A quick Honda NSX going round the Ring

[FeZ]

http://www.giova.it/panza/nsxr.mpg

Its in Japanese but at the beginning it seems to say 945 hp ???
Anybody know Japanese.

And here is some description how to get around the Nordschleife.
http://www.bmw.com/bmwe/pulse/bmwm/pdf/nordschleife.pdf

[chris]

That's the NSX-R.

It's a lightened version of the current NSX, only weighing about 1240kg or something close to that. Power is indeed still only around 300bhp, but the Honda makes perfect use of it.

I saw this video a while back, and started downloading it. But it went too slowly and I cancelled the download.

[chris]

Very nice lap by Motoharu Kurosawa. He's a very quick driver. :)

Nice to see what the NSX can do in the hands of a very talented driver. The brakes on the NSX-R are quite incredible.

It makes me wish the virtual Nordschliefe in F12002/F1C 99-02 was more accurate, and less low-polygon bumpy. =[

I was also comparing this with the lap in the 911 GT3 RS (in the long-track championship). I think if this NSX-R had racing tyres on it, it would post a dramatically faster lap time than the already impressive one.

This NSX-R by the way does without many luxuries, in the pursuit of performance. Even power-steering is removed. It is definately a real drivers car.

[chris]

http://www.track-challenge.com/main_e.asp?useframe=comparison1d_e.asp?Car1=51%26C ar2=50

Here is a site that may be interesting for the viewers here. You can compare a few cars lap-times and speeds at various points around the Nurburgring.

It is worth noting that the NSX-R tested here didn't post the same time as the one in the video, in fact, it didn't even get close. Differences in drivers I suspect.

But it is surprising to see how fast that Lamborghini Gallardo is around the Nurburgring. It is highly efficient at getting very big speeds at various parts of the track.

And it appears to do a good job of nearly matching the cornering speeds of the stripped out, light-weight Honda NSX-R.

[FeZ]

Sweeeeeeeet

Car [min]

1. Porsche Carrera GT 7.40
2. TechArt GT street 7.43
3. Pagani Zonda S 7.44
4. Porsche GT2 (996) 7.46
5. Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 7.49
6. BMW M GmbH M3 CSL 7.50
Lamborghini Murciélago 7.50
7. Lamborghini Gallardo 7.52
8. Porsche 911 GT3 (2003) 7.54
9. Porsche 911 Turbo (996) 7.56


Wow that M3 CSL is fast, up there on top with all that expensive Supercars


chris, clean your PM inbox, will you :D

[chris]

I think the CSL's speed is due to the slick tyres, while all others are on road-tyres.

Add water and the CSL will be slipping and sliding all over the place. :eek: It is reported to be treacherous in the rain, and very tricky to control.

Still it is impressive.

And the Carrera GT I believe was tested in very cold weather, and the magazine that achieved the 7.40 time will return in better weather, believing that the 7.40 time can be improved by a fair margin.

I wouldn't doubt it either. Of all the cars on your list above, the Carrera GT is the one that is the closest to a pure race-car.

Edit: Sorry Fez, I will clean the inbox. I find it hard to get rid of some of those messages.

[FeZ]

I wonder what Walter Roehrl could do with the Carrera GT on a good day :D
When he did test the GT for a motorshow, and showed what is possible, the moderator asked him "How many of the future owners will drive the car like this", his short answer "Nobody" ^_^

Do you have a video of his GT3 Run from 99 ? I saw some parts of it. It was a yellow car and it was filmed from a helicopter (like the RUF run) and with at least 2 cameras in the car (one showing him working the pedals). Looked very professional.

Just increase your mailboxsize to 1000 messages, you are a Supermoderator, can't you do that :D

[chris]

I haven't seen that video.

Rorhl is a brilliant driver, he won just about everything that could be won. He did rally racing, pikes peak, even circuit racing.

On the mail-box size, sure, I could increase it, but that's being a little naughty.. )=) It's cleared a bit now.

[chris]

Here are some figures for the NSX-R in the video, from what I could see:

Round time 7.56.7min
Schwedenkreuz - 240-245km/hr
Aremberg - 115-120km/hr
Fuchsroehre - 240-245km/hr
Adenauer Forst - 100-110km/hr
Metzgesfeld - 200km/hr
Bergwerk - 110-120km/hr
Kesselchen - 230km/hr
Angstkurve - 200km/hr
Klostertal 1 - 190-200km/hr
Klostertal 2 - 100km/hr
Karusell 1 - 90km/hr
Höhe Acht - 120km/hr
Wipperman - 150km/hr
Eiskurve - 140-150km/hr
Pflanzgarten 1 - 190km/hr
Pflanzgarten 2 - 200-210km/hr
Galgenkopf - 145km/hr
Karusell 2 - 130-140km/hr
Doettinger Höhe - 265-270km/hr

Those are the speeds I could make out from the speedometre, but it was pretty blurred. But I know what an NSX speedometre looks like, so I can make an educated guess.

It seems like the lap-time sort of goes away a bit on some of the long straight sections, where the 310 odd horsepower isn't quite enough to give it the big top-end speed of something like a 5 litre V10 500hp Lamborghini Gallardo. But you could see on the long back straight that the speedometre needle was edging close to 270km/hr. And that's pretty quick for a small engined car with a modest power output.

He lost a bit of time too on the part just after the Eiskurve, where the back stepped out, requiring a quick application of opposite lock to correct it. But it's still an impressive lap. I suppose Kurosawa-san doesn't race around the Nordschliefe every weekend as well, making it even more impressive (although he is a veteran race-driver).