Feel's AP1 S2000

Mention the name FEEL'S in the U.S. and it'll likely conjure up images of L.J. Garcia's widebody EK hatchback. At the time, the FEEL'S kit was beyond what most had seen. The brand became somewhat of an overnight celebrity. As with anything that garners such praise and popularity, others attempted to feed off its notoriety with copycat looks and, before anyone knew it, Sentras and Corollas were adorned with FEEL'S-like bumpers, side skirts, and wings. As a result, the real FEEL'S got lost in translation as a plethora of knockoffs popped up abroad. FEEL'S was confused with "FEEL'Z" or some other moniker, either way getting lost in the mix. Genuine parts could only be spotted stateside within the garages of only the truest hardcore Honda heads. Such parts were considered absolute rarities.

Fact: FEEL'S, officially known as Honda Twincam, is just about the largest Honda-only tuning shop in Japan, past or present. The company was spawned as a performance parts dealer a couple of decades prior to its U.S. presence and has since progressed as the premier Honda-only tuner.

The pinnacle of Honda performance, FEEL'S, lies just outside Tokyo. Visit the headquarters and spotting the company's stunning red AP1 demo car won't be too difficult. Though the exterior lacks the flare other tuning shops often seek, its overall look gives off an air of subtle aggression and the FEEL'S logos adorned on the rear quarter panel and front fender immediately convey to onlookers that this is no ordinary S2000. No, this is not your run-of-the-mill S2K, this AP1 was built with a specific purpose: the Rev Speed Magazine S2000 Challenge. The challenge is a single-make race where tuning companies are invited to pit their model-specific prowesses against one another. Such races are regularly highlighted on Best Motoring and Option DVDs and are somewhat popular in Japan.

What's interesting about this particular single-make race is that fellow tuning shops Tracy Sports, JUN, and J's Racing each opted for the forced-induction route. FEEL'S, however, decided to go a different direction by foregoing the turbo and heading straight for the nitrous oxide. The popularity of nitrous has grown over the last couple years in Japan, particularly in the drifting scene, so FEEL'S decided to push the envelope and see how its own bottle-fed S2000 would fare against its force-induced counterparts.

FEEL'S utilizes its custom nitrous-equipped two-stage Super Nitro kit to inject laughing gas into the F20C engine that's been bored and stroked to 2.3 liters with their very own FEEL'S F23TC stroker kit. Bore is bumped to 87.25mm and stroke is lengthened from 84mm to 95mm. To help the engine breathe better, the FEEL'S crew looked to a different platform altogether, installing a gigantic 80mm Infiniti throttle body. Since Honda never offered a throttle body this large, the techs at FEEL'S were forced to create custom intake ducting to hold the K&N air filter in place. Exhaust flow is improved with a FEEL'S 4-into-1 stainless steel header teamed with a FEEL'S high-flow catalytic converter before exiting through a half titanium, 115mm single outlet exhaust, also from FEEL'S. The now stroked F23C sees additional engine protection from a custom baffled FEEL'S oil pan, which aids in avoiding excessive oil slosh when the S2K heads sideways. A FEEL'S aluminum two-row radiator replaces the stock unit, further improving cooling system efficiency.

Fuel storage and delivery are handled by a 10-liter fuel cell and collector tank. If you haven't noticed by now, FEEL'S offers practically every part imaginable for not only the S2000 but also most popular Honda racing applications.