Feature: Never A Trailer Queen

Andy Cepeda’s interest in cars began in 1996 while visiting his cousin in Houston, TX. “There was a huge import scene in Houston,” explains Cepeda. “I had never seen Honda Civics racing V8 Mustangs in Chicago.”

It was during that visit that Cepeda fell in love with the idea of beating a V8-powered car with a 4-cylinder Civic. Hondas were affordable, had every performance part available and Cepeda loved to fix up cars. The mod bug bit and he got heavy into modifying his ’99 Civic.

“After awhile, I wanted something with more pep, rear wheel drive, a convertible top, an import that I could fix up,” explains Cepeda. He started looking at new cars. Then, at the 2000 auto show, he saw the Honda S2000, and told his friends, ‘One day, I’m going to own that car.’

A little over a year later, he bought a red 2001 Honda S2000. He started modding, first with wheels, then the body kit, and then interior parts.

Cepeda’s ride is no trailer queen. “I’ve done so much to it now, that some people would trailer it to events, but I drive it to every car show, autocross course, track event and back home,” he explains.

Every chance he gets, Cepeda takes his S2000 out for a dance, including three or four big trips a year. “I drive it the way it was meant to be driven,” says Cepeda. “I just came back from Tennessee where I drove in the “Wake the Dragon” event with the S2000 club--it was so much fun!”

With 100,000 miles on it, his S2000 is very well used, but also carefully maintained. Cepeda replaces his car’s tires every six months, installs new brake pads before every track session and reduces the factory maintenance intervals. “I like it to be 100% potent,” explains Cepeda. “I don’t want to be worrying about anything out on the track.”

Cepeda is an active member of S2Ki.com, a Honda S2000 owner community where he found many of his car’s performance parts and the help to install them during “tech days” put on by forum members. Another online community helped Cepeda on the track, as well. Track junkies and autocrossers he met on www.notfwd.com taught him how to drive at track events. “I learned what my car could do,” says Cepeda. When there’s an event nearby and he’s available, Cepeda competes in autocrosses and at a local drag strip. “It’s not a one kind of track car--it does everything really well.”

Off the track, Cepeda is currently vice president of terminal velocity motorsports, a car club with a website that he helped create: http://terminalvelocity1320.com. Club members attend local events such as NOPI and HIN and help out at local charity events.

As an engineer, Cepeda loves taking things apart and making them better. “I love modifying to my specs,” says Cepeda. “I love that my car is unique and my style, like a piece of artwork. It’s different pieces connected together, A, B, C, D,” says Cepeda. “Now I have the whole alphabet in the car.”

Cepeda explains his car’s evolution. “Every year it changed--initially my intent was to build an all-show car, because it’s pretty fast to begin with, and there weren’t a lot of performance parts available either.”

Everything installed on Cepeda’s car before 2005 had to be ordered from Japan. He had to wait for parts. Nearly all of the VeilSide body kit arrived in a month, except for the front carbon fiber lip that sat in customs in Okinawa for eight months. Then it showed up in a box on his doorstep. “That was one of my happiest days,” says Cepeda. “My car was complete.” But only for a moment.

“It’s nowhere near done,” confesses Cepeda. “There’s still a lot more I’m planning on doing, I have a list in my head. I hope its never done.”

In addition to the full VeilSide Millennium body kit, Cepeda’s S2000 rolls on Roja wheels, custom-made, fitted, painted and autographed by R.J. de Vera. The recently added Kraftwerks intercooled supercharger (kraftwerksusa.com) bolts to factory mounting points and holes without fabrication. “When I saw the Kraftwerks kit, and found that it only required three wrenches, I had to buy it.” After installing the kit he had the car running in 20 minutes. “I have 6,000 miles on it, including a trip to Tennessee, and I’m very happy with it,” says Cepeda. Even thought it’s not professionally tuned yet, Cepeda estimates his S2000’s 2-liter four cylinder is putting out over 350whp, a significant improvement over the stock 204whp.

There are only a few stock parts left on Cepeda’s S2000: the doors, fenders and the steering wheel. Everything else is aftermarket or custom made. “My goal is to make everything non-OEM,” explains Cepeda. “I loved the car to begin with, but I wanted something unique, something my own, something that says, “that’s Andy’s flavor of S2000.”