The Honda S2000 marketplace has finally grown up. Its voice is getting deeper, its discovering hair where there wasn't hair before, its noticing girls... and the list goes on. Enthusiasm for the drop-top roadster has exploded, and it's not hard to see why. From such U.S. and JDM tuners as Mugen, Marga Hills, Amuse, J's Racing, Comptech and Backyard Special, the S2000 has a huge aftermarket of parts available. You just have to choose what flavor you want your Honda in. Mo Hassenjee wanted his S2000 to be a street version of the infamous Spoon Sports endurance racecar. All the performance, power, and handling, but with air conditioning and carpeting. The girlies like carpeting.
Hassenjee took his car to Type One Motorsports in Orlando, Fla., and threw the book at it. The book, of course, was the Spoon Sports parts catalog. The Spoon Sports S2000 parts are not built to deliver 500 hp to the wheels or to let the convertible jump a river Dukes of Hazzard style, they are built to subtly enhance the S2000's already potent character. It's a balance of strength and agility, perfect for racing. This is why Hassenjee's list of engine mods is short but effective. Colder air comes in with a Spoon Sports carbon kevlar air duct and air cleaner element, feeding into a Spoon throttle body. Exhaust finds the exit using a Spoon Sports header and N1 exhaust system. Power is now harnessed with a Spoon twin-plate clutch, but this car is still as Honda intended it, turning corners, not drag racing. Reliability goes up with Spoon Sports reservoir covers, magnetic drain plugs, lightweight 13.5 lb battery, and Spoon SEP radiator hose. The blue reservoir covers, which are so unpopular on American cars, keep the fluid tank caps in place during hard driving, and absorb spilled fluids in the event of an uncapping.
The biggest advantage of the S2000 in time attack or track events is handling and braking power, helping it edge closer to big dollar machines. With the help of Spoon Sports equipment, Hassenjee went to the next level. Spoon 5-way adjustable coilovers at all four corners, along with Spoon Sports front and rear sway bars, provide flat and responsive handling derived from the Spoon racecar. The coilovers are manufactured by Showa, a supplier of Honda factory parts, so they are both effective and high quality. Chassis upgrades consist of a Spoon Sports front tower bar, cross beam bar, and rear lower arm bar. Braking is handled by a front upgrade to the ber-stiff monoblock Spoon Sports four-piston caliper and brake rotors, with Spoon brake rotors and pads in the rear. Pedal feel behind those short braking distances is enhanced with Spoon steel brake lines and Motul brake fluid.
The flanks of Hassenjee's S2000 are accented with a C-West GT bodykit carefully molded on to the car and painted in PPG Factory White paint. The now smoother lines are detailed with C-West eyelids, carbon-fiber front canards, and a set of JDM S2000 headlights. This Honda's style is now very reminiscent of the JDM S2000 tuner look, and the choice of rims is the very popular Advan R6. These rims fill the fender wells at all corners, sized 17x8-inch in the front and 17x9-inch in the rear. Tire choice consists of Yokohama AVS ES100 rubber sized 225/40R17 in the front and 255/40R17 in the rear.
With the top down in an S2000, boulevard cruising becomes a whole new experience. Every onlooker can see right into your car, interior, driver and hot passenger. Maybe not that last one, unless your car looks like this. Everything has been redone in eye-catching red: the interior, dash, door panels and carpet. Keeping the driver attentive is a Spoon Sport steering wheel, shift knob, a pair of water temperature and oil pressure DEFI gauges, and Takata racing harnesses. Keeping the driver inattentive is a fully built entertainment system. The cockpit has been upgraded with a Kenwood Excelon headunit and speakers. Power delivery for the system is handled by a Rockford Fosgate amplifier, crossover, and equalizer. In the trunk rests a 12-in Planet Audio Neo-Magnet subwoofer in a custom built 8-lb carbon kevlar enclosure.
Hassenjee has built his S2000 to amplify the many strengths of the car. A perfect street and show car that can corner, and with only 2570 lb to carry around, show its taillights to many an unsuspecting domestic. Keep your eyes out for this East Coast Honda prowler. Let your guard down and you could be spooning with its dust.