RE: PH Heroes: Honda NSX

[Riknos]

Would love one of these! Sadly, by the time I can afford one, the bad ones will be in pieces / need vast money to sort, and the good ones will command silly money and rule them as financially unviable...

[Harry Monk]

What was Senna's input on this car? I hear his name bandied about a lot whenever the NSX is mentioned but does anyone have any concrete info on how he assisted development?

Edited by Harry Monk on Monday 24th January 14:30

[Stedman]

JUST LISTEN

[TEKNOPUG]

I used to see one every day on my walk to work.

Red "H20 NSX" belonging to someone who works at News International in Wapping.

Very choice motor.

[scampbird]

Harry Monk said:

What was Senna's input on this car? I hear his name bandied about a lot whenever the NSX is mentioned but does anyone have any concrete info on how he assisted development?

Edited by Harry Monk on Monday 24th January 14:30

He did some development driving. His input wasn't as great as people like to think, by all accounts. But, for example, he did tell engineers that the cars high speed braking stability wasn't great (which, by the way, led them to dial in a large amount of toe-in on the rear suspension, giving the car its voracious appetite for rear tyres).

[kambites]

Harry Monk said:

What was Senna's input on this car? I hear his name bandied about a lot whenever the NSX is mentioned but does anyone have any concrete info on how he assisted development?

Well according to wikipedia:

wikipedia said:

Honda spent a great deal of time and money developing the NS-X. With a robust motorsports apparatus, Honda had significant development resources at its disposal and made extensive use of them. Respected Japanese Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima, for example, was involved with Honda in the NS-X's early on track development at Suzuka race circuit, where he performed many endurance distance duties related to chassis tuning. Brazilian Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna, for whom Honda had powered all three of his world championship-winning Formula One race cars before his death in 1994, was considered Honda's main innovator in convincing the company to stiffen the NSX chassis further after testing the car at Honda's Suzuka GP circuit in Japan. American Bobby Rahal also participated in the car's development.[7] Senna was given two cars by Honda. The newer one, a black 1993 model, license plate BSS-8888 (the letters meaning Beco - a childhood nickname - Senna Silva and the number 8 is a reference to his first F1 championship in 1988) is still in possession of his family.

[madras]

NoelWatson said:

Dagnut said:

havoc said:

Nice article. Makes me think I should be using mine more...

...but although it could easily be an 'everyday' car, it feels too special for that, and the chassis/engine combination just eggs you on too much for you to be happy sitting in traffic on the way to work...you long to take the long way somewhere (A to B via C, D and E for the hell of it), find quiet, well-sighted roads, just to enjoy the car working its' magic.

That and it's just too damn easy to hit 100mph without really trying...you'd need more self-control than me to run one everyday on today's roads...


To answer another question: Other road users...tend to get out of the way just to see what it is!

bob1179 said:

Frimley111R said:

Totally irresponsible article. After reading I am now scanning the adverts to buy one.....

I've just checked myself, there only seem to be 11 for sale in the PH classifieds and a couple of those look a bit ropey.

Is there an NSX UK specialist?

Not for sales, no. The odd private dealer chancing it and asking about £5k over private sale prices, but very few repeat-sellers. As people may have seen, GlenMH lives in the right place to see NSXs, even -Rs!
(Glen - am assuming the -R was an NA1 if they only wanted $120k???)

Given their age I'd recommend buying from an enthusiast owner, checking the hitory thoroughly, and maybe get it inspected as well (although how familiar your average RAC/AA/etc inspector will be with all-ally mid-engine'd supercars is another matter...)

I had a spin in one and we were hitting nearly 70 in 2nd! maybe the 6 speed is better?

6th speed does around 75 in 2nd (indicated 80)

later 5 speed and all JDM 5 speed inclucing type-R ar 65 in 2nd gear at 8000rpm
http://daliracing.com/v666-5/info/article_read.cfm...

[Johnnytheboy]

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

[TEKNOPUG]

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Ripe for a supercharger one would have thought.

[AR]

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Facelift is an improvement in every respect. The pop ups are over engineered and weight a ton, plus act as air brakes when up.

As for straight line, a simple CT Engineering Supercharger and some weight reduction and it will fly with most things!

[NoelWatson]

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Compared to what?

