Did I miss something?

[jadkar]

Ok, First off please don't respond with all the "The NSX is a different type of fast sports car" stuff. I love my car, and everything that makes it a NSX (entire package).

With that said, I just went head to head with a new Nissan 350Z tonight. I'm confused, I thought I should have taken him. I knew I wouldn't blow him away, but I thought I would have at least done better then I did. We started off at a light on a New Jersey 2 lane highway. I was behind him he was first at the light. I slipped my clutch a tiny bit too much, which gave him about a 1 car length lead, but all the way up to about 120 I couldn't close the gap, not one bit!!! At one other instance a little bit up the road, I was in front of him and dropped to third at about 80mph, again I couldn't pull away at all. WTF!! I thought those cars did 0-60 in about 5.8 seconds, our cars should be around 5 flat!! Am I missing something?. Does anyone know if they sell superchargers or turbos for 350Zs cars yet? His exhaust looked stock, other then that I couldn't tell, it was too dark. BTW there was absolutely NOBODY on the road with us. I don't promote high speed driving in traffic (i.e. weaving and cutting people off) the road was absolutely clear.

Anyway has anyone had any experiences with 350Zs? I would love to hear that yes people have beaten them, and maybe I just went up against a modified one.

Regards,

John

 

[Brian2by2]

I only have a 3.0 91 and i've never had a problem with them...especially at 80mph or so...

 

[nsxtasy]

I thought those cars did 0-60 in about 5.8 seconds, our cars should be around 5 flat!! Am I missing something?

That's basically correct; magazine tests generally have the 350Z doing 0-60 anywhere from 5.4 to 5.8, and the '97+ NSX-T in 4.9 to 5.0. 1/4 mile times are similarly advantageous to the NSX. That's because the NSX is lighter and slightly more powerful. Even the '91-94 five-speed coupe should be slightly faster, with a weight advantage outweighing (NPI) the power disadvantage.

That being said, there could be many explanations for this close encounter of the wheeled kind. Perhaps his car was indeed modified. Perhaps yours has modifications (e.g. wheels/tires?) that make it slower than stock. (Your car is a six-speed and not an automatic, right?) Perhaps he can shift his car faster than you can shift yours. Perhaps you left traction control on and that sapped some acceleration. Lots of possibilities.

 

[jadkar]

OK, I feel better knowing the general opinion is the NSX should be faster. My car is completely stock, no aftermarket wheels. Shifting, well, I shift really fast (probably too fast, in my 911 and my jeep I grind second a lot from shifting too quickly). As for my traction control, like I posted in some resent threads, it is stuck "on" I can't disable it with the switch, however, I don't think I had any wheelspin to enduce it's activation. I really think he had a supercharger. I found that Stillen makes one that gives the car an additional 70hp, that would explain a lot.

Who knows, I'm sure I will be up against one again. I'll tell you though, it looks like it's time for a supercharger of my own, especially since I'm sure I will be bumping into EVOs and STis soon.

regards,

John

 

[JJCNSX]

allow me to give some of my inputs..

First of all, by all measures, NSX is not a SLOW car. A relative stock NSX can hang with a Stock Supra tt on a rolling start all the way to 130 mph. Honestly, that is more than enough & a pleasant surprise, I thought a stock Supra tt would blow a stock NSX out of water..

NSX's advantage is its light weight and MR layout. MR car take a lot of practice to be good at, once you learn how to aster a MR, your NSX WILL shine on the track & quick consequctive turns.

in reality, NSX is not a mod friendly car. (accelerationwise). For a straight away drag race, unless we slap on a turbo$/$uper charger/NO$, our NSX is not going to dominate other highend/highpower sports cars.

i believe NSX = beautiful car with decent power that will shine on the track (once you can master a MR)

if you want to dominate ppl on freeway & drag races. Then, maybe you should consider a turbo mod-friendly car like Supra tt or Skylines

-jjc.
red nsx - beauty
blk supra tt - beast

 

[I Grok NSX]

As I've said before and as others have said before, the NSX was never designed to be a drag racer. It was designed specifically to be driven at 160+ mph (at a track!), in a safe and reliable manor. To use it as a drag racer, you need to do some mods. Comptech makes a nice super charger and along with headers and a nice exhaust, you'd have a pretty quick street machine.

 

[jadkar]

The last part of my original post read:

Anyway has anyone had any experiences with 350Zs? I would love to hear that yes people have beaten them, and maybe I just went up against a modified one.

Also, one other question. I noticed tonight I have a bad wind leak at 120mph. It is coming from the pass. side at the window seal with the targa. Has anyone had this problem?


Thanks,

John

 

[SexyRed]

greddy turbo

Per August 2003 Motortrend.

Greddy just release a twin turbo kit for 350z. quarter mile 12.79 and 0-60mph 4.61sec. All for the price of $6k.

Dan

 

[SexyRed]

0-60 350z 5.5second

per August 2003 Motortrend

 

[hyuan]

hmm

Your story is a little hard to follow.

Were you on a straight away? Did you have multiple runs?

