- Joined
- 1 September 2005
- Messages
- 42
I should have pictures up tonight.. I went to a 2 day autocross this weekend and took my '94 nsx out to see how she'd do.
I was put into the A stock category and my direct competition was a BMW M3 (don't remember the year) and a '04 Evolution 8. Most of the runs were done in 2nd gear with a little bit of 1st. The biggest thing for me was learning the stopping distance of the car, and getting used to the ABS system. The tires were Khumho ecsta series and were definitely a weak link. Overall, the car came in second, with the M3 leading and the Evo 8 coming in third. I feel that a bit more practice with this car, along with some stickier tires and times would have been much improved. I normally run a Viper, so the experience was quite a bit different. While the Viper decimates the stock classes, I feel the HP is often a liability and is certainly a harder car to drive fast. I think that on the courses that we run here. (which is a big balance between HP and cornering), that the NSX with the proper mods would definitely be within a couple of seconds of the Viper. (I ran both cars this weekend and the Viper's times were about 5 seconds faster than the stock NSX). A couple things that I did notice on the NSX which i did not expect is that the TCS was a serious handicap (Never driven a car with the TCS before), that the ABS lets you go in very hot on the corners and live to tell about it, and that there was quite a bit of undesirable body roll in comparison to the Viper. I am thinking that perhaps larger sway bars/ shocks/springs will clear this up but have not done the research on it yet. I did like the balance on the car, the great visibility (which is 100% better imho than the viper for avoiding cones) and the steering response. I can also see where people come from when talking about gearing and that the NSX is not ideal on the course due to it. I think I would have loved to have a gear 1.5 something between first and 2nd. I felt that my performance in the car was up to snuff in that I let a longtime honda nut and current course champ drive the car and he pulled similar times to myself. Anyways, these were my impressions of the car, from a new owner prospective and a long time auto-xer.
I was put into the A stock category and my direct competition was a BMW M3 (don't remember the year) and a '04 Evolution 8. Most of the runs were done in 2nd gear with a little bit of 1st. The biggest thing for me was learning the stopping distance of the car, and getting used to the ABS system. The tires were Khumho ecsta series and were definitely a weak link. Overall, the car came in second, with the M3 leading and the Evo 8 coming in third. I feel that a bit more practice with this car, along with some stickier tires and times would have been much improved. I normally run a Viper, so the experience was quite a bit different. While the Viper decimates the stock classes, I feel the HP is often a liability and is certainly a harder car to drive fast. I think that on the courses that we run here. (which is a big balance between HP and cornering), that the NSX with the proper mods would definitely be within a couple of seconds of the Viper. (I ran both cars this weekend and the Viper's times were about 5 seconds faster than the stock NSX). A couple things that I did notice on the NSX which i did not expect is that the TCS was a serious handicap (Never driven a car with the TCS before), that the ABS lets you go in very hot on the corners and live to tell about it, and that there was quite a bit of undesirable body roll in comparison to the Viper. I am thinking that perhaps larger sway bars/ shocks/springs will clear this up but have not done the research on it yet. I did like the balance on the car, the great visibility (which is 100% better imho than the viper for avoiding cones) and the steering response. I can also see where people come from when talking about gearing and that the NSX is not ideal on the course due to it. I think I would have loved to have a gear 1.5 something between first and 2nd. I felt that my performance in the car was up to snuff in that I let a longtime honda nut and current course champ drive the car and he pulled similar times to myself. Anyways, these were my impressions of the car, from a new owner prospective and a long time auto-xer.
