All this experience of going fast came in handy when, in 1999, we created the future classic that is the S2000: the perfect blend of sports car and racing heritage.

As spiritual successor to the S500-600 sports cars launched by Honda in the 1960s, and the later S800, it was only natural that our roadster was named the S2000, with the '2000' referring to the cubic capacity of its extraordinary engine.

It's a link that extends beyond just badging, as a similar ethos bridges the 34 years between the two cars. Both the Honda S800 and S2000 are lightweight two-seater sports cars powered by high-revving engines that adopt unconventional engineering. And just as Soichiro Honda claimed he "didn't want to build a car like everyone else's" when questioned about his early sports cars, S2000 chief engineer Shigeru Uehara chose to seek new approaches to the design of the car, using clever engineering solutions to create a highly efficient engine boasting excellent emissions performance.



S2000 Genealogy


The early S cars

Honda had been in business 15 years and was already extremely well established as a motorcycle manufacturer when it introduced its first cars at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show. The S360 and S500 - 'S' standing for 'sports' - were miniature sports cars with a front engine, rear-wheel drive configuration, but manufactured with a new precision.

Power for the S360 came from an intoxicating, aluminium hemi-head 360cc four cylinder engine, developing 33bhp at the remarkably high speed of 9,000rpm. On early models the rev counter read up to 14,000rpm!

Meanwhile, the S500 had a similarly high-revving engine that produced 44bhp. The S500 was radical for its time, and the handling, performance and balance were all praised. However, not all were keen. Some members of the Japanese public disapproved of the little S500's colour scheme of red and white, as only the nation's fire engines and police cars bore those colours!

Although the S360 never went into full production and the 531cc S500 was made only until 1964, they were replaced in that year with the evolutionary 606cc S600. This sports car was offered in both fastback coupe and open 2-seater body styles. Denny Hulme even drove an S600 to a class win in the 1965 ADAC 600km race at the old Nurburgring.


The S800

The ultimate S-series sports car, the S800, made its debut at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show. This automotive classic had independent front suspension with wishbones and torsion bars, precise rack and pinion steering and a box-section ladder frame, cross-braced chassis. The unique chain drive would later be replaced by a conventional live rear axle and the five speed gearbox by a four.

Despite a capacity of only 791cc, the engine generated an amazing (for the time) 71 PS at 8,000rpm, revving safely to 10,000rpm. That equated to 90 PS per litre, yet the engine was a model of smoothness and refinement, ran on low octane fuel and had the potential for 160km/h.

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