James Snell's Supercharged S2000: Bold is Better
Four years ago, James hadn’t even considered tracking a car. Though he was definitely a dedicated gearhead, he preferred lowriders and rock crawlers, mainly. Some of his friends had taken the track day plunge, however, and a few of them were adamant he branch out a bit.One Saturday morning, he drove out to Streets of Willow with a few eager buddies and everything changed.
The giddiest of his friends also had good taste; he brought his S2000 along and threw James the keys. He also had trust and good manners—he only asked that James bring it back in one piece. The casual introduction had clearly had an effect, because, just one month later, James had bought one for himself.
Good Hands
It was no ordinary S2000, either. This AP1 was previously owned by a Ballade Sports employee, so it’d been given lots of love and attention. Along with some choice body modifications, it came fitted with KW V3s, a square set of RPF1s, an exhaust, an intake, a halo-style seat, and an F22C motor with roughly 40,000 miles. For someone dipping their toes in the water, James couldn’t have been luckier—the price he picked this one up for would irritate a lot of prospective buyers these days.
The car came with an OEM AP2 front bumper and CR lip, a replica CR trunk wing, and a full carbon hardtop weighing only seventeen pounds.
As nicely sorted as this example was, the AP1 is not a forgiving car. “The first few times I drove it, I probably spent more time spun off-track than I was on-track, but I didn’t care. I set a 2:14 at Buttonwillow 13CW and I felt like a rock star. I may’ve been going off a few times every event, but—and I can’t stress this enough—I was having the time of my life.”
“My motto then was: ‘If you’re not spinning, you’re not trying.”
However, he adapted rapidly. “Smooth is fast in that car. The more I softened my inputs, the better the car responded. My lap times fell, and I set my sights on a pretty significant goal early on. The aim was to set a Buttonwillow 13CW lap under two minutes on 200TW tires without the help of any aero.”
As James learned, trimming the first few seconds is easy. Three years passed before he was able to whittle his times down to something nearing his goal, but he didn’t care too much. Again, the thrill of driving and learning the nuances of the S2000 were the wind in his sails.
One of his biggest hurdles with the car was learning how to gel with its nervous behavior. “I was usually leaving some on the table because the rear was on a knife edge,” he said. It would give him the willies when the S2000 would rotate at higher speeds, but James realized that he had to suppress his instinct to lift his right foot. Backing out in that situation doesn’t always work well in this very pointy car.
After getting enough experience with the car’s edginess at higher speeds, he returned to Buttonwillow on a set of A052s which were well past their prime. Even after spinning the car six times, he didn’t falter. That day, he was determined to find those last few tenths.
When he saw a 1:59.7 appear on his AiM Solo, he whooped. “I went from setting a 2:14 in the same car, essentially. Sure, I moved from a Nexen to an Advan, but the car was identical otherwise. That gave me the permission, if you like, to take the next big step with this car.”
Forget Incremental Improvements
At this point, James was nearing his sixtieth track day in the car. To give it a commemorative special touch, he decided to douse it in a shade of green most often seen on Porsches. “I’d wanted a GT3 RS in Lizard Green, but I couldn’t justify the cost—I could buy a duplex for that money.”
Getting the professionals to paint it that color wasn’t cheap, either. Instead of forking out enough to buy two new motors, he set up a makeshift paint booth in his garage, studied YouTube, spent a thousand in materials, and gave it a whirl.
Not surprisingly for a car with such battle-worn exterior, prep took far longer than anything else. So much of the original panels were beaten beyond the point of sensible continuation. In the place of the old panels, he added J’s Racing front fenders and rear bumper, as well as a set of ASM rear over fenders. Over the course of four months, he spent three-hundred hours replacing panels, sanding, and swearing. The painting itself only took a few hours.
Then came a Voltex Swan Neck and a Racebred Components 3” front splitter. Along with the aero, he added a set of JRZ RS Pro coilovers and a Karcepts front sway bar which made a “night and day difference—it was almost a new car. I think the V3s were well past their prime, and I might’ve handicapped myself with those. When I finally got the right equipment, I immediately dropped my best at 13CW to a 1:55.7.”
Ready for Some Overdue Jam
The motor had been through the ringer and in July 2020, the motor dropped a valve. He spent the summer rebuilding another 2.2-liter Honda short block with a Port Flow Design cylinder head built by Tom Fujita. With Supertech dual springs, valves, and retainers, he’d be able to beat on it without worry. However, it was still lacking a little jam.
For that reason, he unsheathed his credit card one Black Friday and ordered an HKS GT2 Supercharger. That was the first of many modifications needed to double an F22C’s output.
With the guidance of Son Vo and FormulaS, the new engine package was fortified with a V-mount intercooler, plenty of ducting, 1300cc injectors, an AEM V2 ECU, and all the custom piping needed to keep the motor running cool.
Plans for a Forced Induction Future
The beauty of this supercharged motor is that it will remain as tractable as it was pre-blower, but with nearly twice the power at the top-end. Because of its linearity, it should be tractable, even with the stock differential.
To ensure over 400 horsepower is put to the pavement cleanly, he’s also widened the footprint a little with a set of Titan7 T-R10 wheels measuring 18X10.5”. Though he hasn’t settled on a specific tire, he’s thinking a square set of 295-section Hoosier A7s. Not only will the car put the power down, but it will stop in a fashion that might let him reuse his original braking points. Well, maybe.
“After seventy-five track days, I’m still ear-to-ear. Actually, I’m like a kid on Christmas the day before a track day. I purposely don’t drink caffeine from noon onwards so I can sleep. It doesn’t really work; I end up getting up at 3 AM and watching racing videos on YouTube until I leave.”
“What I’m looking forward to more than anything is that, once I pass Sunset, I’ll no longer feel like checking my e-mails.”
With the major drop in time he enjoyed after the last big step in modification, maybe his new goal of a 1:49 at CW13 is in the cards. Whether it is or isn’t, it’s certain that he’ll be grinning the whole way there.