C7ble's right.

The S14 is one of the most afntastic cars you can get to learn how to drive sideways Very controllable

 

Not still pushing that load of old cobblers are you?

 

Hmmmpph!

Andy Walsh from 1st Lotus told me that my car, 2002, was far better handling that the early version!

Nick

PS: GTFCTIM, nice avatar!.

 

I suffered from quite bad brake fade at upper heyford but the track laid out had long-ish straights and tight bends. That said I was the only S that day too suffer so perhaps my driving style didn't help.

Mine is an 04 and it certainly didn't impede my progress. Even though 'some' people will say that it is soft and no as hardcore as the original. Personally I would agree with them it doesn't snap as easy and grips better around the bends For what it's worth I put in the best lap time around the timed circuit that day (just !)

 

the OEM brakes do tend to overheat quite easily, but that is no reason not to enjoy it - just do short sessions and remember to do a slowing down lap at the end. You will benefit from shorter sessions too!

 

IMO there are no cars that are both good on the road and good on the track, the only one that comes reasonably close is an elise (and therefore I guess by implication, but I've never driven one, a VX220), but they're still reasonably compromised in both disciplines.

The s2000 is a perfect road car (for me, but maybe not for you) , but is far from good on the track, brakes overheat very quickly, too much body roll, too heavy, relatively expensive tyres and other consumables, its not crap on track but its a way off being a good track car out of the box.

The only way to have a car that is good on road and track is to buy two cars (makes sense really as you're asking them to perform 2 completely different tasks), I have the s2k for road (as its perfect for me) and a caterham for the track (whoever it was above that said the s2k brakes are better than caterham brakes doesent have a clue what they're talking about in this area), the caterham is great on the track, but absolutley crap on the road.

I guess I should also say that 'good' on the track is really subjective, and depends on the persons experience, if You've only driven citroen 2cv's on track then an s2k is going to feel pretty good, but compared to something designed specifically for the track it'll feel pretty bad. eg comapred to a radical I would guess that a caterham feels pretty bad, and a radical compared to an F3 car probably feels pretty bad. Where do you draw the line? Its not all about fastest laps (certainly not on trackdays anyway, which Iguess is what we're talking about here).

 

more thoughts (spouting a bit here):-

I've not driven a 200sx , but I would wager that a standard s2k will probably feel similar'ish to your car, maybe a bit more wallowly. I reckon it would take a lot of cash to make an s2k go round a track as quickly as an exige, whereas a 7 type car like a caterham superlight should be able to perform at that sort of level pretty easily out of the box and possibly beyond depending on a few well chosen modifications (tyres being the big one).

 

It's not the usual "my car's better than yours" crap though

My car is, at times, too harsh for the sort of roads that I use. I'm sure the slightly softer 02 and 04 will be a better road car than the original. The extra stiff MY00 suspension will probably be a benefit on the track though

 

seems to be a lot of focus on the handling aspects.. which clearly is a compromise if you want to use it on the road..

but the S2000 has a perfect engine and gearbox for the track.. high rpms..lots of flexibility and a very slick gear change.

When I see in car videos of elise's on the track and watch the poor guy having to change gear..

 

yep, it does have an excellent engine and gearbox, no doubt about it. 4th,5th & 6th are a bit tall for most tracks, but it does have an excellent change action.