S2000 runs almost a second quicker with the better tires at Tsukuba.
The videos here come from the Attack Official Movie Channel on YouTube and they feature a Honda S2000 race car making two laps at the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan. This footage shows the same car with the same driver on the same day at Tsukuba, but in the top video, the car has a performance road tire while the bottom video has the S2000 riding on race tires.
We all know that for road racing applications, a race tire is always going to offer better results than a performance-minded road tire, but how much difference is there between the two? This S2000 answers that question in a way that leaves almost no question as to the advantage of racing tires.
The Car and Tires
The car in action here is a Honda S2000 race car that packs 325 horsepower and weighs around 2,269 pounds, but that is the extent of the information on the car. However, we know that in the video above, the car is riding on Yokohama Advan A052 high performance road tires measuring 295-30-18 while in the video below, the S2000 is fitted with Yokohama Advan A050 GS race tires.
Since the runs are made on the same day, the weather is relatively similar on both runs and everything else remains the same, the only difference should be in the performance of the tires.
Lap Times
In each of the videos here, the driver of this Honda S2000 race car goes all out, blasting around Tsukuba Circuit during what appears to be a time attack event. At the end of each run, we see that this Honda turned in the best time for a radial tire and the best time for a naturally-aspirated S2000, but how much do they differ?
Well, with the road tires, the S2000 laid down a lap time of 57:935 while the race tires yielded a time of 57:051. This means that with everything else being equal, the driver was able to shave almost nine-tenths of a second with just the swap from road tires to race tires. That’s a massive improvement for such a short track, like Tsukuba.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
