J’s Racing/N1 Concepts Time Attack Honda S2000
By Mike Kojima, photos by Jeff Naeyaert
N1 Concepts striking S2000 Time Attack car has caught our attention at this years Redline Time Attack events with both its speed and sharp looks. N1 Concepts is a Northern California tuner and purveyor of rare JDM parts. N1 purchased the car in the fall of 2008 from renowned Honda tuner J’s Racing and set about converting it to US Time Attack configuration for Super Lap Battle’s Unlimited RWD and Redline Time Attack’s Super Modified RWD class.
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| The cage in line with typical Japanese practice is pretty minimal. Japanese tuners often don’t seem to value chassis stiffness for tuning or protecting the driver’s life much and cars built there always seem to have just enough to meet the rules barely. The ATL fuel cell lives under the aluminum cover on the passenger side. A fire extinguisher is used instead of a fire system and you can see the radio above it. JDM style is to make things light and safety comes second. |
With the RWD big boy classes being dominated by high powered cars like the FXMD NSX and Steve Mitchell’s 350Z it’s refreshing to see someone give it a go with something completely different: a lightweight and nimble naturally aspirated Honda S2000.
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The Momo wheel and minimalistic dash save a lot of weight.
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The Recaro seat has a recess for a HANS device and head protectors, good stuff. Takata harnesses hold the driver.
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The Digital dash communicates with the Motec M400 Engine Management System and gives the driver information.
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| The J’s Racing subframe has these cool diff mounts, they’re lighter and stiffer than the stock parts. The subframe also corrects some weird geometry issues the suspension has. Trick parts! |
The center of any road racing car is its chassis and the N1 car is not an exception. The basic chassis is a 1999 first generation AP1, fully stitch welded with an all inclusive J’s Racing roll cage for chassis stiffness, a critical attribute when racing a flexy roadster chassis. The suspension is J’s Racing CRUX Dampers adjustable independently for rebound, ride height and spring preload. The dampers are fitted with stiff 20kg front and rear springs. The suspension is pretty well thought out with J’s Racing roll center adjusters, pillow ball shock mounts, pillow ball adjustable suspension arms and bump steer correcting steering arms.
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The CRUX dampers are adjustable for spring preload and ride height independently.
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The rear CRUX damper in place. All bushings are replaced with spherical bearings. Everything is adjustable as well.
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| The rebound damping is adjustable and a big strut tower brace stiffens the front of the chassis. |
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| The N1 Concepts S2000 is an amazing looking car. |
