Drove an S2k at Streets of Willow Springs! Plus pics from event
08-03-2003, 04:59 PM
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Drove an S2k at Streets of Willow Springs! Plus pics from event
Hello everyone. 
I drive a first-generation MR2 and I've always liked the looks of the S2k and wanted to drive one. Well, yesterday I was given the opportunity to drive an S2000 at the track (what better way to test drive one? 
) and I was so impressed with the car I thought I'd come here and post my thoughts. You've probably heard all this stuff before but the car was new to me so humor me for a moment. 
Photos of the event are here: http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/speedventures&page=all All the S2000s are near the bottom (pictures are alphabeitcally sorted).
Having an offer to drive an S2000 made me a little nervous. From what I've seen of them at autocrosses and track days, they appeared to be a little difficult to drive at the limit. But I simply could not turn down this opportunity.
So I don my helmet and climb in. Boy, it's cozy in here. Seat feels a little funny but I got settled. Driving position was superb, I didn't have to adjust anything but the rear view mirror to get comfortable. I reached for the key and tried to turn it. In all my excitement I forgot there was a start button on the dash.
Clutch pickup was a little different, kinda springy. I never quite got used to it but I could tell that if I did I could pull off some very fast and accurate shifts with it. I think I may be getting too used to my difficult, grabby clutch in my MR2.
The steering wheel was awesome. Very small and comfortable. Shifter had nice close gates but didn't give me that positive feel telling me whether or not I was in gear. Didn't seem to be much detent before going into gear. The lever would just slide into position as if disconnected from the tranny but it would magically be in gear. Wierd.
So now I'm ready to take it out on the track. A gentle launch to be easy on the clutch, wait for the RPMs to climb to 6 grand... aha, there's the power! I had planned to take it easy for the first few laps to get a feel for the car but that didn't really seem necessary (either that or I just got too excited once behind the wheel
). The seat-of-your-pants feel in this car is nothing short of astonishing. It's so amazingly easy to control in any situation. Balance was stunning as well. It had a slight tendency towards understeer at slow speeds but that could be driven around with proper use of the brakes and throttle. At higher speeds (4th gear) it liked to oversteer a bit, but very controllably. I think a rear diffuser on this car could probably cure that without hurting the balance at other speeds.
It loves to be on the power. In the MR2 I use the technique of letting off the throttle to transfer weight to the front and get more front traction. That doesn't really work in the S2k. I found I had to give it some gas to get the front end to bite. Different, but I liked it! I could get on the gas coming out of turns earlier than in the MR2, which liked to understeer too much. The S2k is so very easy to do 4 wheel drifts in. A little too much power exiting that 2nd gear turn? No problem, relaxedly ease in a bit of opposite lock and watch the S2k continue to accelerate instead of scrubbing off speed. I love LSD, and minimal body roll.
The brakes were awesome as well, which is to be expected. I could brake a little later in the S2k than I could in my MR2, even though I was carrying 10-15 more MPH at the end of the straights in the S2k. Hooray for ABS and proper brake balance.
Of course the engine was fast. A little wheezy sounding but nothing an intake or exhaust wouldn't fix. I wish it had just a little bit bigger power band... maybe starting at 5500 instead of 6K. There was one turn where I couldn't decide whether to take it in 2nd and upshift 2/3rds of the way through it, or leave it in 3rd the whole way. I left it in 3rd most of the time, and the revs dropped to about 5200. But I loved the pull from 6k to 9k, very effortless and it built up speed quick.
I can't emphasize how much I enjoyed this car. I of course expected it to be a fair bit faster than my MR2. What I did not expect was that it was so bloody easy and fun to drive! It's my kind of car. No time wasted wrestling with it to get it to do what you want. It's making me have second thoughts about continuing to modify my MR2. After so many thousands invested in it, it'll still be slower and less fun to drive than a stock S2k. And the S2k will still be perfectly livable and reliable as a daily driver, where the MR2 would be more finicky. And the MKI MR2 will always have a painfully slow steering ratio. The S2k's steering was superlative. Just the right ratio, I never had to cross my hands over but it wasn't twitchy either. And the weight and feel were awesome. I don't know how they did that with a power steering system.
Now, some faults. I'm a very picky guy so it's not hard for me to come up with them for any car. First, the gas and brake pedal seemed a bit too far apart, making accurate heel/toe downshifting pretty difficult. The steering wheel did end up blocking my view of the dash somewhat (that rev counter is the stuff!). As I mentioned before the shifter had very little feel, and shaked sometimes going down straights. The cockpit was a bit snug -- perfectly fine for track driving but maybe a bit too confining for long trips. And there's that whole convertible thing... I'm a coupe kind of guy. But these are minor niggles. I'm sure with more time spent in the car I could get used to this stuff.
