As a bit of background, I have a nationally-competitive FP autocross car that is out of commission this year for a couple of different intersecting reasons, and I have a 2002 street car with a low-mileage AP2 transmission and engine swap. I do have a fair bit of HPDE experience, but it's been about 5 years since I've been on a track. Lately, I've been accumulating a list of maintenance items that need to be addressed on the street car: freshen up the 10-year old koni yellows, chase a suspension creak in the rear, check out and service the diff (100k+ mile original), etc. These items, and _not_ building anything new for the FP car this year got me thinking that I could build the street car for OneLap over the course of the next 10 months. I'm a bit of a tinkerer, so I'm itching to build something.

My goals, in order of importance, would be:

1. keep the street car street-able for driving to work once a week or so, which means keeping the AC and full interior
2. no permanent body work / cutting fenders, etc. I can borrow my fiberglass front fenders from the FP car, but I don't want to monkey with the rears.
3. complete the event : keep the car reliable. This rules out any crazy ideas like building a motor, or turbo-charging it. I freely admit to really wanting a supercharger, but I'm not sure if it's the right time for that or not.
4. finish in the top half of the overall results
5. finish higher than 24th (previous best for an s2000)

The car as it sits today:
2002 AP1 w/ ~110k
2005 AP2 Motor and Trans w/ ~50k installed
Koni yellows w/ ground-control sleeves and unknown springs
stock swaybars
comptech intake
homemade trailer hitch.
TCD rear bump steer kit
everything else of importance is stock.

FP car parts that I could steal if I needed to:
kirkey seat
diff (carbonetics 1.5 way LSD, reinforced housing, 3.63 gear)
Penske 8300 shocks w/ large supply of springs (currently running in the 1200lb ballpark)
homemade CF hood
haltech ECU
Asura spherical bearings
spare AP1 transmission
RaceQuip harnesses


Here is my initial swag at what I need to get started:
Buy 17x9 wheels w/ 255's square, tires to be determined
Buy hard dog bar
Buy hardtop install hardware (plan is to borrow a hardtop or buy a replica next year)
Buy / Build front swaybar
Buy used shocks / rebuild and revalve konis / steal Penske 8300's from FP car -- I prefer not to use the Penske's
Upgrade front calipers / rotors
Upgrade rear brake pads
Reinstall front brake ducting (removed after last track event 5+ years ago)
Install hard race front offset balljoints (already own)
Install track exhaust (already own)
Buy/Build front splitter
Buy/Build rear wing
Driver's seat / rails? I barely fit in a Sparco EVO XL+, and that seat barely fit in my FP car without an interior. Seat suggestions are welcome (5'7", 42in waist).
Buy/Build trailer for spares/tools/etc
Steal diff from FP car (carbonetic 1.5 way, reinforced housing, 3.63 gears). Yea, I know the gearing isn't ideal, but I'm not building another rear end for this car.
Supercharge it!?
Get out to some track days late this year / early 2015 to knock off the rust.


My questions:
Are there wider wheels that would fit (at trackable ride height and alignment) without extensive fender modification?
Am I crazy to think that a mild supercharger install would be reliable for ~3500 miles of transit and 20-something time-trials in 9 days?
So, what else am I forgetting that needs to go on the list?

 

Mild supercharge would be okay.
I would say a fuel surge tank (like Full Blown, SOS, etc make) would be helpful so you can run lower without starving and hurting the motor.

A canton oil pan wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

I did the One Lap of America back in 2006 and we got second in class. It was a great experience and I met many life long friends. My advice is to make the car as reliable as possible and just enjoy your first time. The s2000 may be a difficult car to place high in without some serious mods so I'd not be too concerned with how you finish your first time. The reason I say this is that the class the s2000 falls in has some very competitive high hp cars and it tends to rain many of the track days during that time of year. We had rain all but 2 days which was a huge advantage for the AWD turbo cars. If I were to prep my s2000 to make it competitive and reliable (Which I may do) iI'd do an LS V8 motor swap (see importmuscle.com) That setup would get the s2000 in the power to weight ratio you'd need to keep up with the fast cars without the potential reliability issues of a SC/Turbo setup. With all of that said, just do it and don't worry too much about placing in any sort of order for now, you'll have a blast!

 

I was thinking of doing this in the WRX sometime just for fun.

 

I was thinking about doing it in my turbo car but it kept blowing up a supercharger might work
I hate driving my car on the street with race seats and 700/650lbs springs so it'd be kind of tough
I was thinking maybe take shifts and have an oem passenger seat for co-pilot and remove that at the track.

Definitely need a trailer and a hitch to fit spares and whatever

17x9 +45 rpf1's fit 255 with a roll/flare

On thing to warn about I run the koni yellows and at normal track ride heights you are probably going to have issues bottoming the shocks.
I solved that with the extended tophats from ground control and my fronts are revalved.

