This S2000 might be the most interesting car that I saw at Gatebil for various reasons. Others might beg to differ, but this is a personal thing. I used to be a convertible driver and I’ve always had a weak spot for the Honda S2000 over the years. Whenever I see a cool S2K project I repeatedly fall in love over and over again and wish that one day I will drive one myself. However I’m always entertained when I see another owner enjoying his or her project and therefore I’d like to tell you a little story about Dennis Häggblom, the proud owner and builder of this particular Honda.
Allow me to introduce Dennis to you. Dennis is a funny guy, smiles a lot, enjoys life and lives it to the fullest. Dennis has always been interested in cars and engineering and is fascinated to create and build stuff himself. He’s been involved in plenty of tuning, racing and different custom projects in the past.
Despite being interested in all kinds of racing, his passion for drifting is the biggest because of that extra kick and thrill. The intense and tight battles, being a part of the worlds fastest growing branch in motorsport and the camaraderie are keeping the passion on a high level for Dennis.
This S2K is not his first project car because Dennis has quite the history of build projects. From a Mitsubishi Eclipse GST with 20″ chrome wheels to a Volvo Amazon with T6 engine and 600bhp. He still has a Silvia PS13 which was his first drift project and he’s keeping it for later as a passion project. We all still remember our first love, right?
It wasn’t until mid summer 2014 when Dennis and his team took the decision to start with a new drift project and the choice fell for the Honda S2000. They picked the car up in the UK and drove it all the way back to his hometown of Pietarsaari in Finland. They started working on the car in the Autumn of last year after they made all the plans for the build and did all the research. It had to become a unique build with home made custom panels and a widebody kit.
Having the right suspension is probably most important for drifting and according to Dennis Feal Suspension is the best there is. All control arms are custom made and have been developed last winter and will be developed further this season by SSP, Sebastian Sundfors. Now they have everything solved and these suspension kits will soon be available for purchase from DHmotorsport.
So why 2JZ? Well they knew they had limited time to get the car completely running so a 2JZ would be a fairly simple option to have a reliable engine with a couple of modifications and get plenty of horses out of it. Dennis tells me Christian Valtonen at Valtonen Motorsport is the right guy to put in charge of an engine build.
The 2JZ has Brian Crower internals, CNC ported cylinder head and chambers and leaves about 850hp and 1100Nm of torque. The anti-lag system makes sure that you always have all of that power when you need it.
The people of Dennis Häggblom Motorsports are driven and ambitious to say the least. They’ve had a great season so far and are happy with how they’re getting to know the behaviour of the car. They have a clear idea what it takes to take on the big boys in the drift industry and be a competitive team.
The brand is getting well known and the team has made a great start this year with some bigger sponsorships and some great partners for the 2016 season. It’s always nice to hear stories of people who started with barely anything and making a name for themselves. Starting from scratch is one thing but achieving goals and being rewarded for your efforts is what it’s all about in the end right?
Despite having a real hectic season so far with events all over Northern Europe, Dennis tells me he really enjoyed Gatebil Rudskogen 2015. Probably like anyone would agree, he thinks it’s a crazy event with loads of different projects and it’s something you really should experience to understand how big it really is.
The team has been to two Gatebil events so far, did Drift Allstars Sweden, Riga and Estonia. They’ve done some drift events and competition in Finland and will attend Gymkhana Drift Sweden.
Dennis and his team set their goals high but not yet in terms of taking home trophies. They want to be a name everyone remembers when you talk about drifting and bringing the show to the people and I think they’re working on that quite good right now. I’m looking forward to what the future will bring for them.
One thing is certain and that’s that there has to happen a lot before you get the smile of Dennis’ face. I captured this shot just after one of his support arms cracked. No worries he already had spare parts but it did take him out the notorious powerslide competition for that day which was too bad.
That’s all part of the game and Dennis takes it all and that’s the best attitude for drifting if you ask me. Zero fucks given, keep smiling and slide sideways. I’m very much looking forward at the future endeavours of him, his team and the brand. It promises to be an interesting year and I sincerely hope we meet again in 2K16.
It’s always nice to have our vinyls out there on awesome cars. We get a lot of messages of how to get stickers but we’re pretty careful with who we give them to. Wangan Warriors is not only an name we want out there but it’s a mentality we want to share and that’s passion for Japanese car culture and the joy of motorsport. Dennis is someone who represents that mentality so we’re happy to see our stickers on his project and we hope you guys notice!
I’d like to thank you Dennis for your time at Gatebil and I believe your story and project should be a source of inspiration and motivation for up and coming drifters. I wish you and the brand all the best and hope we meet some time again. Cheers!
Rens
Specs: (scroll down for the bonus image section)
Engine 2JZ GTE:
Block:
Brian Crower internals, stock crankshaft
Head:
Brian Crower 264 intake and 280 exhaust cams
Brian Crower bigger valves, steel dual spring, titanium retainers.
Suspension:
Feal Suspension feal 441 driftspec custom made for this S2000 by Odi Bachis
Wheels:
Rautamo Wheelfashion, Stance Concave 19×9,5” Et 20 rear and 19×8” front
Tires 265/30R19 Street tires for this season.
Brakes:
Stock front brakes, rear dual skyline calipers with separate handbrake system.
Trans/diff:
SR1 GSR 4 speed nascar transmission
Supra differential and shaft
Handling:
SSP custom made control arms with adjustable Ackerman, caster and camber.
Aero:
Custom made wide body kit with all exterior body panels in plastic made by DHmotorsport
As a proper racecar we also needed a BIG rear wing.
Interior:
Haltech Ecu and dash
Rollcage made by DH Motorsport to follow Drift-Allstars tech rules
Takata 6-point harness to keep you seated in case of accident
Sparco Fire extinguisher system
Bonus images
