Alright!! I have never chimed in on this topic however, since everyone is beating a very dead and decayed horse, I think I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents.
Here it is.......
The Z06, for the most part, is a faster track car, period. I have heard all the stories about the NSX handling better, and the Z06 only has an advantage in a straight line. But, really driver for driver the Z06 is faster. Now, before I get torn apart, I am an enormous NSX fan. Anyone who has read my posts or met me knows I am literally crazy about our cars. With that said, I'm equally as big a car enthusiast, and I have to give a car credit where credit is due. The NSX was designed in the late 80's, is it that bad to admit that the Z06 may edge it out in performance? Now, a C5 vs. NSX that's a better performance match, but a Z06. My friends, the first step is admitting!!
Let’s not get confused, or mislead, this DOES NOT mean the Z06 is a better car. That's a whole other thread, I am merely talking about performance numbers.
Why do others disagree with me? Well, I believe (again, IMO) that the NSX is far easier to drive than a Z06. In other words on the track an average driver may be able to extract 75% of the NSXs performance, however the same driver would only be able to extract 50-60% from the Z06. This is why people claim it's so easy to pass Z06s & C5s on the track. Heck, I just came back from my first track event. I am a perfect example, pure novice, no experience besides autocrossing. I was able to pass (easily I have to add) both Z06s and all the C5 at WGI (driven by other novices). Now, am I an above average driver? I don't think so, especially after 1 track event. Come on, it's the car people!; at one point going around the boot I had a Z06 get slightly sideways right in front of me while my NSX was firmly planted. Let’s turn that around, if I were driving my NSX and a well seasoned track rat familiar with the Z06 was driving against me, it WOULD be a massacre!! Are cars are more civilized, it's a mid-engine car, but I will go even further than that. HONDA WANTED IT TO BE THAT WAY. If they wanted it to be a little more lose, they would have tuned it like the first generation S2000. The bottom line is if you put an Experienced NSX driver capable of driving his/her car at or near 100% and he duked it out with an experienced Z06 driver capable of driving the vette at the same level the NSX would lose.
I’ll say it again, that doesn’t make the Z06 a better car. I would love to own a Z06 at some point, however last year I bought my NSX instead of the vette. For what I’m looking for the NSX is a far better fit, and that’s it! If you look at the vette forums there are some mature people who understand this and comment about it, then there are others who fuel the NSX vs. Z06 fire. The same thing goes here, I will probably get blasted. Or someone will try to logically explain to me how the NSX with about a 100hp deficit (not to mention torque) less affective brakes, less contact patch, and a generally more “user friendly” tuning, etc. is faster than a Z06 on the track, forget it, move on, next topic!!
I’m very interested to see how other REAL car enthusiasts respond to what I said.