So how did it do? Well, unfortunately during that session I never had a lap free of traffic. For the first half I was held up by another S2000 that probably didn't realize I was faster and wantd to pass. I let an EVO go by me since he was looking rather impatient, and I took an easy lap to get some distance between me and that S2k. But I caught it again on the next lap. I finally got a clear lap going late in the session, and it was feeling pretty fast. But in the last corner a Civic had spun out and I had to slow down, he pulled out in front of me (must not have seen me?) to get back to the pits so I had to slow down more and move way off line. That lap ended up being a 1:40 and change. My best in the MR2 was a 1:39.989, where I had a fair amount of traffic-free laps. I can't say for sure but it seemed like I lost a good 4-5 seconds on that lap avoiding the Civic.
I was having such a good time driving the RWD Honda. I didn't want to stop! And what I wouldn't have given for just one clean lap... It's truly a driver's car. Zero brake fade with factory pads/fluid, by the way. I am very, very impressed by this car.
So, uhm... anyone want to buy a Supercharged MR2 for $30k? I'll throw in a parts car!
I drive a first-generation MR2 and I've always liked the looks of the S2k and wanted to drive one. Well, yesterday I was given the opportunity to drive an S2000 at the track (what better way to test drive one? ) and I was so impressed with the car I thought I'd come here and post my thoughts. You've probably heard all this stuff before but the car was new to me so humor me for a moment. Photos of the event are here: http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/speedventures&page=all All the S2000s are near the bottom (pictures are alphabeitcally sorted).
Having an offer to drive an S2000 made me a little nervous. From what I've seen of them at autocrosses and track days, they appeared to be a little difficult to drive at the limit. But I simply could not turn down this opportunity.
So I don my helmet and climb in. Boy, it's cozy in here. Seat feels a little funny but I got settled. Driving position was superb, I didn't have to adjust anything but the rear view mirror to get comfortable. I reached for the key and tried to turn it. In all my excitement I forgot there was a start button on the dash.
Clutch pickup was a little different, kinda springy. I never quite got used to it but I could tell that if I did I could pull off some very fast and accurate shifts with it. I think I may be getting too used to my difficult, grabby clutch in my MR2.
The steering wheel was awesome. Very small and comfortable. Shifter had nice close gates but didn't give me that positive feel telling me whether or not I was in gear. Didn't seem to be much detent before going into gear. The lever would just slide into position as if disconnected from the tranny but it would magically be in gear. Wierd.
So now I'm ready to take it out on the track. A gentle launch to be easy on the clutch, wait for the RPMs to climb to 6 grand... aha, there's the power! I had planned to take it easy for the first few laps to get a feel for the car but that didn't really seem necessary (either that or I just got too excited once behind the wheel
). The seat-of-your-pants feel in this car is nothing short of astonishing. It's so amazingly easy to control in any situation. Balance was stunning as well. It had a slight tendency towards understeer at slow speeds but that could be driven around with proper use of the brakes and throttle. At higher speeds (4th gear) it liked to oversteer a bit, but very controllably. I think a rear diffuser on this car could probably cure that without hurting the balance at other speeds. It loves to be on the power. In the MR2 I use the technique of letting off the throttle to transfer weight to the front and get more front traction. That doesn't really work in the S2k. I found I had to give it some gas to get the front end to bite. Different, but I liked it! I could get on the gas coming out of turns earlier than in the MR2, which liked to understeer too much. The S2k is so very easy to do 4 wheel drifts in. A little too much power exiting that 2nd gear turn? No problem, relaxedly ease in a bit of opposite lock and watch the S2k continue to accelerate instead of scrubbing off speed. I love LSD, and minimal body roll.
The brakes were awesome as well, which is to be expected. I could brake a little later in the S2k than I could in my MR2, even though I was carrying 10-15 more MPH at the end of the straights in the S2k. Hooray for ABS and proper brake balance.
Of course the engine was fast.
