Thanks, if you need any advice on the trackdays just ask! They're good cars to learn and work, not too scary, plenty guides on here too.

 

Onto the first outing to Knockhill in 2025 but first the weather forecast - not great. Typically the days either side were brilliant but it looked very grey and pretty much guaranteed heavy rain later, it was also only about 5degC... so the chances of a dry trackday looked slim.

After a nice and dry drive drive down it was typical that when turning off the motorway the slip road to knockhill was wet.... but once at the track it was dry and looked like I would get lucky! I got out on track as soon as I could to make sure I got some dry laps in, initially I planned to slowly get used to the flatshifting but on my first flying lap out the hairpin I was straight into banging through the flatshifts and feeling like a hero! When nailed perfectly the flatshifting really makes the change seamless with no drop in revs and a satisfying exhaust pop/bang/flame as reported by everyone that came to chat to me (Even "Jayemm on cars" randomly), only issue is trying to rush the shifts I was missing a few so needed to be smoother - data logs showed a 10k rpm miss-shift later! The new brake pads hadn't been bedded in so didn't feel great initially but overall the car felt great, pushing the car straight away I was overtaking almost everything else on track (Mostly Lotus and Caterhams) other than the ballistic Atoms but still only getting down to a 61second lap time.





After a quick tyre and oil check in the pits it was back out for another run, the track was fairly quiet and still dry so I made the most of it pushing hard straight away, finally I managed to get down to some sub-60 second lap times and then a 59.14 at the end of that run. Not quite the 58second lap but a good improvement and the car was really flying, it's not gained much speed on the straights and the new brakes pads haven't really improved the braking much, instead I think the main difference is me finally having the confidence with the balance of the car and getting it on it's toes and letting it move around, the stiffer front roll bar and better balance under braking probably the main but subtle difference.



Laps from that run here:

I had a few more good sessions after that one but couldn't quite match or improve the lap times, I think the track actually got colder and lost a little grip as I was certainly still pushing hard, the car was still flying - literally.



Only issue with the car on the day was driver related - I managed to collect the apex marker cone at the first corner (See 5.26 in this vid), which has put a reasonable scrape along the side.

(After owning the Garmin action cam for 8 years I've finally just realised it can show lap times too which is nice!)

The rain finally came about 40mins from the end of the trackday and was then relentless in the afternoon, so I really did get lucky. I had a short run as the rain started then did my customary attempt at a "hold my beer" slide and instead spun out the hairpin, almost got stuck on the grass and pretty much ran out of fuel

All in a great trackday with good driving all round and lots of laps (70 odd). Also my quickest ever lap (and laps) of knockhill and faster than my 400bhp Mitsubishi Evo (now for sale!), also quicker than the Stig in the MG EV above - phew.



I'll be booking in for the same trackday in June and looking to fit new engine and diff mounts before that, with a 58second lap now the target! Otherwise there won't be much change to the S2000 this year other than hopefully getting it ready for a competitive sprint or two....

 

Knockhill, 4 seasons in one day.

 

Cheers mate - part of what draws me to them is I've heard they're pretty easy to work on. Sure I'll manage to figure it out!
Most recent KH session looks class. Can't wait to get out there.
Congrats on the sub-60!

 

There's not been much getting done to the S2000 this year but the engine and diff mounts was something I'd been needing to do, the gear shifter had quite a lot of movement under load/braking/turning so I was wanting to tighten that up and hopefully sharpen up the response overall. First was the diff mounts, I went with Innovative 75A, these were a nice straight forward swap and fit perfectly:





For the engine and trans mounts I also wanted to get the same innovative 75A and ordered these from Amazon USA but frustratingly after waiting 2 months they cancelled the order!... maybe trump tax to blame. Luckily I found a 75A trans mount on ebay and then some 95A aluminium engine mounts - I was concerned going that stiff but thought I'd give it a try! These were also straight forward to fit ( on a lift anyway).







On first start I was expecting massive vibrations but surprisingly the main difference is just in sound, the engine is much louder in the car on idle but not really any more vibration than previous.

