mcintoshw2000

Hi, my name is Bill McIntosh and I have recently purchased a 2005 S2000. I am planning to turn it into a track car. I have been driving HPDEs for two years with PCA Potomac. I initially bought a 2006 Cayman S which was my track toy, but I never did any modifications to it. I kept is completely stock because it was in nice shape and it seemed wrong to do much to it. Plus I was, and still am, pretty much a noob at track driving so it seemed like a waist to put more money into an already nice car. Anyways, the Cayman broke to the point that it would cost two arms and one leg to fix it so that it was track worthy. So, I got rid of the Cayman and went looking for a track car. I ended up talking to Scott at the Sports Car Shop and then talking to Artin. They talked me into starting with a S2000. The one I purchased already had many of the mods that I wanted so it has worked out so far. (Thank you to Rob Robinette for putting together a great web site.)

I will be posting to the track thread. I look forward to meeting the people on this forum either at events or at the track. I am very excited about the upcoming season.

WhrDLMI

Welcome, Bill. Good luck with the 05! I think you will find the track group to be a great group of guys and gals. Be safe and have fun!

SlowTeg

Welcome! Do you mind me asking what broke on your Cayman? I have a friend who's looking to take his out this year and it'd be good to have a heads up for potential problems down the line.

I'm also a relative newb to the track (this'll be my 4th year) since I've only done about a dozen days. It's definitely a blast and hope to see you out there!

goldenfri

Welcome Glad to see another track enthusiast

gfacter

welcome to the sickness

EELPIE

SlowTeg, what year is your friends Cayman? The pre 2009 models had oil starvation issues. The problem is magnified if you run really sticky tires.

Grassroots Motorsports magazine did a article a few years back about used Boxster/Cayman ownership. The expert's cited from specialty shops pointed out this problem. I know of one person who experienced this problem when he ran with NASA in Spec Boxster.

You might go online and see if you can find the article on their website.

SlowTeg

Not sure, I think an '06 or '07 S. He's a noob (and stereotypical porsche owner ) so I'm sure it's not a problem for him, at least initially. I'll definitely have to look up and see if I can find the article. Thanks.

Edit: Did some googling and they definitely seem to have their issues. Looks like a Gen1 for serious track use just isn't worth it.

mcintoshw2000

Mine had a warped engine block. I did not overheat it, but it did have a replaced water pump. We speculated that a previous owner drove it some distance with the broken water pump and warped the engine. It still had good compression when I took it to the shop with a leaking head gasket. This is not a common problem with that car. It was probably just bad luck on my part.

Caymans are a lot of fun on the track and they have a solid reputation for dependability. Oil starvation is an issue if you are using R-compound tires.

skatebrian624

Welcome to the club! S2000s are great cars both on the track and the street. Bummer about your cayman though. I was looking at buying one last year but I bought a s2000 track car instead. In my opinion, its a better choice. Don't track a car you are afraid to wreck.

mcintoshw2000

Well, being afraid to wreck is the way I drive. Part of the fun is being scared going 130+ down the front straight. One of my instructors said "success is driving the car home at the end of the day."