Unfortunately Honda won't allow us to put any of their press cars on a road course, so we were unable to fully take advantage of our visit to Buttonwillow. The great folks at Speedventures invited us to take a few laps with the car during their recent track day, but sadly we had to decline. We did use the opportunity to test the car's 1/4 mile acceleration and braking on Buttonwillow's long back straight, however, so all was not lost.

Launching the car is relatively easy, and even after a series of high-rpm drag-style launches during our acceleration testing, there was no hint of clutch smoke, which is a refreshing departure from the older models. Several months ago when I first learned about the shock-damping valving in the clutch, (recalling the similar setup on the '03 CL Type-S 6MT) I feared the worst. Fortunately, the S2000's system is virtually transparent. Engagement is not as immediate as the '00-'03's, but it doesn't seem to negatively impact performance, so if it results in a more durable drivetrain, I'm all for it.

In terms of acceleration numbers, our Vericom measured a best 0-60mph time of 5.7seconds and a best 1/4 mile time of 14.3 at 99.8mph. As we were doing our testing during the lunch break for the track day, our time was limited, and I was only able to make a few passes. Certainly with more practice we could have knocked a few tenths off of both of those figures. Buttonwillow is situated in the middle of California's central valley, and it's rather dry and dusty, resulting in 60ft times in the 2.5 second range, a relatively poor showing. Generally, S2000s are capable of 2.0-2.1 second 60 ft times (and this is on narrower tires). Additionally, the Vericom does not allow for any rollout, so a correction factor of up to 0.2 seconds is often used (Motorweek, for example, automatically lops 0.2 seconds off of all of their 1/4 mile times) when comparing Vericom results to dragstrip 1/4 mile times. Assuming ideal conditions, this indicates that the '04 should be capable of 1/4 mile times in the mid-upper 13 second neighborhood and low 5 second 0-60s. We'll try to get another example on a dragstrip to see if we can better our own initial numbers.

As for the brakes, little has changed except for the contact patches at all four corners, and perhaps the pad compound. We measured a best 60-0 stopping distance of 112.6 ft. This came after several hard stops where operator error rendered our measurements useless, so stopping power after repeated use seems pretty good.

Prior to departing the Buttonwillow complex, we put the car on the skidpad and observed a tendency for it to understeer at the limit. Oversteer could be coaxed by severe throttle lifts or a stab at the brake, but it would usually tuck the rear back in and revert to understeering rather than drifting. Massive slip angles are required to maintain oversteer, but those usually resulted in a snap spin. Thankfully, the car behaves much better on the street.

On Saturday, we ran the 2000 and 2004 cars back to back at the San Diego region autocross at Qualcomm Park. Actually, I only drove the 2004 model, but Tuan entered both the B-stock and X classes and drove both cars. I'll let him share his results with you. As for me, it was my first time to drive in an autocross, so I was surprised to set a relatively low time on my first run out. At 55.x seconds, I had already bettered the 350Zs and RX-8s I had noticed that were running to that point. For this session, we had swapped the stock wheels and tires for the sticky Toyo RA-1s from Shawn's '00 S2000, and the car generally felt pretty good. There was a bit more oversteer than I had expected, but the tires were relatively cold. For the second run we fiddled with the air pressure a bit, reducing the pressure in the rear tires, in search of a little more grip. This time the car was understeering a bit too much, and it was still oversteering in some corners as well. So we ended up with a slower time for my 2nd run. For my third and final run (in B-stock), we dropped the pressure in the fronts a bit and I managed to regain some time, but it was still not quite as good as my first effort.

At the end of the day we were able to run the car again during the fun runs. For $5 I got 3 runs. This time the '04 was wearing the OEM wheels and tires. The first run the car got a little loose rounding the first turn and I had a nice little drift going, but it wasn't the quick way around. I also found 2nd gear to be a bit too short for the longest straight of the course, so I was whacking against the limiter for a bit too long on that segment. The result? A 57.x. On the 2nd run I decided to take a shot at a decent time and for the most part kept the rear end in shape. I also decided to short shift 2nd slightly and go into 3rd on that long straightaway. Wow. There was plenty of torque and I managed to carry quite a bit more speed through that segment before braking for the hard left turn at the end. Instead of clipping 59mph, I was pushing something more like 70+ through that same spot. In the earlier session, the RA1s provided a tremendous amount of grip at the expense of precision. During the fun runs I found that that the stiffer sidewalls of the low-profile OEM tires provided a more direct and neutral feel, allowing me to more easily make use of moderate oversteer. The result of this run? Another 55.x, virtually matching my earlier effort on the much stickier RA-1s!! For the 3rd and final run of the day I was probably trying too hard, as I noticed the car was pushing a bit more. I still netted a respectable 56.x. My best time in B-stock was good for a 4th place finish - not too shabby for my first time on an autocross course, and not too shabby considering I later matched that time on the OEM tires. Tuan had even better luck, scoring the best B-stock time of the day on the RA1s.

I don't think this new S2000 gives up anything to its forebear on the track, and in fact it should be quicker once it is properly dialed in with more aggressive alignment and tire settings.