Is a Cerbera the slowest around track?

[dinkel]

Tam, Tusc 'n Cerb fighting the NSX:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqPASJt-muk&mode=related&search=

The H certainly looks the easiest to drive from the inside view . . . Tammy taking the lead is a bit silly or is it just a lesser handfull?

The Cerb requires all the skill compared to the smaller cars, but hey what do I know?

Anyone here who drove 'em all?

[BLUETHUNDER]

The set up on all the TVR,s doesnt look that good to be honest.

[jensena]

The NSX is a great car, very underrated (apart from those who have driven one) and it's handling was set up by Ayrton Senna, not by some blokes in Blackpool who only had a budget of £4.99.

[Ireland]

dinkel said:

The H certainly looks the easiest to drive from the inside view . . .

It probably is.

But is it as much fun?

I've never driven a NSX but any Jap stuff I've had has been easier to drive than the Cerb but not near as much fun.

[carl_w]

jensena said:

The NSX is a great car, very underrated (apart from those who have driven one) and it's handling was set up by Ayrton Senna

Only the first 900 I believe. Then the customers complained it was too hard. Honda softened up the suspension. Senna was livid.

[grrrrr]

You have to remember that this was filmed in Japan, so therefore promoted Japanese cars over the Brits. I can pretty much be certain the NSX was modded to high Heaven.

[longbow]

I saw this video a while back and it was interesting, just wish someone would translate it - anyone fluent in Japanese? I think the NSX is the R spec (NSX-R) which is around 300hp and has a track oriented set-up. Add to this it is an awesome design and the driver undoubtedly knew the car inside and out, and the result was a foregone conclusion. The other drivers seems to be fighting the TVRs the whole way, especially the tuscan - with nitrons on they would be right up there. Infact, if you dig around there is a similar 'battle' video of a Murchielago, Gallardo, 996 Turbo, M3 CSL, F360 and the same white NSX on a 3 lap battle of the same circuit - again the NSX is with the front runners except on the long straights when the lambo's thunder past like the NSX had hit the brakes. Funny old thing, next corner the NSX overtakes on the inside every time. I'll have a dig and see if I can find it, think it was on racingflix.

Here it is; http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc

Edited by longbow on Monday 30th April 22:34

[grrrrr]

Totally agree longbow. The portrayal is that of British muscle cars that are too hard to handle, hence the sideways action.

[dinkel]

So, for aces only?

Saw the same thing at Spa 6 Hrs: V8 Tuscs struggling to get past cars with a tad less power . . . Difficult braking, impossible handling through corners . . . I wondered why the drivers choose 'em. To get passed by a 240Z can't be nice!

[grrrrr]

But hugely fun me thinks

[Wilder]

grrrrr said:

You have to remember that this was filmed in Japan, so therefore promoted Japanese cars over the Brits. I can pretty much be certain the NSX was modded to high Heaven.

It was indeed reported that it WAS highly modified. Also , if you look at the lines the TVRs were taking, theres some highly unusual ones being used round the track.
BTW if you notice , the Honda virtually catches up by the first corner, and it overtakes the Cerb and the Tuscan on the straight towards the end - that is impossible for the standard NSX vs a moderately sorted TVR, the BHP per ton is approx 230 (it has 276 bhp & weighs over 1300 kilo so you do the maths).A standard NSX of that year did not have the sheer power to gain on any of the TVRs in a straight line given that power to weight ratio. As good as it is, its not that fast. Theres also one where top gear raced the T350c against a Corvette and a 2002 NSX, and the 350 won.

[Wilder]

btw you can see at the beginning the BHP figures on screen for the NSX as 276 , which was correct for a STANDARD car, which that clearly was not.

[BossCerbera]

dinkel said:

Tam, Tusc 'n Cerb fighting the NSX ... Anyone here who drove 'em all?

The only one I haven't driven on track (or indeed road) is an NSX although I have been a passenger in two. It was nice but not quick in the TVR sense.

In terms of track attacks, NSXs don't even register on my radar in a Cerbera.

[grrrrr]

There you go, it was a fix

Must have been a 550 BHP NSX

[Wilder]

Ive seen this clip in another post some time ago, and the upshot was that the NSX was reputed to have well over 500bhp.

