How to unlock more power from your Honda S2000!

We’ve been hard at work over the past few months building our very own Honda S2000 race car for the inaugural S2000 Cup taking place in 2026. To meet the power-to-weight figures for Class B in the Racing Hondas Championship, it was evident we’d need a significant hike in power to be competitive.

As the car is built to spec, power modifications are limited to a few simple bolt-on parts: a Tegiwa Air Intake, Tegiwa Decat Pipe, and HKS Hi-Power Catback Exhaust. In this guise, running the stock ECU, the car made a respectable 225bhp. It’s common for S2000s to fall short of the quoted 240bhp figure, so 225bhp is actually healthy and nothing to be concerned about, especially on our Maha MSR500 dyno, which has a bit of a reputation for being a heartbreaker.

So how do we extract more power from a stock F20C?

The ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is essentially the brain of the vehicle, managing critical systems such as fuel injection, ignition timing, and emission controls to ensure optimal performance. However, like many performance Hondas, the stock S2000 ECU cannot be flashed, which means you’ll need an aftermarket ECU from Haltech.

Fortunately for us, we’re a major distributor of Haltech so we knew just the parts that we needed. The most cost-effective solution is the Haltech Elite 1500, available as a plug-and-play kit for just £1,150. That’s 32% off RRP and only available whilst stocks last, so be quick if you want one! This is the perfect solution for road or track users who want an easy install and fit-and-forget reliability.

However, if you want to unlock the most benefits and features, you’ll want the Haltech Nexus S2 Plug and Play kit, like we’ve fitted to our race car. While the Elite 1500 gives a tuner access to remap the car, the Nexus S2 takes things to the next level with advanced features including:

• Onboard wideband controller
• 2 knock inputs
• Dual drive-by-wire throttle
• Knock control
• 128MB data logging
• Torque management
• Built-in WiFi for ECU control via the Haltech app

You’ll also need the Haltech wideband hardware pack too to make use of that onboard wideband controller.

The Results

Once your chosen Haltech ECU is installed and in the hands of a reputable tuner, we saw gains of 20 horsepower throughout the rev range and a whole lot more drivability due to the power curve being broader from the stock F-Series engine. We entrusted the mapping of our S2000 to renowned Honda tuner Paul West from TPW Engineering, one of the go-to tuners in the Honda community with decades of experience.

As you can see from the graph below comparing stock power to tuned power, the car is making more power and torque throughout the entire rev range. This becomes really noticeable as VTEC kicks in at 4,000rpm on full throttle! Again, another benefit of a custom tune is the ability to engage VTEC at a lower RPM than standard.

If you’re looking to unlock your Honda S2000’s true potential, check out the Haltech Elite 1500 and Nexus S2 ECU at Tegiwa.