 

I've been thinking about this for a LONG time. It depends on your goals. If you just want to do it to do it just take a stock one with a hard top. Enjoy the A/C and kinda smooth quiet ride. Anyone with a half decent amount of Talent can win their class, so you could possibly win your class in a bone stock one. I know this I finished 3rd overall in the one lap in a bone stock GT3 in 2008 and 2nd in a GT2 in 2009 with only light mods. The Talent in the fast cars is 1-2 cars deep. Good talent in a slowish car can easily make top 10..... EASILY. Running a quick car for the win is a hell of a challenge. The fast cars usually break so your gonna end up with one or two left and that means a kinda fast car can nip a top 5 (like Andy's CRX this year, lots of talent with a car that's half as quick as the front runners). Andy's car had NOTHING for Catesby's GTR or Leh's GTR or R8. But the crazy Fast and Talent kinda ended there. I'm not saying the other front runners suck, I'm saying they were either good drivers and just kinda quick cars, visa versa.
So you wanna win the One lap in an S2000.... Well 2wd will never do it. I ran a 465whp GT2 and Should have won, but that car had the engine sitting over the rear wheels. I'm sorry but on street tires 2wd is just WAY to much of a disadvantage. I'm working with a Buddy who is one of the top in his field to do either an all electric 4wd car or a Hybrid 4wd. He has the bits and pieces to do it but can't justify using his company to build a free project so he's looking for funding to build it. Our thought was use a Caterham 7 chassis , run 4 electric motors of 200-300hp each and carry just enough juice to complete the 3 laps on track, then tow a generator on a trailer behind for the transits. 1200hp and 1500lbs 4wd.... Kiss that GTR's. We've since started talking about an easier way about doing it that would also be cheaper. Such as Starting with a 2wd car, Making decent hp from the 2wd and then tossing 400-600hp worth of electric motors to turn the other 2 wheels. IMHO that's the ONLY way an S2000 will win the one lap. 400hp to the rear and 400hp to the front with everything electronically controlled for TC and stability control. But to be totally honest.... it would be way easier to start with a Mini. You can make 300+ to the front wheels easy. Then take the 4wd rear suspension out of the SUV mini and bolt electric motors to the rear axles and toss another 400-600hp in the rear. That would be a relatively easy build.... Oh I happen to have a 400hp Mini sitting 15ft away from me right now.
To be totally honest.... A crazy build S2000 with big turbo and lots of HP will (likely break) only finish one or two spots overall a head of a car with tires and springs and bolt ons.
The reason I say this is a all bolt on S2000 is a pretty sinkin fast track car. I ran Speedworks car faster around sebring (hp track) then I did in a one lap prepped BOSS 302. And that One lap Prepped BOSS 302 was going to take a top 5 had I taken it with Pete.

As far as driving. Road racers are at a dissadvantage because most take a lap or two to come up to speed, and most aren't very good at learning new tracks. Autocrossers aren't really at home on a race track so they are disadvantaged slightly. Best bet is someone who has done a lot of both.

 

I definitely appreciate the input, Ian, and I'd already come to most of the same conclusions. I live close enough to BMW and CMP to stop by and watch each time OneLap comes through town, I know several previous competitors. That's why reliability is listed higher than finishing position in my goals. There's no way an s2000 should have a chance to win overall without some kind of magic, huge dollar, build and an alien driver. I have neither the budget, nor the alien DNA. Top half of the field without breaking will be satisfactory, for me. Top 25 will make me really happy. As the car isn't stock as it sits, I'm not going to go the stock route. Part of this idea is 'justifying' adding bits to the street car and getting it out on track again.

@Dan -- yea, I was actually toying with the idea of bolting a race seat to the trailer, pulling both seats and swapping in the kirkey. Then again, if I just man-up and lose some weight, maybe I can fit a reasonable race seat in that won't be hell during the transits? I'd also come to the same conclusion with the koni's. When I ran DA-converted yellows on frankenstook, I had to get the rears shortened. After thinking about it a bit more, I'd likely just keep my eye on the FS forums and try to pickup a used set of mid-range shocks, rather than rebuild/convert my yellows.

 

Top 25 should be Cake. I mean you really should be able to do that with your eyes closed. Don't go off, don't wreck, don't break. Boom top 25.

 

Ian, I think the talent/car prep has come up slightly in the past few years. Having said that, Liam and Brian Hair finished ~7th in a largely stock Boss 302.

 

I think your general plan is a decent one.. the pre-existing trailer hitch is a plus. Since you live in the area and are an avid soloist I'm sure you know Marc Osgood. He'd prob be of help with his experience in an STR S2000 and the "Clemson hatch".