[longbow]

I think you're all being a bit unfair to the Honda, I really doubt they'd need to tune a NSX-R to 500hp to leave some 'standard' TVRs on a track. On the other video, the NSX is faster in and out of all the corners against all of the other supercars, but is left on the straights proving it can't be a 500hp special. As for straight line speed, here is a video of the NSX-R against a new 911 Turbo, it gets spanked, yes, but still does 13s dead whci is what your average TVR will do. Also note, the Porker does an 11.9 which is the same as Cyclone's best time

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyKVCx-VO-U

[Guillotine]

This one might get on your radar Phil tho i seriously doubt its std.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYIB3vyyL3g

like anything, it all depends on the driver. This is a great lap from a guy that doesn't know the track that well in fact. several times he turns in too soon and runs wide getting the power on too soon, yet he still puts in a lap 30secs quicker than my PB at 8:03

Guess I'll have to wait untill Oct to see if I can improve.

andy
tvrmonster

as an aside...the Tam was killing all of them untill it broke!!

Edited by Guillotine on Tuesday 1st May 08:58

[grrrrr]

I'm still pretty adamant that the clip was designed for the Japanese camera

[BCA]

longbow said:

As for straight line speed, here is a video of the NSX-R against a new 911 Turbo, it gets spanked, yes, but still does 13s dead whci is what your average TVR will do. Also note, the Porker does an 11.9 which is the same as Cyclone's best time

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyKVCx-VO-U

Looking at the time for the Z06, I'd go so far to suggest that isnt the grippiest of tarmac, no where near 'pod levels - the '6 should be good for 11.9's straight out of the box, so christ knows what the 997 turbo is capable of. Very very impressive stuff indeed.

As for the NSX-R, im still convinced its at best only lightly modified. It will however have about 340bhp standard (despite the 276 gentlemans agreement claim) and its pretty light. It would lack torque compared to the TVR's so I dont reckon it'd win any straight line races, but it wouldnt be too far off the pace, especially with its shorter gearing. Most importantly of all though, I believe the NSX-R runs what the sprinting world calls list 1B tyres... far stickier than standard road tyres that the TVR's would have been fitted with and as a result, the NSX has a huge advantage.

As discussed in a previous topic, they also lack the knowledge of how to get the best from TVR's, this is something that takes years of familiarity (as Boss can no doubt confirm) - the reason the Tam gets such a lead is because its the first TVR that was ever made to handle well in the traditional sense of the word. In my experience (through numerous sprints/hillclimbs over the years) the pre-Tamora cars have similar cornering potential, they are merely more of a handful, which is of course part of thier charm... for an inexpeienced TVR driver though, the Tamora is hands down the better handling car. It is far easier to get the best from something thats on your side than a car that needs you to 'learn' its behaviour at and beyond the limit.

[Wilder]

longbow said:

On the other video, the NSX is faster in and out of all the corners against all of the other supercars, but is left on the straights proving it can't be a 500hp special-


. As for straight line speed, here is a video of the NSX-R against a new 911 Turbo, it gets spanked, yes, but still does 13s dead whci is what your average TVR will do.



. Also note, the Porker does an 11.9 which is the same as Cyclone's best time

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyKVCx-VO-U

Were you watching a different video?? -the NSX overtook thew Cerb and the Tuscan on a straight AFTER the corner --on pure acceleration alone, nothing to do with higher apex speed assistance. Also at the start, it took 200 yds or so out of them by the first corner.

Also, whilst you say the NSX takes approx 13 secs for the 1/4 mile (hmm), the average Cerb/Tuscan should pull under 12.8 comfortably, with around 12.4 for a standard 4.5 (Im sure Bosscerbera will provide more accurate figures on that)
Heres why the thing was rigged: (Hondas own figures)
Model: Honda NSX coupé 2002

Engine: V6, 3179cc

Power: 277bhp

Transmission: Six-speed manual

Fuel: 22.8mpg (combined)

Acceleration: 0 to 62mph: 5.7sec

Top speed: 168mph

Do they look like the sort of figures that would trouble a TVR?