This modified Honda S2000R is the factory Type R we should have got

Who among us wouldn’t love to live in an alternate car universe? Imagine getting behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Sonic ZR1, or a Rotary Miata, or a Ford Focus RS (oh right, they did bring that to the States, and our spines are still recuperating).

Likewise, imagine a Honda S2000 Type R. Honda/Acura didn’t offer a true, red-badged version of its roadster, at least on our astral plane. That’s no surprise for Americans; we were never treated to the Type R bounty the way Japan and the UK were. Still, Hondaheads the world over clamoured for an S2000 Type R right up until the last AP2 left the factory in 2009, and no, the late-period Club Racer / Type S version wasn’t it.

That’s where SoCal-based tuning shop Evasive Motorsports stepped in. For this episode of American Tuned, Rob Dahm stopped by Evasive’s shop to admire its high-tech tool setup, naturally, but also to examine the company’s two S2000 builds: one for the street - the S2000R chassis #000 - and the S2000RS, a time-attack version Dai Yoshihara would later drive at the 2023 running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the Unlimited Class. Dahm took the former S2000R on a slightly lower-altitude run on some picturesque roads above Los Angeles.

Sporting a Type R-correct Championship White paint job, the S2000R has some clever exterior bits. Those include a 20th Anniversary Edition front bumper, carbon fibre bonnet and boot lid, and Spoon aero mirrors. At the rear is, as one might assume, a large carbon rear wing looking as if it came straight from the Suzuka factory. The car’s Type R ambience extends to the interior, with carbon Recaro seats, an Alcantara-rich dash, and carbon door panels.

Under the hood is where the Honda purists might want to have a word. Gone is the revs-to-infinity F20, and in its place a 2.0-litre turbocharged FK8 engine from a late-period Civic Type R. The result is a torque-monster version of the S2000 that merges the classic with the modern Type R ethos.

Perhaps it’s not really an S2000 Type R, at least in the period-correct sense, but in the goal of a restomod in pursuit of a timeless, Hondaesque perfection, Evasive’s S2000R is a shining example of what is possible when Honda fandom meets technical knowhow.