Young Version — August 1999

The plan is to offer parts focused on enjoying the drive. A naturally aspirated engine producing 250 PS is expected in 2000. And there’s more: it’s a Honda, but it’s rear-wheel drive! Spoon couldn’t pass that up, so here is the Spoon S2000. The tuning focuses on suspension and brakes, aiming above all to make a car that is fun to drive. Looking at the suspension, coilovers are already installed. The shocks are made by Showa… .

The S2000’s suspension shares many characteristics with the NSX, and that know-how has been applied to development. The brakes use the same calipers as the NSX. The rotor is thicker than the NSX’s, however, adding weight. Under the hood, the already well-developed engine is left alone, with tuning limited to intake and exhaust. The muffler in particular replaces the stock dual outlets with a single outlet weighing about two-thirds as much, aiming to improve response and power feel. [Some source text clipped/noisy].

To see how it feels, we asked Mr. Yamada for his impression. The engine is highly developed and brings out 120% of the fun of Honda rear-wheel drive, so it is left as stock while the areas that need attention are tuned. Overall body roll is well controlled, making it easy to brake with confidence. The suspension follows Spoon’s basic approach, but the car behaved more like a rear-wheel-drive car than expected. The rear steps out smoothly, making it fun to control. Unlike the stock car, once it reaches a certain lateral G, it stabilizes instead of letting go, so you can confidently slide without losing speed. It is ideal for a naturally aspirated car. The brakes are also excellent, as expected from Spoon. The fairly heavy S2000 would quickly overwhelm the stock brakes on track, but with these calipers and rotors it responds properly even when driven hard. The muffler’s sporty sound was a surprise, too—it has a lively note that lets you enjoy the character of the naturally aspirated engine. A car like this is too good to leave only to older drivers! (Eiji Yamada) .