Yoshihara Sets Honda S2000 Lap Record at 2022 Super Lap Battle Finals

Immediately after the SEMA Show, ENEOS ambassadors Dai Yoshihara and Evasive Motorsports embarked on their final mission of the 2022 season: the Global Time Attack / Super Lap Battle time attack finals at Buttonwillow Raceway.

The goal was to break a new record with the shop’s Honda S2000 race car, and we’re happy to report the mission was accomplished…but building the ultimate S2000 wasn’t easy.

Evasive debuted this S2K last year at the Streets of Long Beach Global Time Attack event, before heading to the Super Lap Finals where it finished second in class with a 1:46.240 lap time. And as we know with Evasive and Dai, they never settle, so the team spent the summer making enhancements to the setup to ensure victory.

Although a large portion of 2022 was dedicated to the 100th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the team were hard at work following the success of the Tesla’s victory. Kelvin Yong, one of Evasive’s primary technicians, said this: “The S2000 is a dream that’s 15 years in the making… and my experience working on this platform led to the dream of building the ultimate version.” It has every box ticked: well-designed aero, a high-compression motor with turbocharger and dry-sump, sequential gearbox, and more. It was an expensive endeavor to say the least!

The latest modifications include a 2.35L Toda high-compression stroker motor, HKS 6290 BB turbo, OS Giken 7-speed sequential transmission, KW EXR Motorsport 3-way dampers, 18×11” Titan 7 T-P5 forged wheels, Yokohama A005 slicks, Voltex Circuit Version 3 aero and a MoTeC M150 ECU. Of course, Evasive still relies heavily on ENEOS Racing synthetic oil for performance and protection as Dai certainly pushed the S2K to the limit on the Buttonwillow circuit.

Working on the S2K was an entirely new experience for a team that developed their mechanical expertise not at school or after years of working for different motorsports teams, but more from a desire to acquire more knowledge and utilize their natural talent to achieve success. “This car proves we’re on the right path and what we’re doing works,” Yong added.

Evasive utilized a SoCal Drivers Club open track session for shakedown testing and to check the baseline. The team caught a crankcase issue early on, but spent the night cleaning up oil from the engine bay and the underbody.

During the first GTA practice session, the team focused on handling, and since the car is geared for downforce, platform control became crucial as the car’s body essentially became a “wing.” Working with ride height and damper position sensors was another new learning curve, but Mike Kojima was able to help Yong dial-in the car within a very short testing window (only four full laps were used to get them in an 80% window). “The data allowed us to match changes with Dai’s feedback, so we could optimize areas he couldn’t normally feel,” Yong added. A rare mistake by Dai during the last session of the day caused him to spin, leaving the team with more cleanup and a mechanical check before the main event.

On the first race day, Dai put down a 1:43 on used tires, easily beating the previous best. With fresh tires for the second session, he locked in a 1:41.253, which is just shy of the fastest car Evasive has ever built and set a new S2000 lap record. But the team didn’t want Dai to stop there and were confident the car had more in it. “Our hard work paid off but we always want to improve,” said Yong. “We gave Dai a new goal: dip into the 40s.” They tried raising the boost for another lap but over-shot the tire pressures and saw no improvement; they decided to try again the following morning.

For the final day, Evasive fitted fresh tires on the rear that were 20mm wider to see if it provided better balance, in conjunction with the high boost. There was an issue with the sensor on the out-lap, forcing the team to scramble in the hot pit to get Dai back on track in time. However, Dai saw no improvement and Evasive decided to call it a day with an amazing lap time in the bag. They have plans to shave more time once they can get more test miles on the S2000. “Even though we had such a short amount of time testing, we’re so close to sub-1:40s,” Yong says.

“I’m bummed I wasn’t able to go faster,” Dai said after his record breaking time. “I was too excited and over-drove the car, which resulted in the same 1:41.2 lap time. For sure it has a 40 in it but we’ll have to wait until next time. Evasive did a great job building a fast car; I literally had eight hot laps total!”

Mike Chang, co-owner of Evasive added, “I couldn’t have imagined a better result — it’s a new setup with minimal testing and we were able to set a new S2000 lap record! We’re looking forward to developing the car further to see what it can really do.”

ENEOS extends its congratulations to Evasive and Dai for a job well done!

Photos: courtesy of Global Time Attack
Videos: courtesy of Evasive Motorsports / OMGMiata