Next was of course another trip to knockhill, this time it was clear beforehand I wasn't going to get lucky with the weather though, despite it being the middle of June with great weather before and after, the day of the trackday was was during a yellow warning for rain. I decided to just have fun and try the old NS2R tyres on the stock wheels expecting them to be better in the wet than the AR1's, however despite it being soaking they were even slower (a massive 15 seconds slower than I would be in the dry!), the narrow fronts just gave no grip but it was at least very predictable.







It was good practice at getting the S2K sideways though!



Despite the weather the car felt good, nice and sharp and maybe a bit more responsive with the stiffer mounts, I didn't miss any shifts either so they seem to have helped that. It did have a lot of understeer and generally low grip so for fast times in the wet I'd need to look for different tyres.

Early on in the trackday I had the familiar sound of a bolt rattling along the underside the car but nothing fell off immediately, back in the pits I was suspecting the new engine mounts but all bolts were present so I continued on for the rest of the session. Back home I noticed one mount didn't look quite right though:



The mounts are two part with two bolts holding them together, one was gone the other I found like this...



Very lucky to not lose it too! I replaced the bolts and loctited them in, the bolts on the other mount were also loose so I'd definitely recommend anyway to check these if they buy the same mounts.

The next update may finally have a video from somewhere other than Knockhill as I'm hoping to enter my first sprint in the S2000 later this year, so some minor prep is required for that, most importantly is an MOT to be legal for the road class, I'm also hoping to tweak the alignment a little and go a bit more aggressive on that. Yet again hopefully the weather is on side!

 

Wet at Knockhill! Surely not. Not good for the times but can be interesting with sideways moments almost everywhere.

 

Did the mounts improve the gearshift?

Good to hear it's not very bad for NVH

 

Aye it was that indeed but not quite as unpredictable as the other semi slicks. ie not quite so butt clenching!

Yes I think they have tightened it up a bit more need a bit more time in the dry with it though. The "N" in the NVH is certainly worse though, the engine noise is transmitted much more, very noisy in the car now.

 

Great build, I've just read through it all. Looking forward to more updates !

 

Thanks! Next update...

Entries opened for the Golspie sprint a couple of months ago and as soon as they did I got my entry in, I've been eagerly waiting as I can't wait to try the S2000 at Golspie. It's not my first rodeo there as I've been every year for the last few in my MX5, the track is right on the coast so it's a great setting and the track itself is great fun. It is short being a go kart track but for a sprint track it's fairly long and wide, I just need to make sure I'm quicker in the S2000 than I am in the MX5 there!

Some essential work is required to get ready for competing in a sprint but first the non-essential. As mentioned I was looking to tweak the alignment slightly but was maxed out on the front camber, I looked at a few options and liked the simple baero/origin offset bushes since they add both camber and wing clearance (which will be handy for wider wheels...), however with them not being sold over here I didn't fancy the import tax. So I pulled one of the arms off, removed the powerflex bushes and took some measurements, a sketch was done and handed to a machine shop then the bushes and sleeves were turned. Once in hand I froze and pressed them in to the arms;





They needed some minor buffing to make sure the sleeves were proud of the bushes and wouldn't bind the arms but once done they were quickly back on the car.



They have done the job of adding both camber and wing clearance nicely, a full alignment will follow as they look to have also added a bit of toe out:





The next and most important job was making a timing strut, the sprints use a simple light beam system for timing so without a timing strut you're not going to record any times! I'd purposely not used the OEM tow point when fitting the tow strap as this is a nice easy place to fit the strut, all that's needed is a bit of angle and thin plate, a quick spray in black paint and voila:





The second most important thing for competing in the road car class at the sprints is to have a road legal car, so with an MOT required it was time to fit a CAT again (there have been spot checks at sprints previously to check cars are running one!). I went for the Tegiwa HFC knowing it uses a decent quality magnaflow CAT element - I've seen first hand the cheap ones fall apart quickly so hopefully this take the heat from track use. The decat was pulled off and the HFC put in it's place;





(I didn't have time to heat wrap it!)

Some other minor things are required for the sprints and were ticked off (yellow tape on the battery lead, ignition switch marking and a bit more interior trim). That just leaves the MOT and alignment which typically I have arranged for the last minute day before I leave for Golspie on Thursday... what could go wrong!...