I hope you're going to like like a little story from Europe.
I was driving my NSX quietly (see mods on signature) on a beautiful mountain road leading to Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), in the Dolomiti, close to the Austrian border, when I heard an incredible noise and was passed by this 360 Modena Spider. It had a radical exhaust and I thought the noise was really excessive and it spoiled the delicate balance of the original Ferrari sound.
It had German plates, the top down, a couple inside, no hats on despite the blazing midday, mountain, summer sun.
So I found myself behind them and I thought I'd better not try to keep their pace as they would surely trounch me, but when the road cleared up and the guy opened the gas, I could not resist. I turned the A/C off, opened the windows a few inches and launched myself behind them, just to see how much ground he would put between us. He had the F1 box and I could hear the upshifts and downshifts, he was squeezing every bit out of that engine.
My Taitec Lightweight exhausts are pretty noisy too, but I could hardly hear them as they were covered by the other car, but then they sounded a lot more refined. A real class act.
Anyway, here comes the surprise, my car was not losing one inch behind them. On the straights we would come to approx. 100 mph and the distance between us would stay constant, which means that I was marginally faster than he was.
It was evident that my NSX-R box, which is a 6-speed with a short final ratio (and dual plate clutch incidentally) was a major help. My acceleration was smooth and very strong up to an indicated 8300 RPM in second and third.
But I assume the headers are to be thanked too as they bring some 25 additional HP to the wheels.
So we went on like this for quite a while. We would slow down immediately when we met other traffic, but then open up again as soon as it cleared, and it was everytime the same, with the two cars keeping a perfectly matched speed.
Actually he was daring a little more in the corners, which I was not prepared to do, but I would make that up with stronger braking, something where he probably did not feel as confident as I was.
A funny thing happened when we stopped at a traffic light, the girl turned around and tried to make out what car I was driving...maybe he was considering selling the F-car to get this faster and more attractive car behind him... :wink: (I'm only joking... before you jump in, please...).
Eventually I had to take another course and I waved to him, but he did not answer...
Needless to say I was very pleased with my car performance. I called up a friend with an acceleration meter and I was able to post these "in-gear" acceleration times, which confirmed some older measurements I had done some months ago:
60-80 mph in 3rd: 2.5 sec
140-180 km/h in 4th: 4.5 sec
These numbers seem to be very good when compared to available magazine information and probably explain why the 360 could not pull away at least at this limited sort of speeds. Plus, the 360 spider is some 100kg heavier than the closed car and there were two of them on-board...ok.
It was a nice summer day and I will not forget the face of the girl when she turned around
Mike
I was driving my NSX quietly (see mods on signature) on a beautiful mountain road leading to Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), in the Dolomiti, close to the Austrian border, when I heard an incredible noise and was passed by this 360 Modena Spider. It had a radical exhaust and I thought the noise was really excessive and it spoiled the delicate balance of the original Ferrari sound.
It had German plates, the top down, a couple inside, no hats on despite the blazing midday, mountain, summer sun.
So I found myself behind them and I thought I'd better not try to keep their pace as they would surely trounch me, but when the road cleared up and the guy opened the gas, I could not resist. I turned the A/C off, opened the windows a few inches and launched myself behind them, just to see how much ground he would put between us. He had the F1 box and I could hear the upshifts and downshifts, he was squeezing every bit out of that engine.
My Taitec Lightweight exhausts are pretty noisy too, but I could hardly hear them as they were covered by the other car, but then they sounded a lot more refined. A real class act.
Anyway, here comes the surprise, my car was not losing one inch behind them. On the straights we would come to approx. 100 mph and the distance between us would stay constant, which means that I was marginally faster than he was.
It was evident that my NSX-R box, which is a 6-speed with a short final ratio (and dual plate clutch incidentally) was a major help. My acceleration was smooth and very strong up to an indicated 8300 RPM in second and third.
But I assume the headers are to be thanked too as they bring some 25 additional HP to the wheels.
So we went on like this for quite a while. We would slow down immediately when we met other traffic, but then open up again as soon as it cleared, and it was everytime the same, with the two cars keeping a perfectly matched speed.
Actually he was daring a little more in the corners, which I was not prepared to do, but I would make that up with stronger braking, something where he probably did not feel as confident as I was.
A funny thing happened when we stopped at a traffic light, the girl turned around and tried to make out what car I was driving...maybe he was considering selling the F-car to get this faster and more attractive car behind him... :wink: (I'm only joking... before you jump in, please...).
Eventually I had to take another course and I waved to him, but he did not answer...
Needless to say I was very pleased with my car performance. I called up a friend with an acceleration meter and I was able to post these "in-gear" acceleration times, which confirmed some older measurements I had done some months ago:
60-80 mph in 3rd: 2.5 sec
140-180 km/h in 4th: 4.5 sec
These numbers seem to be very good when compared to available magazine information and probably explain why the 360 could not pull away at least at this limited sort of speeds. Plus, the 360 spider is some 100kg heavier than the closed car and there were two of them on-board...ok.
It was a nice summer day and I will not forget the face of the girl when she turned around
Mike
, once my NSX is fixed up from it's "off road" experience.
