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Autocrossed my NSX. Impressions

Joined
19 July 2004
Messages
505
Location
New York City/Honolulu
I recently autocrossed my NSX at the Hawaii SCCA event and funny enough I didn't do that bad in it at all despite many people saying that the NSX is a bad car for autocross. My car has the NA2 NSX-R suspension, NSX-R chassis bars, I/H/E, endless brake pads, brembo slotted rotors and I removed some stuff such as the spare tire, the engine cover and the carpets. My tire pressures were 38 in the rear and 33 in the front. Mind you this is my second time autocrossing and the average time for this particular track was 37 seconds I managed to get 35.4 seconds around the track besting some s2000's and M3's (which are much better cars for autocrossing) but I have to definitely say that it truely is really the person behind the wheels that makes the difference and then the car itself. More importantly I learned alot about my cars handling abilities at the limit of breaking grip which is why I highly recommend anyone who is curious about it to give it a try. I surely learned alot and I was surprized how well I was able to countersteer the car and keep it in control while aggressively throwing it into the corners. And more importantly it was tons of fun, and personally any excuse to have fun with your car and drive it to its limits in a safe controlled environment is more the reason to give it a shot.
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nice going,and with auto-x, practice,practice.Did you get to walk the course before hand? Btw your car was alot more rewarding with that R susp vs stock:wink:
 
nice going,and with auto-x, practice,practice.Did you get to walk the course before hand? Btw your car was alot more rewarding with that R susp vs stock:wink:

The NSX-R suspension is amazing actually :D. Yea I walked the track twice just to make sure I don't DNF like I did on my first event. Actually I DNF'ed twice on my first :redface:.
 
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Congrats on a darn good performance! I think your thoughts on driver responsibility for car control are right on the mark and autocrossing is a great way to get your feet wet in the sport of auto racing I hope to your continued success!
 
Thanks for the comments, I hope to represent the NSX community here on prime and make them proud.
 
Hi my name is laron..We may have met on an nsx cruise here in Oahu. Im the guy who previously had two Vipers and then bought robs supercharged NSX..

I had taken my 99 RT10 Viper to the same event in the past and got a bunch of DNF's...Never took my SRT10.

But I would Love to join you the next time you go and try out my NSX...Everything about this car just seems that it will be much easier than my RT10 Viper was..

I have a Big Brake package/ as well as TEIN RA suspension...Probally a few other handling goodies im forgetting...Mine is a 1991 as well
 
Hi my name is laron..We may have met on an nsx cruise here in Oahu. Im the guy who previously had two Vipers and then bought robs supercharged NSX..

I had taken my 99 RT10 Viper to the same event in the past and got a bunch of DNF's...Never took my SRT10.

But I would Love to join you the next time you go and try out my NSX...Everything about this car just seems that it will be much easier than my RT10 Viper was..

I have a Big Brake package/ as well as TEIN RA suspension...Probally a few other handling goodies im forgetting...Mine is a 1991 as well

Hi Laron,
I don't believe we've met because I haven't been to any cruises yet, but hey come down to the next autocross event. It'll be great to see another NSX :smile:
 
Hi Laron,
I don't believe we've met because I haven't been to any cruises yet, but hey come down to the next autocross event. It'll be great to see another NSX :smile:

When your gonna go again shoot me a pm in advance. Ive got another buddy with a stock 2005 nsx who wouldnt mind going
 
Thanks for posting this. I plan to autocross my NSX a couple of times next spring when we start again. I don't plan on making it my regular autocross car, but I want to see how it does and, like you said, find out more about the car's limits. It will be a real switch as I have been autocrossing a Formula Ford for the last season and a half.
 
Congrats on getting out there! I'd like to share some advice with your choice of pads. Although I'm not an autocrosser - I road race, I've used the Endless Pads before. I presume you are using the CC-X ones?

I am sponsored by A&J Racing in Richmond, BC Canada and for while, I ran the Endless pads because they were free to me.

I will tell you this much - THEY SUCK! I can't imagine, that if they sucked for RR, how they could possibly perform well in a < 1min autox course... here's why.

I had to drag my brakes for the COMPLETE out lap just so I had "some" brakes for T1 on the green flag. "Some" brakes is even an overstatement.

It would literally take 2-3 full laps to bring them up to temperature, at which point they performed well - at least comparable to other pads I run. Another draw back, they chew through rotors like crazy. I went through one set of rotors PER 30min sprint. They would come off the car discolored and chewed up. With Spec VR's or similar pads, I could get 3-4 30min sprints out of a set of rotors, no problem!

After a few races with those pads, I threw them in the trash. Cobalt Friction Spec VR's are worth every penny (although CF has since replaced then with a different pad - XR2, I highly recommend this pad for track use, HPDE or autocross).

Side note for reference: I race a 93 Honda Civic HB in the Honda Challenge H1 class, powered by a K20A Type-R engine. I use the NA1 NSX front calipers with a 1" MC and the car weighs 2420lbs with me in it (min. weight requirement of 2400lb)

Just food for thought. You need a pad that can perform at maximum potential right away - basically with no warm up required.

:biggrin:
 
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Congrats on getting out there! I'd like to share some advice with your choice of pads. Although I'm not an autocrosser - I road race, I've used the Endless Pads before. I presume you are using the CC-X ones?

I am sponsored by A&J Racing in Richmond, BC Canada and for while, I ran the Endless pads because they were free to me.

I will tell you this much - THEY SUCK! I can't imagine, that if they sucked for RR, how they could possibly perform well in a < 1min autox course... here's why.

I had to drag my brakes for the COMPLETE out lap just so I had "some" brakes for T1 on the green flag. "Some" brakes is even an overstatement.

It would literally take 2-3 full laps to bring them up to temperature, at which point they performed well - at least comparable to other pads I run. Another draw back, they chew through rotors like crazy. I went through one set of rotors PER 30min sprint. They would come off the car discolored and chewed up. With Spec VR's or similar pads, I could get 3-4 30min sprints out of a set of rotors, no problem!

After a few races with those pads, I threw them in the trash. Cobalt Friction Spec VR's are worth every penny (although CF has since replaced then with a different pad - XR2, I highly recommend this pad for track use, HPDE or autocross).

Side note for reference: I race a 93 Honda Civic HB in the Honda Challenge H1 class, powered by a K20A Type-R engine. I use the NA1 NSX front calipers with a 1" MC and the car weighs 2420lbs with me in it (min. weight requirement of 2400lb)

Just food for thought. You need a pad that can perform at maximum potential right away - basically with no warm up required.

:biggrin:

I'm actually using the Endless Vito Nuova pads which are great all round pads. I've never tried the CCX ones, but the Vito Nuova pads grip extremely well and you don't need any warming up. I've used the Cobalt Friction XR2 and XR3 pads before and all I can say is that they are too aggressive for the street. They are like sandpaper on your rotors and make plenty of noise. But on the track they definitely get the job done.
 
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