2003 Honda S2000

Shops build project cars for different reasons: to test product or workmanship, race, or just promote the business. The coolest ones balance all three elements. Judging from the styling and performance miscues we see at shows, it's easy to go overboard with a project.

No such worries with Ben Leung, a guy who believes in making a project car useful. As the owner/operator of A&J Racing in Richmond, British Columbia, he uses project cars to showcase the efficacy of the parts that AJR carries. Back in the late '90s, Leung built a very capable street/circuit EJ Civic hatch with an Integra Type R motor swap, a daily driver that saw lots of track time.

Not surprisingly, Leung kept some of the same parameters for his latest parts black hole, this '03 S2000. He wanted the car track-ready for weekends at the two closest road courses, Mission Raceway Park and Pacific Raceways in Washington. First he focused on getting the already well-balanced chassis up to a higher standard.

"I started by just replacing suspension components," Leung recalls. "Most of the stuff I've done and will be doing involves weight reduction and suspension tuning for faster lap times."

Have a look at the mods list and you'll see Leung's passion for chassis prep. One area he wasn't too keen on tinkering with was the guts of the roadster's F20C.

"[It] is still too new, so I decided I'd keep it stock for a while," he explains.

We can't blame him. Arguably Honda's most high-strung car engine, the F20C needs little improvement. And when it does, it needs the right set of hands. But Leung hasn't completely ignored the quest for more power. In fact, he's making a point that the right parts and ECU can give any engine more oomph. His efforts with a handful of JDM tweaks and a J's Racing computer netted a 15-percent jump in power over stock at the wheels.

The chassis and motor changes are enough for Leung to post a fast lap of 1:40.37 on Pacific's main 2.25-mile, 10-turn road course. Additionally, Leung gave the coupe a body makeover with choice aero parts. It gets plenty of recognition at local car shows, earning Best S2000 in the Driven to Perform series last year and Baddest S2000 at Importfest the last two years.

Leung says the S2000 isn't done yet. He'll continue pulling weight from the car and will eventually seam-weld the AP1 chassis. Under the hood he plans to stay naturally aspirated and skip the ITB craze because "they don't make enough power and for a street car it's a little overkill."

Leung is also hoping for an invite to one of our sister mag's next time attack event, although he's not sure if Canadians are eligible. But that may be for the best. We're sure the competition would have second thoughts once they saw this daily-driven track terror.

A&J Racing
Many JDM heads are familiar with A&J Racing in Richmond, British Columbia. The retailer of high-performance Japanese aftermarket parts has been around for almost 15 years and carries some particularly hard-core lines including J's Racing, Jun, Endless/ZEAL, and T1R, to name just a few. AJR has the distinction of being one of Spoon Sports' two sole North American distributors, as well.

The family business began as, and is still technically called, A&J Karting, but the company trades as A&J Racing. Leung's father Anthony launched the venture in 1990 to service the karting community in B.C., focusing primarily on the 100cc sprint variety. Previously the elder Leung made a name for himself in the '70s and '80s racing in Asia, piloting karts, road racers, and rally cars to some success. The karting shop was a natural extension of his experiences in the sport and also a way to take root in his adopted home, Canada.