Your retinas may be burning from the fierce sensory overload in front of you but rest assured that this track-bred Honda S2000 is no show chump. Caged and gutted, this Honda has appeared at Central Circuit's VTEC Festival and has raced wheel-to-wheel in the Okayama Circuit Meister Cup.
The brain behind this project is Powersports, a tuning shop based in Kansai, Japan who also has a race-prepped 2.2-liter Prelude and AE86 Levin (Corolla to us). Their story began when a man named Shoji Yasugi started a racing team named Garage Yasugi in 1988. Following the establishment of his team's reputation and, basking in the thriving motorsport scene, Yasugi took the next logical step and started Powersports back in 1992. The rest, they say, is history.
This Honda, privately owned by Toshihiro Kojima, has evolved into Powersports' current flagship racer and is now one of the most well known S2000s in Japan. This exclusive yellow orange pearl, named in the distinctly Japanglish "Powersports Champion Color", is dedicated to a team member who lost his life in a tragic car accident. More radiant but still similar to the factory Honda Imola Orange Pearl paint, this unique tone was the most beloved color of their departed comrade. Today, all of the vehicles crafted by Powersports are blessed with this brilliant hue.
At a glance, the first thing noticeable on the car, besides the paint, is the full armor of the Powerhouse Amuse GT1 body kit. This wide-stanced exterior treatment was designed in conjunction with Polyphony Digital (the people who brought you the video game Gran Turismo) and adds aerodynamic function along with the ability to fit bigger racing rubber than stock. In a dream world devoid of bumps and driveways, we suppose that this bodywork could be used on a daily driven street car but we'd bet on cracked bumpers and chipped paint. When you consider the fact that this stripped track-only S2000 is also equipped with a Speedglass acrylic front windshield and lightweight Sunline Auto fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) doors, it's obvious that the kit was chosen purely for its functional qualities. The front bumper was even smartly modified to fit the Powersports FRP intake duct and Mugen air intake, which helps feed cool air to the engine when at speed.
The hardtop and rear wing, both manufactured in-house, are just two of the many lightweight products on this S2000 made from pre-preg or dry carbon fiber. The hood and the trunk, also manufactured by Powersports, are crafted with a wet lay-up carbon technique and follow the factory shape almost exactly for a direct fit replacement. The strategically placed canards, on the rear bumpers, are also part of Powersports' original product lineup, along with the custom titanium side-exit exhaust. After it fires up, the subtle rasp of this Honda's exhaust note, bouncing off the inner walls of the titanium piping is enough to make any VTEC junkie wonder what's in store underneath.
As an earlier AP1-chassis model, this Honda's stock F20C engine was re-built for higher output and, most importantly, more torque. The engine displacement is now at 2169cc, built using many OEM Honda components. The bottom end was rebuilt using custom 87.25mm oversized pistons (stock is 87.0mm), along with an F22C crankshaft and connecting rods. With high revving engines requiring plenty of breathing focus on the head, a thorough head porting, re-cut valve seats, and an oversized throttle body all aid in directing the maximum volume of air to each of the cylinders. On top of that, Toda Racing A2 camshafts and strengthened valve springs perfect the rotational harmony of the head assembly. A handcrafted 4-1 stainless steel exhaust manifold, made by Crosspipe, carries the finally spent exhaust to the aforementioned titanium side exit pipe.
By Steve Enomoto
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