I get the impression it is, but I need it spelled out for me. I don't own an S2K yet, but I'm quite sure I want one. I just want to know ahead of time what my expenses will be, and what I'll need to get to make the car the way I want. I plan on using it for autocross, track days and street. I absolutely don't want a highly modded car, which is one reason the S2000 seems right for me. From what I've heard and read, it's great right out of the box. Will an AP1 be a good, solid entertaining car for an average driver with only very minimal mods? It seems it'll need nothing but tires and pads and that's it, other than perhaps some safety equipment. I guess I just find that hard to get my head around, since I've owned Miatas and while they aren't bad on track stock, they benefit highly with the addition of springs, shocks and sways. The S2000 seems nearly perfect as it comes.

 

It's very good out of the box. But once you start changing wheel and tire size, stagger, compound, building to class... other things have to change.

Don't worry, great resources and people here to help you wade through it!

I'd add an alignment and FSB to the list, but those are pretty minimal mods.

 

It's fine to reply your topic... Until u drive the shocks til they fail to damp like I did lol!

But I'd agree with Ckit,

Have fun

 

A lightly-used set of OE shocks is practically free (300 bucks or less) so who cares how long they last! But actually my OE shocks didn't really turn to mush till after 20 or so track days, half of those on R-compounds. CR shocks will probably last even longer...but you'll pay $800 for those.

To expand somewhat on CKit's post - As far as performance, OE is great for your basic hi-perf summer tires, i.e. up to about 1g lateral grip (remember the car was designed for about 0.9g max steady-state). With R-compounds, and even some of today's very most agressive street tires, you'll push the suspension well past its designed range of motion, at which point its response goes "nonlinear" lol. You can partly compensate for that with really good alignments, bigger swaybars, etc.

Ultimately you'll want something height-adjustable, since the ability to corner-balance the car is IMHO just as important as spring rates and damping curves.

 

Track worthy? Absolutely! My CR shocks are still just fine, after enough track days that I've lost count. I'd guess in the 25-30 day range.

 

You know, at stock ride heights, my Penskes perfectly corner balanced without any adjusting.

 

I do about 4 track days a year. After 4 years and 90k miles my OEM shocks still perform great.

Your assessment of this car is spot on.

Mike

 

I've run 12-15 track days on stock dampers (10 or so with Tein S tech springs), and no complaints here . I do recommend stiffer springs if you go with wider wheels and tires.

 

I've put roughly 55K miles on my OEM shocks with eibach springs. This is mixture of track days, autocrosses, and driving across the country. Mixture of street tires and R compounds too.

OEM shocks are fine.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12JlVpdlfNI&hd=1
Here is my ap1 from 1 year ago, still using the stock hi-miles dampers. In spite of the rs3's being new, the car often takes forever to regain composure. Bus stop corner, noted at 0:38 secs, is a big difference from stock to my current koni sport dampers. The konis don't wobble about like a drunkard long after the large berm.

So for 10/10ths driving, worn stock dampers take notably longer to settle down. Whether this is tolerable is probably based on the quality of pavement at your local track, proximity of things to impact around the course, and whether you're truly at 10/10ths yet.