- Joined
- 14 September 2004
- Messages
- 185
I agree with Vancehu. It depends on the car. Front vs mid-engine really makes no difference. In SCCA club racing people win races and championships with front engined cars all the time. The mid-engine cars rarely do well on road courses. A friend of mine, Michael Pettiford has won many races and championships with a 1996 V-8 Camaro Z-28. He now races a Pontiac Solstice and they beat the Lotus Elises all day long. The NSX is a neat car, but a new Z-06.......hell even an old C-5 regular Corvette would beat an NSX silly on a race track easily. Even the V-6 Camaros will give a stock NSX all it can handle and would most likely beat it. The NSX is a great sports car, looks good, handles well etc., but it is not a race car. Truly, the king of stock "race cars" would be the new Z-06. And, dollar for dollar is the best all around performance/race/sports car in the world. I just got my SCCA racing national certificate and in talking with many folks about a race car, all of them think of a V-8 Camaro very fondly and all rave about the Solstice. No one has ever raced an NSX with any kind of real success. It's in the T1 class and gets its ass kicked. Jeff Jenson raced one, but any success he had was because of him and not the car.
It seems to me racing is like golf. You can spend $1,200 on a set of clubs and look good but not win, or you can spend $300 on clubs and $900 on lessons and win.
The next NSX or whatever name it has should try to be a true sports car, whether mid or front engined. The GT-R seems to be that way. The Z-06 is. Hopefully Honda can build one of that same caliber. I love my NSX, but no way do I think it is truly a race car. It just isn't.
The question should be:
>>SHOULD this new Honda Supercar/GT/Supercoupe be called NSX?
>>or something else?
Oscar
I don't think Peter Cunningham would agree either...
Really? Why do you suppose he has usually (with the exception of the NSX now discontinued due to being non-competetive) campaigned FWD cars for the team then?
the ITR, the RSX, and TSX race cars are all FWD cars. All 3 platforms have had great success in the Speed Touring Car Championships...
It isn't always the car- most of the time it is the driver.
P
Does Honda make a RWD he could race?
The question should be:
>>SHOULD this new Honda Supercar/GT/Supercoupe be called NSX?
>>or something else?
Oscar
Doc, you obviously didn't attend any of the NSX races like most of us did. Peters Budget was TINY, the only reason he could compete is that the car was NOT MODIFIED MUCH AT ALL. The early cars were almost stock. They used the same engine all year long. In fact he used to brag about being the ONLY car with stock suspension points. When Audi came in their budget was a whopping 400 million. Thats why Peter dropped out, and Honda didn't come along with a bigger engine to work with. Regarding the suspensions, it depends what class you are talking. You have never driven a stock Camaro hard, have you? What are you doing on this site dude?Absolutely, and the NSX he drove was an NSX in name only. It was INCREDIBLY modified with a bottomless budget behind him. He could have been in an AMC Pacer and done as well as he did with that budget and those mods.
No, the Camaro suspensions are not totally replaced, because the SCCA won't allow. They might allow shocks, but the live rear axle is still there.
It is about the driver. I've seen seasoned drivers in Miatas and Proteges win easily against BMW 3 and 5 series cars (with inexperienced drivers) on open track days.
Doc, you obviously didn't attend any of the NSX races like most of us did. Peters Budget was TINY, the only reason he could compete is that the car was NOT MODIFIED MUCH AT ALL. The early cars were almost stock. They used the same engine all year long. In fact he used to brag about being the ONLY car with stock suspension points. When Audi came in their budget was a whopping 400 million. Thats why Peter dropped out, and Honda didn't come along with a bigger engine to work with. Regarding the suspensions, it depends what class you are talking. You have never driven a stock Camaro hard, have you? What are you doing on this site dude?
I don't know where the post above claiming that c5 vettes and v6 Camaros beat or are even close to NSXs on the track gets its information from.
I guess, but it is so far away from my personal experiences that I cannot believe that someone has found that a V6 Camaro is anything even close to a match for an NSX.
I think that V6 Camaros have a rough time with Integra GSRs myself.
Regardless of anything else said, I have to agree. I am not familiar with the rules of SCCA racing, or what classes each car runs in, but Dave and I are experienced Track rats in the NSX, and have owned GSRs to. I am certain our lap times would be lower in an NSX.
Given equal driver, stock NSX to V6 Camaro, or C5 I have to expect lap times to be lower in the NSX.
I can see a professional driver wiping the track with your average NSX owner in anything he drives.
Just so I don't hijack this thread....
The new Acura Supercar will be faster than our MR NSXs regardless of it's configuration, again with same driver on same track.