I was wondering as I look at other vehicles for example the toyota celica gts, miata,and the civic si why the s2000 weights a good amount more than them. My friend drives a celica, only has 180hp, but with headers, intake, and exhaust, he told me he did in the quartermile 14.2. The celica weights about 2500 pounds, 300 pounds lighter than the s2k. Is the s2k heavier due to safety reasons or for some performance reason. I know the convertible top weighs but not that much more. Why couldnt the s2k be 2500. The celica is bigger to me regarding the exterior and has a 1.8 liter engine and has more interior room as well. Also, what can you do to get the s2k get to 2500 pounds. Thanks

 

i never claim to know anything at all... but my guess is that it would be due to the frame of the car. frames of convertable cars are typically beefier than that of a normal (non-convertable) car. it's because a lot of the flex of the car is at the top of the cabin. in a convertable, you don't have that piece, so the frame itself has to be strengthened.

am i wrong, people?

 

14.2 my ass

 

celican weights at 2500
we weight at 2850
celica's hp is at 180
ours is at 200 to the wheels

 

It could easily be made lighter by using more high tech materials like CF, titanium, more exotic alloy, etc. but then we wouldn't be talking about a $30k car. (see McLaren F1 for details).

It's fairly easy to get a lighter set of wheels, which also improves your handling, beyond that it gets expensive, (unless you want to gut your interior and top, etc - most people don't want to do that)

If you examine the design trade offs made with respect to weight, handling, safety, and cost - I think Honda has made some really good decisions.

As far as the Celica goes, take the two cars out to the track and you'll figure it out really quickly, especially around corners.

The S2000 is not your drag racer of choice, a nice used V8 Mustang with some choice mods would be a more cost effective way to go.

 

Okay, I did some research on the cars you listed. They are listed below from fastest to slowest, from a weight/hp perspective.

S2000: 2835 lbs, 240 hp, 11.8 lbs/hp, NHSTA crash test (driver 4/5, passenger 4/5, rollover resistence 5/5, side 5/5)
Celica GTS: 2500 lbs, 180 hp, 13.9 lbs/hp, NHSTA (4/5, 4/5, 5/5, 3/5)
Miata: 2387 lbs, 142 hp, 16.8 lbs/hp,NHSTA (4/5, 5/5, 5/5, 3/5)
Civic Si: 2782 lbs, 160 hp, 17.4 lbs/hp , NHSTA (5/5, 5/5, n/a, 3/5)

The S2000 is close to the Civic, the Miata (and the Mini) is soooo much smaller and other sport-compacts are around 2700-3200 lbs. It not that the S2000 is "heavy", it's the Celica is unusually light.

The weight differential can be attributed to the power top, rollover protection, extra components for RWD, and convertible stiffening. Also note that the side impact of the S2000 is a 5, while the Celica is a 3. The S2000 is a very tough car, just look at some of the wreck photos. The Celica has a very good chassis, but that Yamaha engine is its weak point. If you think the 3000 rpm powerband in the S2000 is peaky, the GTS engine is more like 1500 rpm.

Ways to reduce weight without reducing "functionality".
- remove spare/tools (30 lbs)
- replace heavy cosmetic dual exhaust (20-40 lbs)
- lightweight wheels (20 lbs)
- replace seats with racing buckets (30 lbs)

Still street legal, but getting hardcore.
- remove AC (?)
- remove stereo (?)
- remove all interior, carpeting, leather (?)
- replace softtop and motors with hardtop (?)

The lightest track only car I've read about is around 2300 lbs.

 

There's no way a Celica can do 14.2 with intake, headers, and exhaust alone. In fact, it might even be slower. C&D ran a stock Celica GTS at 15.6!

 

Maybe the 14.2 Celica guy "forgot" to mention his 100 shot of nitrous.

 

14.2?

ask him to pass the crack pipe

 

your friend can do as many 14 sec pass as he likes, it still a celica...