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22 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 1, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED You'll Love Our Service! 905-335-4080 BURLINGTON LINE Honda's race-inspired S2000 roadster retains the right stuff By Jim Robinson METROLAND MEDIA GROUP The "fun" of motoring can be seen by some (many) as frivolous in these days where gasoline prices here can be affected overnight by storms and rebellions half a world away. Two hundred years ago, a person seldom went more than 15 miles from their home in their lifetime. One hundred years ago, it was more like 15 miles in a month. Today, that's a short commute to work. To me, a car is a form of time machine that lets you cover distances in one hour that would have been mind-boggling to those living in 1808. Driving is hard work especially on super highways where the average speed is greater than that of airplanes a century ago. It takes concentration and, as we all know, it isn't cheap. So that's why, in my opinion, occasionally enjoying the freedom a car can give is something to be savoured. Which brings me around to the 2008 Honda S2000, a roadster you don't see a lot, but is considered by some as one of the great sportscars of the market and a sure collector car in the future. A senior editor of a large daily newspaper automotive section told me recently, that if he won the lottery, he wouldn't buy a Porsche of Lamborghini, but a Honda S2000. When you look at it objectively, it's really a decade old and should be well behind current levels of performance and handling. But that's not the case. I first saw what was to become the S2000 in 1995. It was a concept car called the SSM and about the size of a Mazda Miata. Frankly, it did not have the perky looks of the Miata so I dismissed it as just another exercise to gauge public reaction. But Honda had other ideas. It re-emerged in 1999 to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the company that was taking place in 2000, thus the name. It also was the turning of the millennium, so Honda poured all its expertise into the car. Incorporating the knowledge gained from Formula One and IndyCar, it had an engine of just 2.0-litres displacement with a carbon-fibre reinforced block and super-light forgedalloy pistons. Because this car was designed from the outset to rev to 9,000 rpm, special bearing alloys were used right out of IndyCar. Producing an amazing 240 hp, albeit at Originally designed to mark Honda's 50th anniversary in 2000, the S2000 roadster retains much of what Honda has learned in Formula One and IndyCar racing for a superbly balanced roadster. 8,600 rpm in the year 2000, the powerplant set new production car standards for volumetric efficiency. Today the engine is larger at 2.2-litres producing 237 hp at 8,000 rpm with 162 lb/ft of torque. It remains today as the highest specific horsepower/litre normally aspirated production engine on the market. Fuel consumption is listed as 11.8L/100 km city and 8.4L/100 km highway. Down the centre of the car runs a huge girder of a backbone with the front and rear suspension bolted on as sub sections. The front suspension is racecar-derived double wishbones with shocks custom-fitted to soak up most road irregularities. This, along with a multi-link rear system that incorporates a TORSEN (TORque SENsing) differential, lets the suspension do the work. This allows the exceptionally rigid chassis to be free from classic cowl shake or axle tramping as the rear tires go over bumps or railroad tracks. The front/rear weight distribution is a perfect 50/50 thanks to the engine sitting back so far back that it is almost mid-engined. The very-short throw six-speed manual transmission is located so that it literally does fall to hand. The shift knob, itself, is very small, almost dainty. If you have big hands like I do, it's possible to shift with your fingertips. Not the best, but it works. As you can guess, the S2000 is all about revs, or better yet, keeping them up. This is a car you have to work with not at, if you get my meaning. Because it breathes so easily, you have to get the revs up before it starts to make meaningful torque. You can go from idle to 8000 rpm in less than the time to takes to read this sentence. From launch, you ease in the clutch and you feed in the gas sharply then go for second asap. After that, the traction starts to kick in and you soon find the combination of a stiff platform, compliant suspension and ability to squirt and turn thanks to the 50/50 weight bias results in a very pointable car. In fact, the turning radius is a tight 5.7 meters. With Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), traction control and a Continued on Page 23