Sunday, February 24, 2008

Honda NSX at SS2

This superb example of an NSX really stood out at SS2 over the weekend ...



Some excerpts from Wikipedia about this important piece of car history ...

The Honda NSX (Acura NSX in North America and Hong Kong) is a sports car produced between 1990 and 2005 by the Japanese automaker Honda.

It has a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, an all-aluminium body and chassis, and a V6 gasoline engine featuring Honda's VTEC system.
"NSX" is an acronym for "New Sportscar eXperimental".

The production NSX was designed by a team led by Chief Designer Ken Okuyama and Executive Chief Engineer Shigeru Uehara, who was also in charge of the S2000 project. Its first public appearances as the NS-X were at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1989, and at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1989.
Japanese Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima was involved with the NSX's development, performing many duties related to chassis tuning.
Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna and American Bobby Rahal also participated in the car's development. Senna was given an NSX by Honda, although details of this car and its fate are unclear.

Upon its release in 1990, the NSX was a design ahead of its time, at only 1170 mm (46.1 in) in height only 141.3 mm (6 in) taller than the legendary Ford GT40.
The car showcased Honda's racing technology, exemplified by the NSX's ultra-rigid, ultra-light aluminium monocoque chassis, aluminium suspension, titanium connecting rods, forged pistons, aluminium valves and high-revving capabilities — the redline was at a lofty 8,000 rpm. Today it is still known by many as the most reliable exotic car with many examples exceeding 100,000 miles without any reliability issues.
The car's strong chassis rigidity and cornering/handling capabilities were the results of Ayrton Senna's direct input with NSX's chief engineers while testing at the Honda owned Suzuka Circuit during its final development stages.

The NSX was initially assembled at the purpose-built Takanezawa R&D Plant in Tochigi from 1989 to early 2004, when it was moved to Suzuka Plant for the remainder of its production life. The cars were assembled by approximately 200 experienced, hand-picked staff from various Honda factories.

Honda designed the NSX in search of the perfect balance between power and reliability and thus produced a powerful naturally aspirated engine suitable for the abuse of road racing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the price of a NSX-R in Malaysia before?

Anonymous said...

NSX is still expensive unti now and day's thoughthough