Tips to enhance NSX track performance?

[andrewnathann3]

Hello NSX Prime community! I'm planning to track my NSX and I'm seeking advice on maximizing its performance on the track. Can you please provide recommendations for suspension upgrades, brake system enhancements, aerodynamic improvements, and any other modifications or techniques that can help me optimize my NSX's track capabilities? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Honcho]

Hello NSX Prime community! I'm planning to track my NSX and I'm seeking advice on maximizing its performance on the track. Can you please provide recommendations for suspension upgrades, brake system enhancements, aerodynamic improvements, and any other modifications or techniques that can help me optimize my NSX's track capabilities? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

What year NSX? is it a T or coupe? Tires are going to be the best mod. My recommendation for most people is to have a fresh suspension (either OEM or aftermarket), good brake pads and fluid. That's all you really need for the NSX.

What is your track experience level? Most mods beyond the above are really worthless unless you are a more advanced driver.

 

[esqu1re]

Something something upgrade the nut behind the wheel first.

Brake fluid, pads, tires. Maybe oil pan with baffles. Sway bar(s) after? Then realize everyone is running miatas and that's where it's at because $50 rotor changes!

 

[Zoom]

In addition to what others said (good tires, brake fluid, brake pads) - a Koyo rad and maybe a vented hood if you go for longer sessions, as stock setup tends to overheat after a while (depending on your track conditions of course). I second the oil pan baffle, you'll get oil starvation otherwise, especially with sticky tires. SS braided brake lines are a good investment too.

 

[Track Addict]

I have over 30k track miles on my NSX and the #1 best mod for me has been gearing. I put a 6 speed in, but a JDM 5 speed would do just as well. Depending on your skill level I would suggest good brake pads, and lose as much weight as possible.

I drove the pants off my car in near stock form for ~10 years and it’s more than capable compared to most of today’s Sportscars. Learn to really extract the most from the car before you go spending lots of money on upgrades imho.

Good suspension, tires, brake pads. eventually you’ll get to a place where it just isn’t enough and need more: power, aero, suspension, brakes, etc.

Takes time and a lot of learning. HAVE FUN!

 

[EN ES EX]

Great Advice from "Track Addict". Learn the NSX on track first before doing heavy mod's.

Brakes and Tires are the most important and then suspension.

 

[francisluu]

How should one consider cooling? My car has an uprated Koyorad radiator but nothing on the oil temperature side of things. At what point should an oil cooler be considered?

On a similar note, is a baffled oil pan a must or only if you're using today's 200TW tires and/or frequent tracks with longer high speed sweepers (does left or right-hand corners matter?)?

 

[Honcho]

How should one consider cooling? My car has an uprated Koyorad radiator but nothing on the oil temperature side of things. At what point should an oil cooler be considered?

On a similar note, is a baffled oil pan a must or only if you're using today's 200TW tires and/or frequent tracks with longer high speed sweepers (does left or right-hand corners matter?)?

On the NSX, oil cooling has only been necessary on FI cars, since they generate considerably more heat than NA applications. Still, oil temp is an issue on the track. For example, I added a warning circuit to my gauge cluster to flash a light when my oil goes above 260F. If I see the light, I know to "knock it off" and run a cooldown lap. The NSX-R from video fame was well known to overheat after 5 laps in the summer, hence the "3 lap battle" LOL.

Keep in mind that the NSX already has an oil cooler that shares coolant with the radiator, so any upgrades to the water cooling loop will incidentally improve oil cooling as well. Thus, if you're really worried about oil temps, a better first step versus plumbing a new oil cooler is to upgrade to a dual or triple pass racing radiator. The Koyo is a single-pass design, but does have a better heat sink with about 30% more coolant capacity.

I always recommend a baffle if you're tracking, but it's technically not necessary. There are MANY NSXs that tracked regularly in the 1990's and 2000's without any issues. However, those cars were typically stock on stock tires. Once you start improving performance, you're going to carry more speed through the corners than in a stock NSX. That's the danger zone. The pan was designed to provide adequate oil supply at the limits of the stock power and tire grip. once you go beyond that, you're pushing beyond the capacity of the pan. Hence the baffle.

My personal rule of thumb is you should do the baffle if you track on anything more sticky than a ~300TW "max performance" tire (Pilot Super Sport or Conti ECS) OR you have increased the power of your engine. The key here is speed through the corners- more speed means more lateral G. If anything you do to the car makes it carry more speed, think about a baffle.

I recall @R13 did a video on this at Daytona. Might be worth checking it out.

 

[stuntman]

What's your background, track experience, and objectives?

This will determine the best next steps.

When pushed to its capabilities on modern 200tw tires, oil starvation and oil overheating can be an issue on stock engine cars. But 90% of people who track their NSXs don't drive to the level where this is an issue.

 

[francisluu]

What's your background, track experience, and objectives?

This will determine the best next steps.

When pushed to its capabilities on modern 200tw tires, oil starvation and oil overheating can be an issue on stock engine cars. But 90% of people who track their NSXs don't drive to the level where this is an issue.

Not in the NSX, but I dabble with a Cayman —

 

[docjohn]

I lost an engine at pocono on R compounds once I was more experienced, that was without a baffle and billet pump gears ect...Live and learn..

