Back in the day, my very first car was a BB6 Honda Prelude. I loved the thing; from meets with friends to spirited drives, it really was my gateway into the world of car culture.

When the AP1 Honda S2000 released in 1999, the front mid-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car was an absolute game changer, and perhaps the natural progression for Prelude owners. I never made that change, but not because I didn’t want to.

So when I saw Kurumadoh Custom Factory’s AP1 blasting around Tsukuba Circuit at the recent Rev Speed magazine Hyper Meeting, I knew I had to find out more about it.

The small tuning shop based out of Iwate in the Tōhoku Prefecture of northeastern Honshu, made the five-hour trek down to Tsukuba for the event. Not only did they want to show off their street-registered but track-spec S2000, they were interested to see what sort of lap times it could achieve at the home of Japanese time attack with its latest upgrades and fine tuning.

Based solely on the intoxicating sound coming from the Toda exhaust as it flew by, you could tell that a lot of work had gone into the F20C, and back in the paddock I had a chance to check out the setup that’s been living under the car’s carbon fiber hood for a few years now. The Kurumadoh Custom Factory guys explained that the F20C has been stroked to 2.2L and features Toda Racing A2 camshafts among many other upgrades.

But the star of the engine bay is the HKS GTS7040 supercharger, which with a pulley swap to raise boost pressure sees overall power lifted to right around 400PS. To get it to the ground, Kurumadoh Custom Factory specced their own LSD unit specifically for the application.

In the wheel department, the Super Lap version of a RAYS classic provides a lightweight, forged solution. The Volk Racing CE28SLs measure 18×10-inch and are wrapped in 295/30R18 Yokohama Advan rubber. Through the wheels’ spokes you can see the D2 Racing brakes featuring 6-pot calipers at the front and 4-pots at the rear for plenty of stopping power.

Aero is a vital tool in time attack racing, and Kurumadoh hasn’t skimped on the details. The S2000 benefits from a carbon fiber front lip, canards, functional bolt-on overfenders, and a GT wing out back.

Despite what I expected, the interior hasn’t been stripped out. In fact, most of the Honda’s original creature comforts remain intact, including all the trim and even the carpet. There are some upgrades though, including a Cusco bolt-in half cage, Recaro seats, a Momo MOD 08 steering wheel and a host of aftermarket gauges.

So what does it all add up to? Well, with Kimi Yamada in the hot seat, Kurumadoh Custom Factory’s Honda joined the Fast class and managed to lap Tsukuba in a respectable 1:01.869.

I don’t know about you, but this build only rekindles my want for an S2000!

Ron Celestine
Instagram: celestinephotography