As fun as autocrossing is, a day at a race track is on a completely different level. Friday, Aug. 10th, I was able to horn in on the Cobb group at Miller Motorsports Park, my oldest son has a WRX and he's been bugging me for weeks to sign up and join with him since there was plenty of extra space available.
I've been to track events with Mercedes-Benz eight or ten times, but driving an S2000, and more aggressively than M-B would allow, was about as fun as it gets. And what a track car the S2000 is. There were only a few cars there that could out handle the S, plenty could outdrag me on the straights, but if they would let me pass after crowding them through the curves, I would pull away in the first set of twisties to the point that they weren't able to catch me on the next straight. A few race cars, at least one heavily modified Subaru, and a C2 Porsche (with GT3 body parts and suspension) where the only cars that could get through the curves better than my completely stock S2000.
I'll tell you what though, track days are much harder on a car than autocross. After six, 20 minute sessions (actually, each person only got five, but I let my son drive my car for his last session--he had the biggest grin on his face when he finished--he said the difference between his WRX and the S2000 on the track was night and day), the car clocked about 115 miles at speed, nearly two hours of hard driving. In that term, the brakes never faded and the engine never skipped a beat, the car was just superb. The only issue I had was occasionally, four or five times, I beat the synchro's in the second to third shift and got a little "thunk" (ouch!). It's also hard on the tires, I pumped them up prior to the event, but I definitely wore off some tread over the course of the day. Also, I fueled up at a station nearly 11 miles away, when I hopped in the car to leave, the fuel light was on! I filled up with 140 miles showing on the trip meter and figured the fuel mileage at 11.6 mpg! Compared to the 23-24 I typically get.
Needless to say, I have a completely different view of my S2000 now, as much as I've enjoyed it on the street this past year, it is an amazing track car. The Honda engineers did a remarkable job of creating a car that is so easy to drive day-in, day-out but turns into a hero on the race track. Maybe the S on the fender means something other than sport.
BW

PS--If ever you have the opportunity to spend a day at MMP in your S2000, run, don't walk there--BW

 

I'm glad to hear that--I just bought a new MY06 and have been thinking about taking it out for a spin at MMP. Now I'm sold!

 

Glad to hear you had a good time. I love track days and would do them over an autoX ANY day.

 

The S2000 is an excellent track car. I sold my track only S2000 in May.

I instruct with a number of different groups (NASA, SCCA, PCA, etc). Post here next time and if I can make it out I'd be glad to help out.

 

I think one track day and a half-dozen autoX each year will be sufficient to feed my performance driving jones (will see how the tires hold up). There are a number of clubs that run events each year, it's a matter of seeing if they have the space for an interloper. There's also a number of SCCA sponsored track days, but the S2000 needs a rollbar or factory hardtop to run in those. Also, you need a Snell rated helmet, most motorcycle helmets don't meet that rating. The Cobb guys allowed m/c helmets if they were fairly new and in good condition.
MSM--I didn't decide until the day before the Cobb event to go, I'll try and have more notice for the future and post here. It would be great to have someone with your experience to be there and maybe act as a coach. There were a couple experienced race drivers there that you could request to come along and help find the line, etc.
BW