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Picked up a supercharged 04 S2000 a few months back and have started autocrossing it. Want to get it on track as well so I've started further building it. Here's what I've done so far as well as thoughts on future upgrades. Would love any feedback, especially if you see anything I should stay away from on the future thoughts - or better recommendations.
Hawk HP+ are not track pads. They will overheat pretty easy when pushed hard on track. So if you try them be very aware of how your brakes feel. Maybe first times on track you are not pushing them and they will be ok, but if you are even moderately quick they wont be up to the task for you. They work well for autox pads. On the other side, track pads really are not good for autox either as they never get up to temp. I have one set of rotors and pads for track and another for autox/street use.
Do brake pads and fluid, check everything over and got to an HPDE. You will never know if the mods you make are right for you until you do that and will just waste money. Rollbar is fine and the Hard dog is a good choice.
I will make some mention on the mods but again I would avoid making many outside of safety until you have some seat time in it.
A big front bar is very typical on these cars. Megan is not a big bar. Karcepts if by far a better choice with tons of adjustability and you can actually adjust it with one hand with the car sitting on the ground. Well worth the money. But again, I would not start throwing money into mods until you have taken on track and autocrossed it.
This car benefits a LOT from a square setup. For the classes you will be pushed into for autox (the car will actually be underprepped since you have already modified and added boost and will be pushed into a much more prepped class for autox) max out for stock fenders is best. Which is running 255's all around with a 17X9 or 17X10 being most typical. Staggered my look neat but most all find they like a square setup best on this car.
I wont comment on the suspension setup. All of this varies with how you are using the car and how serious you want to be. Same goes with starting throwing aero at it. I have been doing track days for years now and I run a GTC200 wing and no splitter. Splitter will help, but I am moving to TT and it changes a lot in how much weight you have to run by adding a splitter, so you also have to consider rules and where the various mods place you. This also goes for autox as well.
My overall advice, for autox, just go and start running it wherever it falls class wise. If the club you are with runs a novice class take advantage of it since typically it removes a lot of the classing clutter until you place out of novice.
For track, as I said, get some actual track pads and make sure the fluid you put in is up to the job. Motul RBF600 or something similar is perfectly fine. Just not OEM equivalent as it will boil on you.
Get out there and have fun, learn the car, talk to others with S2ks at events, and start wisely choosing your mods. When I was instructing at autox events and novice schools, I met a lot of people that modded the hell out of their car first and then were disappointed as they were pushed into crazy classes and actually had made the car perform worse than the expected. You will still enjoy the hell out of it and learn the car and then make the mods as needed.
I second everything engifineer said and I will add this. Generally speaking, a setup optmized for one (autox or track) will be compromised in the other. So, if you decide you want to be serious about competition, then pick which venue you want to be competitive at and then just have setup changes you have to do the other just for fun. Me personally, I prefer to have the car optimized competition wise for autox since that is a lower risk environment where pushing to and beyond the limits is great fun so when my competitive side gets the better of me I am unlikely to wreck. Then I just have different brakes and tires for track days where i can go have fun on track any not feel bad about only going 9/10ths through high risk sections of track since I am not cometiting. Of course this is partially colored by me losing my last S2000 to a track accident that was rooted in my competitive side getting the best of me and me going backwards into a wall. Your setup seems to be geared more towards being serious about track and doing autox for fun/skill enhancement which is perfectly fine as well.
The exception I will make to the above is a solid STR Setup. I have found that works extremely well on track maybe with the exception of some tweaking of damper settings or maybe adjusting the front bar. A bit more loose and rotatey under braking is better for autox vs at 100 mph + on track. . I was running HPDE on 200TW tires and running within a half second of TT5 on hoosiers a couple of times that way Granted, driver experience and all of that so not saying it is the perfect setup, but it is a very solid setup on this car. But if you get into TT and start really wanting to be competitive you will find some things work better for one than the other then.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Great thoughts. I should have added a few things to clarify. My main focus will be autox since that's what I get to do more often. I live 3 hours away from the closest track and work a lot so that will only be a handful of times a year probably. I'm looking to be competitive in autox but have some aero for when I go to the track. I believe that the supercharger and ECU, which were in the car when I bought it, puts me into CSP or SSM class anyway so looking to do other things since the class allows it. I've got a decent amount of experience - couple of HPDEs, several track days, 20+ year sim racer (that count? haha) and also have a hyper competitive personality so I don't know how to NOT push it. BUT, still very much learning all the time and am by no means a mechanic so reading a ton and watching a lot of youtube to garner the best setup for my interests / needs (wants).
