Modifying a car that's tuned as well as stock Honda S2000 can be a tricky endeavor. Honda put a lot of research and development into the S2k to give it the world-class handling it's universally praised for. And the engine? Don't even get us started. Let's just say the short-stroke inline-four is chock full of Formula-One technology, thanks to Honda's extensive experience in what is arguably the highest form of automobile racing.
Happily revving to 9,000rpm with a sweet staccato scream, few engines reward the driver more for pushing the tach deep into the red than Honda's 2-liter F20C. Making 120hp per liter stock, tuning it to make even more without forced-induction takes some serious skill, time and patience.
But it's not just the high-tech engine, world-class transmission or the incredible chassis that makes the S2k so great-the timeless and classy styling of the S2K is hard to improve on too.
There are few things in the automotive world worse than taking a great-looking and high performing car, then bolting on a hideous body kit or some "performance parts" that make less power than stock. The folks over at Tracy Sports in Japan agree with us on that point.
To give S2k owners more options for high-quality parts, Tracy Sports developed their own line. No strangers to making bits for high-end Japanese cars like the NSX, Tracy Sports know just what it takes to make greatness even better. To show consumers what they offer, they threw all their parts on this white AP1 S2000-in the process attracting our attention. And their parts list is all encompassing for the S2k, form engine internals to body kits.
Some tuners fall into the trap of obsessing on big horsepower numbers, low quarter-mile times or over-the-top exterior mods, and fail to focus on the bigger picture. The end product is a bunch of single-use cars that suck at everything else. Whether the emphasis of those cars is show, drag or drift, a lot of them end up losing any practicality they had on the street.
Tracy Sports knows the importance of hitting all the areas and not just focusing on one area. They wanted a car that could do everything well-from tearing down the racetrack to idling in traffic for hours on end. "Our goal was not only to build a race car, but a car that would perform just as good out on the streets," says Tracy Sport's Mr. Yamamoto.
Since the 2-liter F20C mill is already tuned to the hilt, there are really only two options to get more power out of it... one is forced-induction and the other a bump in displacement. They chose the latter.
The F20 now sports a 2.3-liter displacement, thanks to a Tracy Sports L300 stroker kit. The kit uses a Tracy Sports lightweight crankshaft, Tracy connecting rods, and Tracy lightweight pistons. In fact, almost all the power adders on this car are off-the-shelf Tracy Sports parts.
The stock stroke of 84mm has been upped to 95mm and the stock bore of 87mm was retained, giving the engine a total displacement of 2256cc. The pistons have a 12.5:1 compression ratio and weigh in at a measly 291 grams. Talk about low reciprocating mass! The result of the increased stroke and lightweight internals is more torque and power across the board-and the extra low-end torque is just what the S2k needed. All in all, the engine is perfect for a car that's driven on the street and track.