S2000 Outgunned on Track By Overpowered, Overweight BMW M5
The match up may not be much of a competition, but the S2000’s track-day spirit beats the pants off German luxury anytime.
The S2000 is the perfect weapon for track day. On its own, it can corner on rails and provide thrills for days. With the right aftermarket bits, it can also chase down the competition on its way to the top of the podium.
Alas, this demo is anything but competitive. YouTuber Mark Sanevski (a.k.a., savagegeese) recently reviewed a 2019 BMW M5 Competition at Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, Michigan. While doing the review, he decided to pit the Teutonic terror against a few track-day heroes (and a minivan) in a lopsided affair, including a yellow S2000.
“Nice car. I can smoke you while shaving my back,” said Sanevski’s partner-in-crime, Scott Turbowski. “I’ll give you a 30-second head start.”
The first car in the “competition” against the M5? A brand-new Mazda Miata, which likely would have beat the behemoth if Turbowski held to his word. Yet, the 617-horsepower porker did snag a win.
“Hey. Need to get them brakes fixed, bro,” Turbowski says to Sanevski, who this time is behind the wheel of a yellow AP2 S2000. The stock roadster’s 237-horse 2.2-liter inline-four and six-speed manual was, sadly, no match for the big German sedan.
And yet, despite the huge advantage in power and acceleration the monster BMW had over our beloved S2000, notice the expressions on the faces of Turbowski and Sanevski. Turbowski has a slight grin (it’s hard to tell) pulling away from the yellow AP2, while Sanevski has a big smile on his face despite losing. Could it be because none of the wins Turbowski’s gotten thus far are satisfying?
After all, the big BMW can’t live up to its name when it has things like a 4.4-liter V8 and an eight-speed automatic going for it, plus tons of luxury and technology. The S2000, meanwhile, has the spirit and attitude to take on any and all comers; it was made for the track. No tech to distract, a six-speed manual to take complete authority behind the wheel, just a car that means fun, fun, fun no matter how hard you run.
“When I first saw the sticker price on this [M5 Competition] at $132,000, I almost choked on my own tongue,” Sanevski said of the big sedan in his review. “The Competition version, without all [the bells and whistles], starts at $110,000. You start to think, ‘Well, this better do some serious driving, and it better do a lot for that type of money.'”
Of course, most M5s never get to throw their weight around on the street, acting mainly as overpowered, overweight commuters to the high rises in the city. For $110,000, you could buy a couple of S2000s, keep one stock but well-maintained, turn the other into a track-day terror, add a trailer and a Ridgeline to tow the latter, and still have plenty of money left over for a vacation in Japan. That’s definitely living the dream in our book.
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