One-of-ten Formula Red Honda NSX-R for sale

You've seen pricey NSXs before, but never like this...

By Cam Tait / Wednesday, 24 September 2025 / Loading comments

Nothing can cheese you off like the car you’ve been dreaming about suddenly becoming out of reach. Having grown up as a rally fan lusting after Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evos and Subaru Impreza 22Bs, it’s something I’m more than familiar with. But in this world of ever more powerful, ever more complicated and ever more expensive supercars, the simple, analogue thrills once deemed old hat become the hottest property.

Of course, there are still loads of modern classics out there that’ll serve as an antidote to today’s big, cumbersome performance cars without burning a giant hole in your pocket. For instance, there’s always a steady stream of old BMW M cars going to auction, like this sublime E39 M5, or how about this one-owner from new 1M. And just have a look at this TVR Tuscan. So there’s plenty of fun to be had well below the six-figure mark. It’s just that if you want the really special stuff, especially if it’s Japanese and from the '90s, that’s when you’ll need to go digging around the back of the sofa. And you’re going to need to dig very deep for this Honda NSX-R.

The Honda NSX will be a bucket list car for many, and rightly so. A lightweight, all-aluminium chassis (the first of its kind), a kerb weight of just 1,370kg and a superb naturally aspirated V6 established the blueprint for an all-time great supercar. The NSX didn’t trouble itself with headline power figures, abiding with the 280hp cap that Japanese manufacturers had agreed on at the time, nor did it bother with outdoing Lamborghini and Ferrari with an outlandish design. All that mattered to Honda is that it built a supercar people would actually want to go out and drive, while returning in one piece to do the whole thing again the following day.

Nevertheless, Honda knew it could make the NSX even more driver-focused, so it set about making a lighter, more focused R version. The car you see here is the second iteration, using the fixed headlight NA2 platform that arrived in 2002. Along with all the improvements that came with the final facelift (wider rear tyres and revised suspension), the NSX-R came with a hefty weight reduction over the standard car. Carbon fibre was used for the bonnet, boot lid, spoiler and mirrors, while a pair of achingly cool, kevlar-backed Recaro buckets helped lighten the load, too. Factor in the lightweight wheels and you get a 90kg saving over the standard NSX.

And that’s not it. Power steering? Gone. Radio and air con? In the skip. Honda didn’t see a need to put much sound deadening in, either, which just means you can hear that V6 bark all the more clearly. The engine itself was hand-built using techniques usually reserved for its racing cars, with all the core components meticulously examined for imperfections and improvements. Naturally, the suspension was stiffened and tuned to work with the lighter platform, and the brakes were upgraded for greater stopping power. It was, and still is, the ultimate NSX-R.

No wonder they’ve long been hot property, then, particularly as they were only ever sold in Japan. A few have made their way over here, though, much like this Formula Red example, of which only 10 were reportedly made. So it’s an extremely rare car in an extremely rare colour. You can see where this is going, right? Drum roll for the price… which is, incredibly, £729,995. We’ve seen some punchy NSX-Rs before, but this is the first one we’ve seen that’s knocking on the door of three-quarters of a million quid. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, really, given the direction rare JDM cars are going in at the moment, nor would it be all that surprising to see it snapped up. On a positive note, it’s not eligible for US export yet, so you’ve still got a couple of years to go before the tech billionaires can put an offer in...

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