I just realized that I had bought my NSX 20 years ago!
The car was 3 years old and had done only 30 thousand kilometers.
What really attracted me was the complete Mugen body kit that made it look quite sensational.
In the beginning the car was used for the week-ends and the holidays in the south of France until one day I got invited to a track-day meeting in Spa Francorchamps the famous F1 track located in Belgium.
It was both exhilarating and deceiving as I could finally use the potential of the car while beeing left behind by Honda Integra's in full racing trim.
This started a never ending list of improvements starting with the brakes ( Porsche kit from Movi't) through the wheels ( Rays CE 28's),the suspension (Bilstein's with Zanardi springs) and then the Comptech supercharger.
This was only the beginning as I had to engineer my own rear brakes to restore the F/R balance and ditch the CTSC that was absolutely useless on track due to heat soak after 3 or 4 laps.
Then came the LoveFab turbo kit, a real piece of magic that put me in the Porsche GT3 category on track.
A road accident almost killed the NSX but allowed me to rebuild the car as a 2002 model with fixed headlights.
Luckily the insurance paid for the rebuild!
Lately the ABS was also upgraded to the NA2 spec with Kaz's help using a S 2000 modulator.
The next best improvement after the turbo for sure.
In the meantime I kept attending the track days organized by the NSX club from Switzerland on most of the F1 circuits in France.
Sadly the club president Jean-Claude Zucker passed away this summer and the fun factor was strongly eroded.
Worst, two weeks ago I went to Nogaro a small track south of my place and I spun the car in the outing lap in pouring rain...
It happened in an opening bend while I was cautiously accelerating but while I caught the spin the car hit the wet grass and slid forever before hitting a tire wall at the entry of the next bend.
I never felt so silly and so furious with myself!
There is no structural damage to the car as only the front bumper, the front headlight and wing need to be replaced.
The bad news continues: it's impossible to get a delivery date for the Downforce components that I want to order through SoS.
Downforce themselves never reply to my mails and a new headlight costs around 1000 USD and much more here in France.
In the end I will probably use components from Route KS supplied by the NSXshop in Japan who are very helpfull.
The real issue is: should I still do track-days with a very expensive car?
If I don't, is it worth keeping the turbo ( making the car illegal from a emission standpoint)?
Last why keep the NSX in a speed limited world?
The car was 3 years old and had done only 30 thousand kilometers.
What really attracted me was the complete Mugen body kit that made it look quite sensational.
In the beginning the car was used for the week-ends and the holidays in the south of France until one day I got invited to a track-day meeting in Spa Francorchamps the famous F1 track located in Belgium.
It was both exhilarating and deceiving as I could finally use the potential of the car while beeing left behind by Honda Integra's in full racing trim.
This started a never ending list of improvements starting with the brakes ( Porsche kit from Movi't) through the wheels ( Rays CE 28's),the suspension (Bilstein's with Zanardi springs) and then the Comptech supercharger.
This was only the beginning as I had to engineer my own rear brakes to restore the F/R balance and ditch the CTSC that was absolutely useless on track due to heat soak after 3 or 4 laps.
Then came the LoveFab turbo kit, a real piece of magic that put me in the Porsche GT3 category on track.
A road accident almost killed the NSX but allowed me to rebuild the car as a 2002 model with fixed headlights.
Luckily the insurance paid for the rebuild!
Lately the ABS was also upgraded to the NA2 spec with Kaz's help using a S 2000 modulator.
The next best improvement after the turbo for sure.
In the meantime I kept attending the track days organized by the NSX club from Switzerland on most of the F1 circuits in France.
Sadly the club president Jean-Claude Zucker passed away this summer and the fun factor was strongly eroded.
Worst, two weeks ago I went to Nogaro a small track south of my place and I spun the car in the outing lap in pouring rain...
It happened in an opening bend while I was cautiously accelerating but while I caught the spin the car hit the wet grass and slid forever before hitting a tire wall at the entry of the next bend.
I never felt so silly and so furious with myself!
There is no structural damage to the car as only the front bumper, the front headlight and wing need to be replaced.
The bad news continues: it's impossible to get a delivery date for the Downforce components that I want to order through SoS.
Downforce themselves never reply to my mails and a new headlight costs around 1000 USD and much more here in France.
In the end I will probably use components from Route KS supplied by the NSXshop in Japan who are very helpfull.
The real issue is: should I still do track-days with a very expensive car?
If I don't, is it worth keeping the turbo ( making the car illegal from a emission standpoint)?
Last why keep the NSX in a speed limited world?