2008 Honda S2000 CR

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a sports car as an automobile equipped for racing, an aerodynamically shaped single or two-passenger vehicle having a low center of gravity with a steering and suspension designed for precise control at high speeds.

Dynamic Styling

The traditional sports car has a longitudinal front engine rear drive layout. The 2008 Honda S2000 Club Racer is a sports car in this purest of senses, with heritage dating back to the 1963 Honda S500 and modern engineering geared toward the racetrack.


More aggressive aerodynamics and a factory worked suspension distinguish the CR from its standard namesake. Reduced mass with the air conditioner and audio-delete option along with a removable hardtop grant the weekend racer with a car ready to compete off the showroom floor. The Club Racer is not a car for those who don't want to drive one of the few true rear drive sports cars still available. The CR is a car that rewards those who do. These rewards can arrive on the racecourse as well as on the way there and back.

S2000 History

There is a great deal of the original spirit of the early Honda sports cars in the 2008 Club Racer—itself a sports car with one eye on the open road and the other on a closed course. Company founder Soichiro Honda was certainly looking toward British and possibly Italian sports cars on his way to developing the Honda 1963 S500. A hardtop-equipped version of the 1968 Honda S800 took a class win at the Suzuka 12-hour race in the same year with a 100-hp engine that redlined at 10,500 rpm.


The 2008 S2000 CR takes this same classic formula of low mass and high revolution into modern times. The traditional two-seat sports car shape boasts an aero body kit topped off by a large rear wing for downforce on the driving rear tires at racetrack speeds. The removable aluminum hardtop eliminates the need for the mechanicals that operate the regular S2000 convertible top. This allowed Honda engineers to add rear bracing for up-rated chassis stiffness. Along with a quicker steering ratio than the regular S2000, the Club Racer steering gear box has also been stiffened with additional bracing. Beefier sway bars further reduce body roll from apex to exit. These changes are designed to cater to the growing number of folks who drive to work during the week, and out to the track days or club races on the weekends.