 

[francisluu]

* adds baffled pan to cart *

 

[stuntman]

Okay, so you are reasonably experienced. What tires do you plan on running and are you going to add aero?

A baffle is a requirement, but even then, on modern 200tw tires and modest downforce from 2002 NSX-R aero (which is actually pretty decent and has net downforce front and rear), I was having oil starvation issues which led me to develop a dry sump oiling system for the car.

A 6-spd or jdm 5spd ratios and a 4.23 final drive will improve lap times and response a ton.

 

[francisluu]

Okay, so you are reasonably experienced. What tires do you plan on running and are you going to add aero?

A baffle is a requirement, but even then, on modern 200tw tires and modest downforce from 2002 NSX-R aero (which is actually pretty decent and has net downforce front and rear), I was having oil starvation issues which led me to develop a dry sump oiling system for the car.

A 6-spd or jdm 5spd ratios and a 4.23 final drive will improve lap times and response a ton.

Like many of us here there's definitely a list of to-dos, hah — NSX-R (ish) aero, I have a 4.4 ATS LSD and associated parts in a box somewhere for my six-speed, and plan on running Nankang CR-S which I really like having had them on the Cayman.

 

[Honcho]

@francisluu you have some ability, so I agree with Billy- do a baffle at a minimum. I went with the Cedar Ridge and had Dave add an oil temp boss:



Dave does really good work and there are over 100 of these out in the wild with no reported failures.

As for tires, it depends on how you will drive the car. For an all-around high performance tire that can also track well, I run the Conti ECS, basically because Billy (@stuntman) reviewed them and really liked them. They're ~300TW so not super sticky like a R comp, but have plenty of grip and are very linear and predictable. I like the sidewall feel- firm but smooth if that makes sense. They're great in the wet too.

For a dedicated track tire, the RE-71R has been the hotness for the NSX for years, though a lot of people are reporting the Yokohama AO52 is similar in feel/lap time.

 

[R13]

If I could time travel back 10-15 years and hand myself some money and shopping list for making my NSX more track-resilient (if not any quicker):

• I'd probably opt for a Masiv or other stouter radiator for the cooling capacity vs. the Koyo, and found a way to offset the weight. It's not like most of my lap times have counted for anything other than feeling good about improving. In light of the stock oil/water cooler, this would also raise the service envelope of the system before needing to do things like adding complexity with separate oil coolers.
  • Nothing wrong with the Koyo, but it's been a wash for me since as I've improved as a driver I've essentially "caught up" to it's added efficiency in context of the rest of my setup on a stock-ish car, so on hot days or at more technical slow-speed/high-rpm tracks things will start getting toasty after a half dozen laps.
• I'd have gone straight to a high capacity oil pan with baffles and an oil temp sensor. This accomplishes a few things:
  • Increases the thermal mass of oil in the system as a whole
  • By increasing the oil volume you're taking a step towards mitigating slosh risk.
    • The C series motors with VTEC on both intake & exhaust are oil-thirsty such that extended time in VTEC can lead to the majority of the stock ~5.5qts being somewhere other than the pan. The system is reportedly also on the slow side for drain-back. Coupling extended VTEC with some severe/extended cornering load is the recipe for disaster. (and yeah, long right handers are more dangerous due to the location of the pickup relative to the rest of the oil pan, but you can accomplish slosh in either direction with enough enthusiasm)
    • More oil period means more oil in the pan at a given moment no matter what which means theoretically less likelihood of leaving your pickup dry.
    • Several of the high capacity pans come with temp sensor bungs you can use towards getting oil temp data to inform future reliability mods.
• I was already running a balancer shield, but that or an ATI damper should be a "no matter what" mod.
• I've had zero issues with running Hawk HP+ pads in the stock calipers with braided lines and appropriately-spicy brake fluid. That said, I'd have probably told myself to experiment with pads with a higher working temp ceiling.

*adding the asterisk that if I could hand myself a LOT more money, I'd have followed through on one of Billy's dry sumps. Long term it would have saved me money at this point.

 

[Zoom]

• I was already running a balancer shield, but that or an ATI damper should be a "no matter what" mod.
• I've had zero issues with running Hawk HP+ pads in the stock calipers with braided lines and appropriately-spicy brake fluid. (...)

I can confirm these two points, same experience. I've seen ruined engines from the stock harmonic damper. Get the shield at least or better the ATI damper indeed. I still got fading on Hawk HP+ after 5 laps at Spa but that's a really fast track. Zero problem on mountain roads though.

 

[R13]

I can confirm these two points, same experience. I've seen ruined engines from the stock harmonic damper. Get the shield at least or better the ATI damper indeed. I still got fading on Hawk HP+ after 5 laps at Spa but that's a really fast track. Zero problem on mountain roads though.

Lucky! I haven't done Spa yet, but Road Atlanta and the Daytona road course are probably the highest v-max tracks I've been to in the States and managed not to have issues (Daytona was an even 150 into the T1 braking zone). Then again, there's also a lot of time between turns most places for the brakes to cool back off.

 

[Zoom]

Spa is really intense like most F1 tracks are - I suppose on your side of the pond an equivalent would be Laguna Seca maybe ?

 

[stuntman]

Spa is really intense like most F1 tracks are - I suppose on your side of the pond an equivalent would be Laguna Seca maybe ?

Laguna is a slower track. I would say Mosport might be the closest but even so it doesn't compare.