Many replies debate what level of build should be undertaken, or even contemplated?
You know the saying: if you have an extra lambo or two at your third house you can do without for a year, then maybe GT racing is for you.
It is my intent to "spank" ANY 996 cup car, Viper competition coupe, GT Corvette etc.
Frankly, the easiest/cheapest way is to just go buy one or do arrive & drive, get the seat-time and do it. If just 'spanking' cup cars is the bottom line then for less than the cost of a new car a modern CSR/DSR could get the job done.
YES,---it is VERY expensive to do the job right----
So then with all respect, why pursue it? Frankly, while I can appreciate the effort evident here... developing the NSX to a pro prep level and fielding it is not all that particularly realistic of a dream on a privateer budget. Unless perhaps, maybe you have the money vault from duck tales sitting in your backyard and just like to be eccentric & unique - it's usually not viable to competitively field without some degree of cost controls built-in, even for teams with big sponsors.
Why tinker for years on end and have that kind of investment and financial exposure in a chassis, when in this economy you can just go buy a nationally competitive well-sorted ride for like 50-100-200 grand and have a front-runner on grid tomorrow? Decades of R&D and cheating done for you with
guaranteed results out of the box. Readily available spares when you need them. Lots of support.
Even if you don't care about any of that and are just inseparably fixated on the JDM thing, for about the same cost there are a couple of EX GT-300 front-running factory cars for sale in the 150-250K range today that literally have millions of factory dollars into them (FEA optimized carbon chassis, sequential transmission, engine development program, etc...) so for the same price why not just get the real thing?
I guess all I am suggesting (in good faith) is that I have seen this specific flavor of overly ambitious road travelled by many enthusiasts with pockets way, way deeper than my own (on RSR Replicas, Rolex Touring Cars, Dragsters, etc...) and more often than not they fail. I have formed the opinion that the days of DIY home engineering in the garage are over. Building the car is only half the battle. Then there is wind tunnel testing, shaker rigs, tens of thousands in electronics, engine tuning, track testing, etc.. Then the maintenance, and on-going costs like annual aero updates to stay competitive, etc... The engineering talent and facility access requirements alone mandate having those factory-backed support and relationships.
You can see 60 photos of my build at
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/album.php?u=10037
Thanks for looking!
Dale
Dale, your pictures detail a real passion and an amazing effort. I am sure it will be fast. If you don't mind me asking- what class is your race car being prepared for? To the best of my knowledge, many sanctioning bodies disallow having an engine from a different manufacturer as the chassis. Could you give us passive followers some more insight on your project goals / future racing effort?
Thanks,
J