| Road test |
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| Honda - NSX
Type-R [December 22 2003] |
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So get the window up quick and set the wide tyres rolling across the cold, greasy tarmac. Better have the lights on too. This cloud cover is low, corners white out mid apex without warning. We are operating well outside the comfort zone today. Yet we are in the most user-friendly supercar ever. Japan's first and really only supercar, the mid-engined aluminium-bodied NSX, arrived in 1990. Signed-off by Ayrton Senna, it was capable of wiping the floor with Ferrari's finest. Even in the hands of mortals. No car lasts forever and 13 years is an awful long time for any modern one to be around. So surely the end of the NSX must be nigh? Indeed, last month we brought you a story on Honda's HSC Tokyo showcar, which strongly hints at how the all-new NSX might look But for now this �70,000 NSX-R is the most hard-core Honda road car yet. Power, from the 3.2-litre V6, is up from 280bhp to just under 300bhp. Weight is down from 1,445kg to 1,270kg. Both the bonnet and rear spoiler are carbon-fibre. The wheels weigh less, the battery is smaller and the rear glass is thinner. Even the carpets are lighter. Other stuff has just been chucked. Interior boot switch, electric mirrors, bulkhead insulation, traction control - who needs 'em? So, what we're left with, on this most drizzly of days, on what seems to pass for Japan's equivalent of the N?rburgring, is the lightest, most powerful NSX ever built, minus traction control. Oh, and it's riding on harder, more edgy suspension than before. Did I mention that? But I don't care. Let them come. Let them bring their 360s and their 911 Turbos and their mad 900bhp Skylines. Nothing, but nothing, is going up and down this mountain today as fast as this NSX-R. And that, is a promise. Ah, the old ones are the best ones, are they not? Yes, you've sussed it. I'm safely tucked up in the passenger Recaro carbon-fibre bucket seat. The man behind the Momo steering wheel reaching for the titanium gear lever and preparing to attack the mountain is Takuma Sato... | ||
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Takuma Sato. He's a bit of a driver then. Even so, as we move off I'm worried. Not worried that he's going to stuff if. I doubt he'd do that in a million years. Anyway, since Antonio Pizzonia nearly wiped out two guys from Autocar in a Jaguar S-Type, every young F1 driver must have had it drummed into them: 'Don't... Kill... The... Media'. No, I'm just worried he's going to get bored. If he is, he's doing a good job of hiding it. Actually he says he doesn't get bored on pr things as long as there's something to drive. His eyes even light up with enthusiasm when I ask him about Ayrton Senna. It's a little bit of a cheap question, because I know Senna is his big hero. But it is valid, Senna really was involved with this car; just turn to page 290. Taku recalls the first time he ever saw a motor race. "1987 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Ayrton Senna. I watched him start from seventh and come up to second. Even to a 10-year-old boy it looked so good, something special". But he's careful, under no illusions, drawing no comparisons. "Ayrton is Ayrton. One of the biggest drivers. I am not Ayrton". True. But he does like to attack, does he not? Another smile, and a laugh this time. "Always. Always flat out. But you have to improve you know. It's not allowed, too much flat out. The beginning of last year I was flat out all the time; too much commitment. But then I learnt a little bit to back off, not necessarily to be slower, but just to relax and it's going better now, more flowing". Right now we are getting a demonstration of all three: relaxed, flowing and flat out. That V6 gets worked far into the red zone. The front inside Bridgestone gets punted deep into the corner. Strictly speaking, Taku, I think it should be the other side of that white line, but never mind there must be, oh, at least a couple of inches of cloud between the headlamp bubble and the Armco. It's perfect. Of course it is. Although the Momo steering wheel is getting a bit of a work out and there seems to be a fair bit of kickback to contend with. Taku says he's operating at about 60 to 70 per cent of his abilities. It looks more like only 40 per cent to me. | ||
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"No", comes the reply "Nothing at all. I was in one piece. I was very pleased. OK, I was a little bit worried because the week after I had to do the Monaco Grand Prix. But that kind of worry is just a waste of time. One lap in, no problem". So he never gets scared then? Ever? Only, he says, when he can't predict the immediate future. "For example, if you were driving a little 600cc car, but racing in the dark and you don't know which way to go, I would be scared. But if you are totally in control in the F1 car, if you go over 300k with 5.1g, it's no problem." Ho, hum. Back then to the mundane world of mere mid-engined supercars. Has Taku any thoughts on how the NSX should be next time around, baring in mind he may well be involved with it? "Obviously more power would be nice. But it is not so important all the time. The feeling, the balance and the handling are more important. If you put in a bigger engine you may go quicker, but it may not be more fun to drive". The way the NSX feels to drive, the way it truly involves the driver, that, explains Taku, is the real magic. Next time around he'd suggest a few fundamental changes, to move the game along, such as lowering the engine for a lower centre of gravity and maybe an F1-style gearbox. All that's for the future, though. We've still got a bit of time left with this NSX-R, now that we've got it out of Taku's hands. It still feels a bit special even just to be close to it, even after all this time. It still turns plenty of heads too. Even in downtown Tokyo. It practically looks retro now with that cab-forward, long-tail Le Mans look. It feels like we could be photographing it for a classic car mag. That slightly cream Championship White paint only adds to the feeling of something from an earlier era. It's the same when you step inside, a brief blip, a tiny little trip back in time. Nothing dramatic you understand and certainly nothing unpleasant. Far from it, the carbon-fibre seats are fantastic and if the Momo steering wheel and black instruments with yellow needles don't get you in the mood to drive, nothing will. | ||
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It's 13 years old and still it can do this. It's like The Pistols' Anarchy In The UK or I Fought The Law by The Clash. Still the anger and energy boil through. But fantastic though those records still sound, they are just a little slow if compared with the latest thrash metal. Despite its lightness, extra power and sharper throttle response, the NSX-R feels 'only' seriously fast - not truly ballistic. Admittedly the 0-60mph time is down from 5.7secs to 5.0secs, but these days you need to shave another second off that to join the real speed metal club. Yet when you feel the limited-slip diff squirm on a wet road, it feels plenty fast. And the acceleration is virtually uninterrupted, so fast, so slick is the change from the manual six-speed 'box. They've tweaked the brakes too, with stronger pads, retuned ABS and superb pedal feel. The other day I heard a former RAF pilot explaining that even when you fly a jet fighter in a straight line with nothing to worry about - a serene experience way up in the wild blue yonder, you might think - it still feels like bouncing around on the floor of a fishing trawler in a force 10. The NSX-R isn't quite that bad. But every grain of tarmac registers. When we come back to the mountain road after having spent all night driving, there are no worries, this is one car more than capable of waking you up. In truth, the whole chassis set-up feels slightly more oriented towards smooth racetrack work than this sort of carry on. Yet the NSX-R tames the road, hammers it into submission. And it really does hammer it, for the rock-hard suspension allows for no serene, soak-it-all-up, experience. Every metre of progress feels hard fought, every mid-corner bump kicked back through the steering wheel. So if the sun is about to set on this generation of NSX. If it turns out that the R really is the final incarnation, then, to plagiarise Dylan Thomas, it does not go gently into that dark night. Angus Frazer |
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