It fits. Well... kind of!
So how did we get here? I rolled up to YHI HQ in my Achilles 123S shod Enkei GTC01 and took some pics to have a sense of how much different the change would be.
So contrary to what many might think, my choice was made on the basis of the TYRE FIRST.
Yes, the tyre choice is number 1 in the overall scheme of things simply because it is probably the most complex piece of engineering on the car which pretty much determines the result when the literal rubber hits the road. You get the tyre first, get the wheel that suits it and then make it work.
Do reference this article by Billy Johnson which states what the priorities should be:
Advan A052 is probably the quickest tyre out there so being able to secure a regular source of tyres through YHI was the key point. Testing overseas has proven it to be potentially quicker than the RE71R (this depends very much on the overall setup) with equal if not higher wear rates so it was critical for me to get the entire setup done correctly. This performance edge comes about in my view due to the relatively grippier compound and lower weight of the tyre.
So that's how much more grip I am looking to optimize
Have I made a mistake going too wide? That's something that can't be easily answered and the only real answer to that lies in the performance results I achieve. I know from past experience that I was on the wrong path and the subject of jeers when I fitted a big front splitter, a big rear wing, squared tyre fitment, running higher than the common wisdom of tyre pressures and the list goes on. Somehow the very novel experiments I am called out for eventually became the de facto standard setup.
How could this be? Well. the answer is simply that nothing that I was doing was actually novel but setups that were already proven to work and were widely adopted. This case of tyre choice is a bit different in that there is still some debate out there due to the scarcity of people running this setup on an naturally aspirated S2000. In this area, I've really had to thank the kindness of the people I've chatted with on social media who so openly shared without any agenda save to help a fellow owner achieve success. With their input, I was able to balance the conditions of the kind of track, event, power and weight to make a choice of a starting point regarding tyre choice.
All in all, although I have some degree of confidence that this setup is going to work, the experimentation with size will continue because that's really the only way to tell.
So what are the drawbacks of this setup?
a) Fitment is challenging, I'll let the pics explain.
Barely clears the splitter
Tight fitment in the front wheel well at full lock even with 2 steering rack spacers
Some rubbing on the rear tyres over bumps in the road despite a not overly low ride height and stiff suspension
b) The overall wheel and tyre weight is heavier. It is encouraging though that the penalty is relatively small in my view despite the large increase in tyre width. I think the trade off is reasonable
GTC01 weight
GTC02 weight
I did have a custom brake duct on one side that rubbed pretty hard on the wheel and have to be removed but these are all things that I think can't be avoided with customized setups so I'm taking in my stride. I'm looking forward to visiting the local body work legend to get the fenders tweaked as necessary, put on my louvers, mount my splitter and adjust the brake duct as necessary (some of it has been messed up over the years). Hope I can get to that soon!
Thanks to:
YHI Singapore for helping get the install done right despite the hiccups
Desmond for helping me ferry the wheels back and forth, thanks bro!
Billy Johnson and MotoIQ for use of their writeup
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