Perry,

Coupla things...

1) Would the A032R be ineffective if you run it during summer time and it rains??? I thought those are track tires... hehe, I'm surprised you ran them during summer time. Or would run them for summer. In case it rains.. just not drive? =D

2) I also had an idea... tell me if you think this would work for the S2000... to achieve a more predictable handling characteristics in terms of rushing through puddles of water and not loosing it at high speed... The setup is.. to run 18" or 17" wheels with all season high performance tires Pirelli P7000 225 front and 255 rear. Do you think this would work to prevent the car from hitting the highway center divider or slipping into a curb on turns? Given all sorts of wearther.. light snow, rain, dry.. etc.

Btw... when you said "The Nut behind the wheel," you are refering to the driver him/herself?


Lane,

I agree with your point of the driver getting comfortable with the car real fast and not knowing the limits of this little roadster. I think that's what I was feeling, but couldn't put into words.

Also, do you recall that one guy who said he was just changing lanes at the stop light when the light turned green and he spun and semi-wrecked his S2k? I find that truely hard to believe though... either he was gassing it like a muther, or there was a patch of ice.


Thanks guys, I appreciate the honest to heart discussion. Too bad someone gave me a 1 star, I guess they didn't like the point of this thread. I guess I'm also trying to say to all of ya, becareful driving... better safe than sorry.

Jimmy

 

I could believe that guy, because I've swung the back end of my S2000 out getting onto the highway...doing 15MPH! It was cold, in a high traffic lane (ie, lots of oil and rubber on the road), and I "only slightly" punched it to get going.

I did manage to recover...but it wasn't graceful.

The S2000 has more power below VTEC than the car (or specs) leads you to believe.

Looking forward to more info on those tire ideas, I need to replace mine soon

 

We had a thread in the UK forum similar to this as we too are being hit with cold weather. I had the back end step out pretty good turning out of a junction in 2nd gear, 3k rpm but WOT... suprising but it reinforces the need to not get complacent about the cars handling traits on S02s particularly when cold and damp.

My gut feel fits with lane's view "As for all the crashes, my personal opinion is that 90% (at least) are due to the drivers feeling comfortable with the car after a few months, learning that it's very easy to run this car hard ... but then finding they don't know where that edge is until they've crossed it...and most probably never understand that they crossed that edge!"

 

The recent crashes probably has a lot to do with the fact that most people are inexperienced at driving a car like this at the limit.

When losing control in mid-corner, instead of slightly easing off the throttle, you let it all up at once and all the weight transfers to the front resulting in a dangerous snap from the back.

I know, I tried this in mid corner. Managed to sort it out, but it wasn't pretty .

After this incident I have a lot of respect for this car in the wet or in cold weather.

 

I saw a news article recently about the "most dangerous cars" on the road. The conclusion? Domestic sports cars such as the Camero, and Mustang are the most dangerous to drive. The accident rates are over double that of other cars. The reason why these cars are so dangerous has less to do with the cars, however, than with the drivers. Relatively inexpensive, high horsepower cars are usually owned by young men with more testosterone than common sense. Perhaps we are seeing a little bit of this effect with all the s2000 accidents?

 

I think a lot of the recent accidents have to do more with road conditions and driver error than with anything else.

 

But when all's said and done... look what we're driving:

With a motorsport career that included winning the F2 championship with Honda power and spending three years testing McLaren Honda F1 cars with awesome 800 bhp V12 engines, I have enormous admiration for Honda engineering.

I chose the S2000 because of the excitement it generates whenever I get the opportunity to give it a blast. The layout is classic - front engine, rear wheel drive. It's snug, compact, nimble and, boy, does it go!

You will never, ever, have experienced a motor as sublime. Brace yourself for experiencing an out and out racing engine - in a production car. The Accord Type-R is remarkable enough; the S2000 is Honda at its very best.

240 bhp!! It's the most powerful car on the event. And the 2 litre super tuned engine just revs, and revs, and revs. To 9000 rpm! And then there is the 6 speed gearbox. Believe me, this is perfection. Like the engine, it's the best in the world.

Performance, of course, is blistering. 0 - 60 in 5.4 seconds and nearly 150 mph.

It's almost all too much. The superb Porsche Boxster sets a benchmark for great handling. Drive the S2000 on the track - and you'll find it's even better! Great brakes. Sharp turn in. The delight of controlling progressive power-induced oversteer.

Even hardened professional racing drivers just adore it!"


J.P. MOTORSPORTS.

 

One other thing to remember is that the S2000 is a (front mounted) mid engined short wheelbase automobile. This combination gives the go cart like handling that everyone loves but it also gives you a car that sticks like glue until it doesn't and then it wants to spin like a top.

In the hands of an inexperienced driver or a driver with front wheel drive reactions this can be quite a handful. In the hands of someone who knows how to drive it it is a driving tool beyond compare.

 

A good way to play with the car's limits at a low/safe speed is to drive it in a light snowfall. I used to do this with my 91 Mr2 and it conditions your mind to react in the right way when the rear wheels start to slide. That car was very much like the s2000 as far as it's "evil" nature past the limit. Even going away from RWD cars for a few years (prelude), when I took a s2000 for a testdrive and the rear end violently whipped out, I automatically corrected without taking too much gas off. Scared the salesman silly, but never really phased me. Didn't even have to think about it... It's when you panic that puts you in the most danger. Practice allows you to calmly correct with a level head without really thinking about what you need to do to straighten her out. Then again, the tail stepping out on the s2000 is nothing like leaning a sportbike over at 120 mph and feeling the rear tire start to slip....

 

I too have a few decades of RWD experience. Let's have a full and complete debate on the new theory that lack of RWD experience is the reason that the S is a handful at the limit. While drive-end experience might be a factor, I don't think it is causative. Perhaps it is my RWD experience that allows me to say this.

As I've said before, the problem is easy to eliminate without a noticable loss in performance. As is stated over and over in this thread, part of the problem is feedback at the limit. Improve the feedback and you reduce the overdriving.

Another good piece of advice is: Don't trust the OEM rears after 6,000 miles. This has to be a record for wearing out tires on a production car in the modern era, don't you think?

Another thing that doesn't get said enough is that people who drive at the limit occasionally wreck. It's to be expected. If you've never danced on the ragged edge it's easy to say that you're a great driver. How many of our winning racers/autocrossers have never wrecked? Cedric?

Of course, better drivers wreck less. Less powerful cars wreck less too. But sometimes it is a combination of factors. To ignore car deficits is silly. On a race team you'll change the car alot more than you'll change the driver, won't you?