My 2cents, before spending any money at mods besides safety gear, get to know the car. See what you like and dislike about it. Play with alignments and different tires. Pick other owners brains at the track/autox.
Note superchargers generate a lot of heat and will limit your time on a road course unless you have a very efficient cooling setup. Better rad, water + water wetter, proper ducting, proper hood venting, ecu monitoring failsafes, removal of ac condensor, etc are all needed to keep the car happy with a SC for tracking.
Something that took me years to buy was a clutch style LSD. I kind of regret not buying it sooner. Yes the factory diff works well for what it is but running an OSgiken, MFactory or Kaaz LSD really changes the car for the better. I would put a LSD higher on your list than aero or suspension if you're primarily planning to run autox.
Mostly Mid-Ohio. I'm in eastern KY so there's not many tracks around me. I'm 3 hours from Mid-Ohio and can be at a couple others within that time frame. That's why I'll do MUCH more autocross than track but still want to be able to get on track when I can.
Other than trackpads, high temp brake fluid, braided brake lines and high performance summer tires, I ran my car in stock form for many years in HPDE events - mostly Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and a handful of other tracks in the Northeast. About 50% of my mileage was on-track mileage. The one improvement I would have liked to make was to install a race harness so that I was secure in the seat. I never did so as I believed I would need to install a roll bar with harness bar, as well as race seats. I didn't want to cut up the car. I was only competing against myself, but my lap times were competitive with other S2000 drivers whose cars were still street able.
Our friend Greg G. raced his S2000 competitively with SCCA and went to the run-offs on three or four occasions. At one point his car was supercharged, but he deleted the supercharger and ran NA to drop down in class. But although fully race prepped, his car was never really competitive in class. He could finish reasonably well (top three) in the regional races, but the car never had what it took to finish well in the nationals. In the end, I think he felt that the S2000 platform was just not suited to be competitive in SCCA racing.
Both Gregg and I came to an unhappy end - he in the Aarmco and me in the tire wall. He totaled his car. I was very lucky because I managed to scrub off enough speed before I hit the wall so that I suffered only extensive paint damage. I more or less retired the S from track events after that.
My humble advice is to spend your money on seat time, not on modifications. Unless you are able to drive your car to its maximum potential, the modifications are a waste of money.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Great thoughts. I should have added a few things to clarify. My main focus will be autox since that's what I get to do more often. I live 3 hours away from the closest track and work a lot so that will only be a handful of times a year probably. I'm looking to be competitive in autox but have some aero for when I go to the track. I believe that the supercharger and ECU, which were in the car when I bought it, puts me into CSP or SSM class anyway so looking to do other things since the class allows it. I've got a decent amount of experience - couple of HPDEs, several track days, 20+ year sim racer (that count? haha) and also have a hyper competitive personality so I don't know how to NOT push it. BUT, still very much learning all the time and am by no means a mechanic so reading a ton and watching a lot of youtube to garner the best setup for my interests / needs (wants).
You're not CSP ... you're either SSM or XA. Just do XA because you have an XA car.
Overly simplified classing:
XA is street tire. unlimited engine (swap or forced induction), aero (splitter + wings + canards). must have interior.
SSM is race tire. unlimited engine(swap or forced induction), aero (splitter + wings + canards), can be completely stripped out.
CSP is race tire + OEM model generation mix & match, limited aero (splitter + spoiler, no wings no canards).
All of the above classes allow cutting fenders/heavy fender modification for extra tire clearance.
08-05-2024, 08:05 AM
Autox / track build on right path?
Granted, driver experience and all of that so not saying it is the perfect setup, but it is a very solid setup on this car. But if you get into TT and start really wanting to be competitive you will find some things work better for one than the other then.
