Sohan Kota

I just can't get enough

I've been obsessed with cars more or less since exiting the womb, as can be attested to by my parents and all the toy cars they had to buy me from the age of 1. Unlike most other car guys I know, whose interest developed from another family member, the source of my obsession remains a mystery as I'm the only car enthusiast in my entire extended family.

I drove a car for the first time around age 8, started watching IndyCar and Formula 1 a few years after, raced a go kart for the first time at age 14 and a car for the first time at age 18. I'm entirely self-taught, mostly from repeatedly watching my own VHS recordings of 90's IndyCar races, and have not attended any proper race schools. I take considerable pride in my driving, both on the track and on the street.

I made some mistakes with unreliable cars in the past (Porsche 944 Turbo, Mazda RX-8, an Evo X that was thankfully leased), but in 2015 I settled on a Honda S2000 as my dedicated track car for years to come. The combination of a relatively light RWD chassis, bulletproof reliability, an extensive knowledge base online and an incredible community of highly competitive drivers made the S2000 the perfect car for me. Plus, I've always liked all of my cars and karts to oversteer at the limit, and oversteer seems to be the default state of the S2000.

My only real complaint would have to be a lack of feedback due to the EPS, which I wish I could replace with a proper manual steering rack. I've had to retune myself to listen to the car not through my hands, but through the seat of my pants instead. I was nervous at first but after a few years of dirt drifts I'm pretty comfortable now.

I bought my S2000 bone stock in February 2015. I didn't have much previous wrenching experience, so I learned a ton while building out the car mostly by myself over the course of the year, competing in S2K Challenge and Speed SF Challenge time attack events along the way. Special thanks go out to Chris Luu, Kris Hitchcock and Josh Sher for helping me turn the car into the beast it is today. It's got 21 time attack wins under its belt and counting, as well as 4 lap records with Speed SF in the S4 class and 1 S2K Challenge championship. Hoping to add to all of those counts soon!