On the one hand, you describe that you weren't able to catch up even at speeds in excess of 120. On the otherhand, you say you were ahead of him at one point and had to shift down to 80? Are you on straights? Why did you need to down shift?

If you had to down shift on the straights, maybe you were in the wrong gear? I'm sorry if I sound confused, but your anecdote doesn't compute.

If you're really curious about the 350z and how well it performs compared to your X, perhaps you should just test drive one.

 

[jadkar]

hehe.....good point about the test drive.

Well, real simple. I was on the way home and this guy was on the same stretch of road with me for about 10 miles. Some times I was in front and sometimes he was, we weren't "racing" the whole way. We were mostly driving 70-80 (what most people do on the is road) We came to a traffic light, and I had a feeling just because of the time (late at night) and the car he and I were driving, he was going to try and dust me. During this little drag the stretch of road was perfectly straight with no hills. Once we got to somewhere around 110 (It's hard to tell how fast, I think I just shifted into 4th) we slowed down, he was in front the whole time. A little bit up the road I passed him (at normal speeds) while I was in front of him I got a bit frisky again. I downshifted to 3rd while doing 80mph

you say you were ahead of him at one point and had to shift down to 80? Are you on straights? Why did you need to down shift?

Don't you downshift from 6th to 3rd while cruising at 80mph if you want to out accelerate someone?

From roughly 80mph to somewhere around 125mph (that's when I slowed) I couldn't put any distance between us. Again road was straight and flat, for the most part.

OK, that's the play by play


Regards,

John

 

[nsxtasy]

I noticed tonight I have a bad wind leak at 120mph. It is coming from the pass. side at the window seal with the targa. Has anyone had this problem?

Yes, I've had this. Your dealer can adjust the window (according to the procedure in the service manual) to eliminate this noise.

Don't you downshift from 6th to 3rd while cruising at 80mph if you want to out accelerate someone?

In the NSX, for maximum acceleration, the basic rule is, you want to keep the car in the lowest gear possible, and shift at redline when needed.

 

[dlongo]

As for my traction control, like I posted in some resent threads, it is stuck "on" I can't disable it with the switch, however, I don't think I had any wheelspin to enduce it's activation.

TCS reduces throttle response enough to be noticable, even when you are not in a situation where you would normally have wheel spin.

 

[jadkar]

So by me having the traction control stuck on you think it could have impacted my acceleration times?

I guess it's possible, however, at highway speeds above 80-90 on a straight flat highway I should have been able to lengthen a gap between us. Traction control should definitely NOT have been interfering then. Plus, I thought that was really where our cars shined, above 80-90. Heck I remember an article testing cars to 0-150-0. Our car beat a 996 to 150mph by about 4 seconds (if I was not mistaken), a 350Z!!.....I should have been able to put some serious distance between us (at least 3 or 4 car lengths) but instead he was glued to my ass. I really think his car had a Stillen supercharger, the GReddy system is too new.

Regards,

John

 

[Zipy]

A guy here in K.C., MO just had a new paxton supercharger installed on his 350Z about a month ago and was out at the track tuning it at the import drags. He said he was running low boost 4-5 lbs. and was turning low to mid 13's.

 

[MarkB]

...K.C., MO.......the track.....

I'm a new NSX owner and would like to know where the locals run their cars.

 

[nsxtasy]

I'm a new NSX owner and would like to know where the locals run their cars.

In your area - on the road course here.

 

[kld12]

jadkar,

I had a run in with a 350Z a few months back. I was just cruising and he was like tailgaiting me like crazy. So I started accelerating and pretty much left him way back. He even went behind a trailer so as not to meet up again.
I have a stock 97 so yeah, 350z's can be annoying but can be beat. But then again, if I bought my Nsx to beat other cars in the straight, I wouldn't want myself owning one.

 

[Nippon Ray]

Here in Spain, there not out yet, there aren´t many straight roads
were I live, with equal drivers he´ll never catch your ass.

Saludos.

 

[dlongo]

So by me having the traction control stuck on you think it could have impacted my acceleration times?

I guess it's possible, however, at highway speeds above 80-90 on a straight flat highway I should have been able to lengthen a gap between us. Traction control should definitely NOT have been interfering then. Plus, I thought that was really where our cars shined, above 80-90. Heck I remember an article testing cars to 0-150-0. Our car beat a 996 to 150mph by about 4 seconds (if I was not mistaken), a 350Z!!.....I should have been able to put some serious distance between us (at least 3 or 4 car lengths) but instead he was glued to my ass. I really think his car had a Stillen supercharger, the GReddy system is too new.

Regards,

John

You said you started from a stop at a light and accelerated to ~120. I think it definitely was interfering there. TCS is very very sensitive to small amounts of wheel spin. Basically, any time you start at part throttle and then slam down the pedal, or when you shift hard, or even when going over a little bump, TCS can detect the small amount of wheel spin and slow you down a little, so you should really get that fixed if you're going to be racing. Here's a thread that may interest you.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288&highlight=TCS+drag

Regards,
Dave