2004 Honda S2000

We've all heard it before. Your buddy sees a 16-year-old kid driving the car he's been lusting after and immediately says something along the lines of "must be nice." In the case of that kid in his new SL55, your buddy has a right to be disturbed. But in the case of Evasive Motorsports' time trial S2000, he'd better watch his mouth. This S2K is enough to make even a tree-hugging Insight driver say "damn!" and the long hours put in by owner Mike Chang prove that he very much deserves to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

In 2004, Honda's roadster went through some changes, receiving a facelift, some suspension mods, new wheels and tires and a 200cc displacement bump. Chang bought his S2K in early '04 with 3000 miles on the odometer. He and the Evasive crew got to work on a setup that at the time was unprecedented.

"We wanted to have the first 2.2L S2000 with ITBs," Chang explains. The plan called for 52mm TWM throttle bodies and an AEM EMS for tuning, with no other engine bolt-ons or aftermarket parts.

"The whole point was to show the gains on a stock motor when ITBs are thrown into the mix," he says.

The car baselined at 200whp. After installing the ITBs, the guys at Raceline Development tuned the car at SP Engineering's dyno and extracted 228whp and 155 lb-ft torque.

Originally intended as a daily driver, the S2K's purpose was turned upside down at the prospect of competing in Super Street magazine's Time Attack event. With only a month to prepare and the quad-induction experiment over with, Chang added a few more breathing mods to free up power, specifically a Comptech header and HKS exhaust. The only other underhood mods are cooling upgrades: Koyo, Mugen, Spoon, Blitz and ARC parts work together to keep water temps under control on race day.

The car sits on Buddy Club coilovers with Swift springs and sway bars, and it's all connected to the ground with a set of 17x9-inch Volk CE28N wheels. Cusco and Spoon chassis bracing help the rest of the suspension do its job of getting the car through the chicanes. Chang says he opted for equal wheel widths in order to reduce the S2K's factory understeer bias.

Outside, a Mugen front splitter, Veilside rear wing and OEM hardtop add downforce and reduce drag.

Unfortunately, due to the frenzied preparations, complications prevented Chang from competing in the Time Attack. He's since returned the car to a more street-friendly setup, replacing the ITBs with a more conventional intake manifold and J's Racing intake. Chang also replaced the J's Racing 4.3:1 final drive with a short 4.4:1 piece from a Mazda RX-7.

With the car dialed in to his liking, Chang plans to compete in more time trial events this year. So go ahead and be jealous. Mike Chang owns a daily driven S2K that's ready for track duty with a few turns of a socket wrench. You want it. We do, too.