[stew-S160]

An NSX-R is #1 on my dream wish list. I just have an absolute desire for one that nothing else has come close to.
Even 'normal' NSX' are just plain great. I'd love to own one, old or new(obviously manual gearbox only).

[sinbaddio]

Awesome motor, wanted one from day one. Desperately tried to persuade my older brother to get one but he let my down by going for a 300zx instead, possibly a practical and cheaper decision...however the clip below epitomises it forever - Mr Wolf......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhVFDCfD-8

[MrTickle]

coyft said:

Anyone know of a specialist service centre in the UK? Mine has been off the road for the last 7 years and I'd like to give it a bot of a refresh.

I used to use Two Mills Honda dealer in Ellesmere Port. Although a Honda dealer, they are one of the few 'NSX' approved dealers and have regular cars going through for servicing.

[anonymous-user]

NoelWatson said:

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Compared to what?

He has a point. Not that you'd want to buy one for 0-100 tests but as a measurement of where they are compared to current cars its a useful reference.

Would you honestly say that the NSX is very fast car?

Edit Norton Way (Letchworth) have/had a highly regarded NSX Technician and service facility.

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 24th January 16:02

[havoc]

GlenMH said:

havoc said:

As people may have seen, GlenMH lives in the right place to see NSXs, even -Rs!
(Glen - am assuming the -R was an NA1 if they only wanted $120k???)

Did the NA1 have non-pop up projector headlights?

NA1 is the original 3.0, NA2 the later 3.2 cars. So NA2s can have pop-ups but NA1s can't have projectors.

So if the car you saw was a projector, it was an NA2 Type R. Don't just go by bodykit (front bonnet and rear spoiler most obviously) though, as these are not-uncommon retrofits/copies - check:-
- seats (ultra-expensive racing buckets, usually red, although the Type-S also had more bucket-like seats with colour-coded centres),
- wheel (momo, IIRC),
- gear-lever gaiter (fabric mesh not leather),
- engine bay cover (mesh, possibly CF mesh)
...and about a dozen other little tweaks which the true afficionados from NSXCB will know better than me - believe the wheels were lightweight imitations of the normal 17"s as well.


...so I may be wrong (Sudesh will be along soon to tell me I am), but $120k for a genuine NA2-R is a good price.

[oola]

They remain probably IMO the best looking Japanese car built.

Due to emigration a mate of mine is selling his NSX very soon. Its a two owner, 1990-ish H reg'd Red manual with low miles (maybe 20-odd from memory) ... later wheels, Recaro's upolstered in matching trim (he still has original seats) tubi exhaust. Probably loads of other stuff but I can't remember.

I'm going to get the details and sell it for him in the next few months so let me know if anyone interested!

[NoelWatson]

yonex said:

NoelWatson said:

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Compared to what?

He has a point. Not that you'd want to buy one for 0-100 tests but as a measurement of where they are compared to current cars its a useful reference.

Would you honestly say that the NSX is very fast car?

Edit Norton Way (Letchworth) have/had a highly regarded NSX Technician and service facility.

Edited by yonex on Monday 24th January 16:02

I'd say it is fast enough for UK roads.

[scampbird]

yonex said:

NoelWatson said:

Johnnytheboy said:

I'd love one, particularly an early one - I don't think the facelift was an improvement.

Though I think the straight line speed might be slightly disappointing by modern standards.

Compared to what?

He has a point. Not that you'd want to buy one for 0-100 tests but as a measurement of where they are compared to current cars its a useful reference.

Would you honestly say that the NSX is very fast car?

Edit Norton Way (Letchworth) have/had a highly regarded NSX Technician and service facility.

Edited by yonex on Monday 24th January 16:02

It's enough performance. Its a car that you can still drive hard on a public road and not feel like you ought to go straight to jail.

It's probably a similar level of performance to a standard Lotus Evora (since they have similar power and weight levels, I assume they'll be similar, lots of assumptions there ... the Evora actually felt a little slower to me).

Compared to modern Ferraris and Porsche then yes, relatively speaking, its slow. I guess a modern hot hatch could give it a run for its money, but that says more about the market and its obsession with horsepower.

[Mermaid]

scampbird said:

It's enough performance. Its a car that you can still drive hard on a public road and not feel like you ought to go straight to jail.

That's it's attraction, high speed is nothing without history/charisma/individuality.