My 300,000-Mile Honda S2000’s First Track Day Went Way Better Than I Expected

In situation you have not listened to, I purchased a Honda S2000 with around 300,000 miles on the odometer. It’s my newest task auto, and when I purchased it I’d hoped would turn out to be my main monitor vehicle for 2021. It necessary a bunch of things, but right after using treatment of a number of tiny issues and refreshing the brakes, I considered it completely ready for its initially observe outing.

Somehow, absolutely nothing catastrophically bad took place.

Which is Pretty Challenging to Consider

I know! I considered for certain some thing would split and leave the car undrivable. But somehow it solderied on throughout quite a few classes and various motorists throughout a latest Road & Monitor check day at Lime Rock Park. Of program, that does not mean it was excellent.

Like I described previous time, the VTEC doesn’t get the job done. So, though the motor could nevertheless rev to 8800 rpm, I wasn’t obtaining the full working experience and I was down on energy. That built the front straight a little bit of a bore. It also intended I had to have a bunch of momentum via corners if I required to set just about anything resembling a fantastic lap time. But I could not do that because the tires, mismatched no-name all-seasons, made near to zero grip.

The front still left tire particularly appeared to give up the ghost at any stab of the brake pedal, triggering Abdominal muscles to kick in and mess up my corner entry. If you know Lime Rock, you know the still left front has to do most of the perform through corners, given that the track is pretty much all appropriate-hand turns.

But It Was Even now Pleasurable, Proper?

Of training course! Any chance to toss a auto about a race observe is fun. The deficiency of grip meant easy, slow-speed slides as a result of most corners, and it turns out people KW V3s I set up earlier this yr definitely glow in the transition concerning turns 3 and 4. Also, while the motor wasn’t creating as significantly power as it must have, it continue to manufactured a excellent noise.

The new brakes were being more than up to the process of bringing the lightweight S2K to a stop following repeated use. It is really worth noting, however, that Lime Rock isn’t particularly hard on brakes. I’ll will need to take the automobile somewhere else to genuinely give them a comprehensive take a look at. Maybe Watkins Glen or New Jersey Motorsports Park up coming?

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So What Broke?

Almost nothing! Although I was in fact at the monitor, that is. But soon after the day was about and I was heading household, I commenced to recognize a unusual, inconsistent metal-on-steel tapping sound coming from the car’s ideal rear corner. This turned out to be the muffler one of the mounts looks to have gone bad from all the g-forces, producing the muffler to slap the underside of the motor vehicle in excess of big bumps.

If that is truly the only detail that broke soon after all that lapping, I’d consider that a results. So my car likes to spank itself so what? It did not burn off an extreme volume of oil, and at the stop of the day it felt particularly the exact to push as it did right before. Which is definitely a acquire in my reserve.

What Are Your Ideas Heading Forward, Then?

Obtaining new tires is substantial on my to-do record, certainly. I have not resolved what tire to go with just nonetheless, but one thing on the extra extreme finish of the grip spectrum is possible, as I really want to see how brief this vehicle can go on true rubber. From what I could convey to at Lime Rock, it has a great deal of opportunity. Go away your solutions in the remarks!

The VTEC not functioning is also a problem I still haven’t seemed into. Element of me hoped it would just fix by itself just after a bunch of scorching laps, but that did not close up staying the circumstance. I’ll be pulling the solenoid off of the block before long to inspect it even further and will replace it if required.

Although the trashed driver’s seat wasn’t as massive an concern as I thought it would be on observe, it’s nonetheless a nuisance. Changing it with both a far better-excellent OEM seat or a lessen aftermarket bucket is a thing I want to do quicker instead than afterwards.

Factors lessen on the priority listing? There are a number of little rust spots I’d like to sooner or later get fixed, but looking at as how they are not structural I figure I can wait until finally there is some downtime in the off-period. I’d also like to switch the aftermarket cold air intake, which positions the air filter in the bumper, with just one that does not suck up air near the ground. The very last thing I want is to hit a massive puddle and hydrolock the engine.

Keep tuned.

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