, the levels of grip you get on a dedicated race course at speed and with the car at proper temps is pennies compared to public streets.

ok... enought talk, here's a few pics.

My roommate just picked up an apex blue CR. here is a pic of his tires, which really are what my tires looked like when I got to the track:



Here are my tires after the event:



Preparing the car for the first runout as I was unaware if there was any track debris (which there wasn't)



My friends E36 M3 track car and 944 Turbo



C5 Z06 (man were those vettes FAST down the straight!)



Nice,beautiful Elise, but could't hold a candle to the CR



Bunch of C6 Vettes and Z06's. Very Very fast cars. Down the big straight they would eat me alive. My strategy was to come out of the last turn as fast as possible and hold them off till the

braking zone of turn one. Then once in the turns, they just slowly fell back away from me.



GT3 showroom car - very very capable car, but the driver just wasn't comfortable taking it to the limits (understandably). Due to this I would lap him several times.



Infinity G35 Supercharged to 400+ hp. He couldn't hang. He had the HP, but I was 1000lbs lighter :-)



A race spec GT3 - he was fast - he gave me a run for my money - but I just kept pulling him through the turns - he was definily faster in the straights.



Some E30 Bimmers. There was a couple E30 M3's, a stock E30, and a Race Spec E30 that ironically the Honda team brought out. None of the E30's could get around me. The Race spec

was pretty fast, he was very light, but the CR still had the edge. (if you don't know, the BMW E30's suffer from twitchy semi-trailing arm suspension whereas the S2k has a true double

wishbone suspension providing much more predictability in the corners.

Stock Caymen - also very fast, I had to stay on top of my game to stay infront of him



An exprired NASCAR with 700hp and a dedicated Cobra R Track Car... ok, I admit, these cars were faster, but they couldn't legally drive themselves to the gas stationfor fill up :-)



My CR ready to go out for the first time




and now just a list of misc list of on track pics of various cars including the CR:

 

Sounds like a blast. Contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, I LOVE the CR and wish it was available when I bought mine.

They don't seem to be selling that well, which is understandable given the economy and the saturation of the S2000 market. I wonder what one of these can be had for?

 

there's been two at jeff wyler, basically since they came out... since its spring now though i imagine one or both will sell soon. dunno what kind of prices they'd go for.

excellent post. i just love my drop top + am using the S as a daily, so the cr really wouldn't make sense for me. if it was a 2nd car, i'd have it in a heartbeat. Great pictures too.

 

Great write up. I liked this review. The measurable results were good metrics to build a comparison on because it's YOUR best times with each car and that's good to know. Many reviews, the drivers and cars are different. You're review, the driver variable is kept constant, so the measurements give a more accurate reading.

Nice looking CR and good write up on your exit speed and keeping the Vettes off your ass. They are fast!

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up! The CR does sound very impressive indeed.

As I am also very interested in the Elise and Exige (plan to buy one in the future), I am curious about your experience that it was no match for the CR, as I am under the impression that a twisty track would play to the Lotus' strengths. Which parts of the track would you say that you were faster? (Corner entry/mid-corner/corner exit etc.)

 

[QUOTE=apexracer,Apr 15 2008, 10:20 AM]
[I]Bunch of C6 Vettes and Z06's.

 

Take the same skilled driver and let them lap all of those cars and the CR would be......10th. Sounds like you drove that thing like it was stolen (which is the way you should drive it ) and the 50k+ cars were being babied around the track. Understandable. For what the CR is and for what you are using it for, you made a smart purchase.

 

The Elise was very capable and competitive.
In fact, the Elise was my first choice. I went with the CR at the last moment.

Is the CR more potent than the Elise.... depends on which track favors which car.

I think the Elise and CR and very close, which makes sense as they are both built on the principles of lightweight, small high revving engines.

Though the Elise may be mid engine and and setup to to fly through the twisties, the wheelbase is a bit shorter which allows for a bit more weight transfer.

In perfect world, you would have a longer wheelbase and a very low center of gravity. This minimizes weight transfer throughout the car.

I've driven an NSX around Putnam and I will say the rotation of a mid-engine car is something that takes some getting used to.

So in the defense of the Elise, I think it takes a more skillful driver and/or someone who's driving skills are honed in for the mid-engine setup to really bring the Elise to life.

Comparing specs on paper, the Elise should be faster, but then theres the real world where the driver comes into the equation.

 

Can't argue with that. Any track junkie will tell you the driver is the most significant variable in the equation.

But what I can say is for the weekend warrior, the S2kCR is an easy car to drive at the limit and inspires a ton of confidence. And my car was probably one of the cheapest cars on the course.

 

That looked like a blast