Sports 2000 is a restricted-rules class of two-seat, rear-engined, open-cockpit, full-bodied sports-prototype racecar used largely in amateur road racing. Sometimes known as S2000 or S2, the class was developed by John Webb, then of the Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near West Kingsdown in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently holds many British and international racing events...

 racing circuit in England, as an affordable form of sports car racing, essentially a sports car version of Formula Ford 2000

Formula Ford

Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....

. The key attributes of the class were a body design reminiscent of two-liter Group 6 sports racing cars like the Chevron

Chevron Cars Ltd

Chevron Cars Ltd. is a manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett in 1965. Following Bennett's death in 1978, the firm has remained active in various guises. The original company's designs and name continue to be utilized by Roger Andreason to build replacement parts and continuation...

 B21 and Lola T-212 but with an ultra-reliable and inexpensive drivetrain comprising a two-liter "Pinto" overhead camshaft engine

Ford Pinto engine

The Ford Pinto engine was the unofficial but generic nickname for a 4-cylinder internal combustion engine built by Ford Europe. In Ford sales literature it was referred to as the EAO or OHC engine and because it was designed to the metric system, it was sometimes called the "Metric engine". The...

 with very limited allowed modifications and the well-proven, VW-based Hewland

Hewland

Founded by Mike Hewland in 1957, Hewland is a British engineering company specialising in racing-car gearboxes. Hewland was the first company to manufacture a bespoke racing-car gearbox....

 Mk 9 transaxle. S2000 aerodynamics continued to evolve beyond their 1970s Group 6 roots, with very 'slippery' cars featuring spats over the wheels becoming the norm.

In the UK S2000 was largely seen as an alternative to front-engined Clubmans

Clubmans

Clubmans are prototype front-engined sports racing cars that originated in Britain in 1965 and remain a very popular class of racing. Initiated by Nick Syrett of the British Racing and Sports Car Club and organised by the Clubmans Register which represent car owners, drivers and constructors...

 racing, a class for amateurs who were often deeply involved in developing their own cars over periods of years. The category suffered due to the demise of FF2000 in the late 80s, and further when Clubmans transformed into the rear-engined National Supersports category, but it has recently undergone something of a revival in both historic and contemporary forms as a (relatively) low-cost form of sports car racing.

In the US, while it continues to have popularity as an amateur race class within SCCA competition in the USA, at one point in the late 1980s and early 1990s, professional Sports 2000 racing was prevalent. One such series was the American Cities Racing League (ACRL) where the teams represented cities (primarily on the US West Coast) much as in stick-and-ball sports. Rather than individual drivers running for the championship, the two team drivers earned points for their sponsor city, a concept revived for the A1GP, where teams represent countries rather than cities. This series used the uprated Cosworth/Ford YAC engine. Another series was the North American Pro Series or NAPS which visited many of the classic roadrace circuits in the U.S. and was often a support race for IMSA weekends. Later this series became the Oldsmobile Pro Series running the Oldsmobile Quad 4 engine.

In Sports 2000 racing in the UK, the Pinto engine has recently been replaced with the Mazda-based Ford Duratec engine, although Pintos continue to compete as a separate class.

Early Sports 2000 cars are now of a sufficient age that they are being welcomed by several vintage racing sanctioning bodies in the US.

Companies that manufactured Sports 2000 chassis include: Carbir, Chevron

Chevron Cars Ltd

Chevron Cars Ltd. is a manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett in 1965. Following Bennett's death in 1978, the firm has remained active in various guises. The original company's designs and name continue to be utilized by Roger Andreason to build replacement parts and continuation...

, Crossle, Lola, March

March Engineering

March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...

,MCR, Reynard, Rotor

Rotor Racing Cars

Rotor Racing Cars is a Scottish based specialist manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, sports racing cars and road-going low volume sports cars. The Rotor JT7C competed in the BRSCC Sports 2000 championship...

, Royale, Shannon, Swift

Swift Engineering

Swift Engineering is an American engineering firm, most notable for producing racing cars for a variety of open-wheel racing series, including Champ Car World Series, Formula Atlantic, and Formula Nippon.-History:...

, Tiga Race Cars

Tiga Race Cars

Tiga Race Cars Ltd. was a British auto racing constructor and team. The company was founded in 1974 by two former Formula 1 drivers, Australian Tim Schenken and New Zealander Howden Ganley. The company's name was formed by the first two letters of Tim and Ganley...

 and Van Diemen

Van Diemen

Van Diemen International, Ltd. is a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, England.The company has a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula Ford chassis, which have been at the forefront of that class of...

.