A little wheezy sounding but nothing an intake or exhaust wouldn't fix. I wish it had just a little bit bigger power band... maybe starting at 5500 instead of 6K. There was one turn where I couldn't decide whether to take it in 2nd and upshift 2/3rds of the way through it, or leave it in 3rd the whole way. I left it in 3rd most of the time, and the revs dropped to about 5200. But I loved the pull from 6k to 9k, very effortless and it built up speed quick. I can't emphasize how much I enjoyed this car. I of course expected it to be a fair bit faster than my MR2. What I did not expect was that it was so bloody easy and fun to drive! It's my kind of car. No time wasted wrestling with it to get it to do what you want. It's making me have second thoughts about continuing to modify my MR2. After so many thousands invested in it, it'll still be slower and less fun to drive than a stock S2k. And the S2k will still be perfectly livable and reliable as a daily driver, where the MR2 would be more finicky. And the MKI MR2 will always have a painfully slow steering ratio. The S2k's steering was superlative. Just the right ratio, I never had to cross my hands over but it wasn't twitchy either. And the weight and feel were awesome. I don't know how they did that with a power steering system.
Now, some faults.
I'm a very picky guy so it's not hard for me to come up with them for any car. First, the gas and brake pedal seemed a bit too far apart, making accurate heel/toe downshifting pretty difficult. The steering wheel did end up blocking my view of the dash somewhat (that rev counter is the stuff!). As I mentioned before the shifter had very little feel, and shaked sometimes going down straights. The cockpit was a bit snug -- perfectly fine for track driving but maybe a bit too confining for long trips. And there's that whole convertible thing... I'm a coupe kind of guy. But these are minor niggles. I'm sure with more time spent in the car I could get used to this stuff.So how did it do? Well, unfortunately during that session I never had a lap free of traffic. For the first half I was held up by another S2000 that probably didn't realize I was faster and wantd to pass. I let an EVO go by me since he was looking rather impatient, and I took an easy lap to get some distance between me and that S2k. But I caught it again on the next lap. I finally got a clear lap going late in the session, and it was feeling pretty fast. But in the last corner a Civic had spun out and I had to slow down, he pulled out in front of me (must not have seen me?) to get back to the pits so I had to slow down more and move way off line. That lap ended up being a 1:40 and change. My best in the MR2 was a 1:39.989, where I had a fair amount of traffic-free laps. I can't say for sure but it seemed like I lost a good 4-5 seconds on that lap avoiding the Civic.
I was having such a good time driving the RWD Honda. I didn't want to stop! And what I wouldn't have given for just one clean lap...
It's truly a driver's car. Zero brake fade with factory pads/fluid, by the way. I am very, very impressed by this car. So, uhm... anyone want to buy a Supercharged MR2 for $30k?
I'll throw in a parts car!
08-03-2003, 08:19 PM
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Hey Bryan, you should have gone today (Sunday)!! I haven't seen you in a while. The Z was running well today. I turned a 1:34.02 in the 3rd session before the heat really came in. The Z is eating the front tires with a lack of negative camber, I am working on a fix by Buttonwillow.
08-03-2003, 11:46 PM
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Hey Steve, I was asking Jim where you were on Saturday - didn't know you were coming Sunday. Just missed you. I decided to only do one day and make it Saturday so that I'd be well rested to watch the F1 race. Plus I wanted to do the track clockwise.
I'd like to think I would have been around a 1:35-1:36 in the S2000 if I'd had a clean lap. I suppose I'll never know though.
It had S-02s on one end and S-03s on the other. I forget which end had which.
The Reverend - nice looking car, I dig the black wheels. Yeah the guy in the other MR2 ended up doing a little too much offroading. He was an instructor, he's very skilled. Just wasn't used to the new car and its lack of ABS. He used to drive a Spyder - much easier to drive.
Plus I wanted to do the track clockwise. I'd like to think I would have been around a 1:35-1:36 in the S2000 if I'd had a clean lap. I suppose I'll never know though.
It had S-02s on one end and S-03s on the other. I forget which end had which. The Reverend - nice looking car, I dig the black wheels.
Yeah the guy in the other MR2 ended up doing a little too much offroading. He was an instructor, he's very skilled. Just wasn't used to the new car and its lack of ABS. He used to drive a Spyder - much easier to drive.
08-04-2003, 05:16 PM
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Yeah, the originals are still on my hard drive. I've uploaded your pic in my temporary photo album inbox: http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/inbox
I took a few other pictures of your car but none of them came out right.
I took a few other pictures of your car but none of them came out right.
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08-25-2003, 07:48 PM
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Hey Bryan, I didnt know you were on here. Welcome to teh forums and come in the central cali forum sometimes and say Hi. We ahve an Auto-X thread in there for the Auto-X's at Castle.
BTW, when you buying the S?
BTW, when you buying the S?
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