Here is What Happens When You Take Your S2000 to a NASCAR Track
Have you ever wondered what the top speed of your S2000 really was?
The S2000 is an excellent handling car, making for a natural choice as a track day toy. However, as many S2Ki forum members have found out, while they are great in the corners, the S2K is a bit lacking in straight line grunt.
YouTube personality, serial car buyer, and friend of S2KI, Zent Rose rectified the power issue with his latest S2000 build. His AP2 track car has a built F22C motor and a Science of Speed supercharger kit. As you can expect, this supercharged S2K makes a good bit more power than a stock one. However, is it enough to hit the S2000’s top speed? The AP2 is geared to hit a theoretical top speed around 155 mph, and with around 300 horsepower, Zent’s AP2 should be more than capable of hitting that figure. But where can you go that fast?
Fortunately for us, living in Southern California means we have access to a lot of great race tracks. One of those facilities is Autoclub Speedway, AKA California Speedway, a NASCAR track. Autoclub, like most NASCAR tracks, also features an infield road course for the track day fiends to go play on. What better place to try a top speed run than a NASCAR track?
ALSO SEE: Does Your S2000 Track Car Need Aero?
So, Zent got his supercharged AP2 ready and attended a Speed Ventures track day event at Autoclub to see what his S2000 could really do. Fun fact, yours truly was there, as well. You can spot me in my current track car, the white BMW 135i at the 0:55 mark. Sorry, I’m not running an S2000 right now. You can also see me getting passed by an 850 horsepower SCCA Trans Am Camaro race car at the 2:20 mark.
How did things go? Well, it appears that Zent was able to hit a top speed around 145 mph at Autoclub Speedway in his supercharged S2000. He speculates that with a longer straight, it could hit 155. Despite being his first time at Autoclub, his lap times were respectable, knocking out a 1:56 hot lap. Sadly, this modified AP2 called it quits afterwards, and Zent blew the engine at the end of the day. Pending tear down, our initial impression is that a rod bent or broke. We will be helping Zent pull the motor and do a tear down to figure out what happened, so stay tuned for that madness.
