I went looking for the January 2004 issue of Top Gear that was mentioned in another thread. My local bookstore still had the December 2003 issue, which turned out to have something interesting in it that I have not seen posted here. From their Tokyo Aut o Show coverage part 2, on page 58:
Honda was always going to have enthusiasts in a flap, whenever it chose to release details of the replacements for its 13-year-old NSX. But they'll be beside themselves with anticipation upon learning of TG's exclusive news that it will be powered by an all-new V8 engine. Or a new V10. Or maybe a hybrid petrol-electric set-up...
Now bear with us. You see, all three options were put forward by an engagingly enigmatic Takeo Fukui, Honda's President and CEO, over a cosy dinner for 500 of his closest friends in the media last month. Yours truly included.
We have to assume that he does know what he's talking about. The car will be on sale in the UK by 2006, so it's not as if he hasn't signed the engineering team's expenses yet; it's just that he likes a bit of a wind up, we figured.
This much we do know: "NSX should beat Ferrari. Currently we have a V6 and that would not be sufficient. But we do have V8 and V10 engines with Honda names..." Thus spoke Fukui-san, referring of course to the V8 and V10 engines that power the company's Indy Racing Leage and F1 cars respectively. He also threw us this curve ball: "There is a market for an enviromental [-ly friendly] supercar concept. NSX could be that concept provided it still gave great driving pleasure." Honda showed a petrol-electric IMA supercar a couple of years ago, don't forget, but nobody took it very seriously. And Fukui reckons a supercar doesn't have to sound horny to sell well.
So. Confused? We were. Tetsuya Kato, the dapper editor of _Car Graphic_, Japan's biggest car mag, hasn't a clue either, but he says he does know Honda has a V8 rear-wheel-drive platform on the shelf ready to go. So let's assume the new NSX will be a V8. For now.
And assume the car will look pretty much like the badly-drawn Enzo lookalike you see here, christened HSC with almost as much imagination as it's Italian nemesis. It stands for Honda Sports Concept. What's that? You'd already guessed?
HSC uses the same aluminum monocoque construction as the current NSX ('New Sportscar X', in case you'd forgotten), only it also features some carbon-fibre composite body panels. It is, and the new NSX will be, lighter than the current all-aluminum car. And so it should be, the HSC is significantly smaller than the NSX: seven inches shorter thanks to the deletion of the NSX's questionable boot, and a smidge less tall too.
There are some lovely design and engineering touches inside and out: a real race-car style square-cut arse end with big, round LED lamps that look like afterburners and little rear-facing cameras that combine with door cameras to give a wide-angle, 3D view of the road behind. There's a 3D look to the main instruments too.
Meanwhile, like Ferrari, HOnda has pretty much abandoned the gearstick in favor of steering wheel paddles for on-the-move shifting, but there's a rotary knob to engage reverse and automatic mode (not a grotty little toggle like the Italians use). Finally, liberating even more space for your knees is an electronic parking brake. All of which is likely to make it through to production.
Still, amidst the confusion over the powertrain for the finished item, TG can reveal that there's life left in today's model. If you can't wait for the next NSX, there's always the NSX-R, the retuned, slick-tyred, light-weight part-carbon-bodied version of the current car. The R will be available to personal order in the UK from spring next year for around L70,000 and car number one has been bagged by Jenson Button no less. It's apparently part of his contract with BAR-Honda, although Mr Fukui might have something to say about that. One thing he wasn't in any way obtuse about was BAR's performance. "We must be winning in F1 before we launch the new NSX..."
Honda was always going to have enthusiasts in a flap, whenever it chose to release details of the replacements for its 13-year-old NSX. But they'll be beside themselves with anticipation upon learning of TG's exclusive news that it will be powered by an all-new V8 engine. Or a new V10. Or maybe a hybrid petrol-electric set-up...
Now bear with us. You see, all three options were put forward by an engagingly enigmatic Takeo Fukui, Honda's President and CEO, over a cosy dinner for 500 of his closest friends in the media last month. Yours truly included.
We have to assume that he does know what he's talking about. The car will be on sale in the UK by 2006, so it's not as if he hasn't signed the engineering team's expenses yet; it's just that he likes a bit of a wind up, we figured.
This much we do know: "NSX should beat Ferrari. Currently we have a V6 and that would not be sufficient. But we do have V8 and V10 engines with Honda names..." Thus spoke Fukui-san, referring of course to the V8 and V10 engines that power the company's Indy Racing Leage and F1 cars respectively. He also threw us this curve ball: "There is a market for an enviromental [-ly friendly] supercar concept. NSX could be that concept provided it still gave great driving pleasure." Honda showed a petrol-electric IMA supercar a couple of years ago, don't forget, but nobody took it very seriously. And Fukui reckons a supercar doesn't have to sound horny to sell well.
So. Confused? We were. Tetsuya Kato, the dapper editor of _Car Graphic_, Japan's biggest car mag, hasn't a clue either, but he says he does know Honda has a V8 rear-wheel-drive platform on the shelf ready to go. So let's assume the new NSX will be a V8. For now.
And assume the car will look pretty much like the badly-drawn Enzo lookalike you see here, christened HSC with almost as much imagination as it's Italian nemesis. It stands for Honda Sports Concept. What's that? You'd already guessed?
HSC uses the same aluminum monocoque construction as the current NSX ('New Sportscar X', in case you'd forgotten), only it also features some carbon-fibre composite body panels. It is, and the new NSX will be, lighter than the current all-aluminum car. And so it should be, the HSC is significantly smaller than the NSX: seven inches shorter thanks to the deletion of the NSX's questionable boot, and a smidge less tall too.
There are some lovely design and engineering touches inside and out: a real race-car style square-cut arse end with big, round LED lamps that look like afterburners and little rear-facing cameras that combine with door cameras to give a wide-angle, 3D view of the road behind. There's a 3D look to the main instruments too.
Meanwhile, like Ferrari, HOnda has pretty much abandoned the gearstick in favor of steering wheel paddles for on-the-move shifting, but there's a rotary knob to engage reverse and automatic mode (not a grotty little toggle like the Italians use). Finally, liberating even more space for your knees is an electronic parking brake. All of which is likely to make it through to production.
Still, amidst the confusion over the powertrain for the finished item, TG can reveal that there's life left in today's model. If you can't wait for the next NSX, there's always the NSX-R, the retuned, slick-tyred, light-weight part-carbon-bodied version of the current car. The R will be available to personal order in the UK from spring next year for around L70,000 and car number one has been bagged by Jenson Button no less. It's apparently part of his contract with BAR-Honda, although Mr Fukui might have something to say about that. One thing he wasn't in any way obtuse about was BAR's performance. "We must be winning in F1 before we launch the new NSX..."
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