First Drive Review
"Warning! Auto racing is spectacular and exciting, but can be dangerous!" The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course posts this caution next to the drivers' bathrooms, so it's probably worth repeating in this introduction to the Honda S2000 CR. For the CR-the initials stand for "Club Racer"-is about rubber-chunking, brake-burning, wall-fanning track work. You wouldn't really want the shale-stiff CR for anything else, which is perhaps why Honda plans to sell only 1400 copies of the circa-$38,000 CR in 2008.
The CR, for which the air conditioning and stereo are optional deletes, "brings the pure open-sports-car concept of the S2000 to full maturation," says Shigeru Uehara, chief engineer on both the S2000 and the Acura NSX, and Honda's preeminent sports-car sensei. After 36 years polishing the big H, Uehara calls the CR his "final gift" before retirement this fall.
The CR's front bumper is bearded with a thick spoiler that lowers underbody pressure and reduces lift. The wind tunnel shaped the rear wing to bite into clean air to the left and right of the cockpit but preserve rear visibility. Twin fairings behind the seats channel air more cleanly for reduced lift when the aluminum hardtop is removed. The electric-folding roof is left off the CR, along with sound insulation and a spare tire, adding up to a net 99-pound weight saving with the hardtop off and 51 pounds with it on, says Honda. An additional brace bridges the vacant roof well for a claimed 11-percent increase in rear lateral stiffness.
Spring rates and shock-damping settings are hiked considerably, although they remain nonadjustable, and the anti-roll bars are thicker. The steering ratio is hastened from 14.9:1 to 13.8:1, and stiffeners are added to the rack mount to increase rigidity. The CR's blocky Bridgestone Potenza RE070 tires, tread-widened in back from 245 to 255, proved stickier while lapping Mid-Ohio back-to-back with base 2008 S2000s (slightly revised instruments top the list of minor refinements to the base car).
Compared with the base S2000, the CR is simply harder and sharper, with less body roll and tire scrubbing and more corner composure and stability under braking. With no more horsepower, the CR pruned about three seconds off lap times turned in the base car. That's a gift any racer will surely find spectacular and exciting.
There's no bump to the base S2000's 2.2-liter four or its 237 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. The CR's credentials are mainly in suspension and aero improvements, some labels and cockpit detailing, and body stiffening.
