Haute Saintonge is a small track (2.2 km) that's the closest to where I live so it's a good venue to calibrate the changes made to my LoveFab NSX.
Since my last trip there, I solved the leak between the turbo and the TB, I installed my NA2 ABS system ( thanks Kaz), I relocated my rear cylinder bank catch can and the car is now shod with Avon ZZR semi-slicks.
The track was dry and around 20°C ambient temperature.
My best lap previously with Toyo R 888 tires was in the high 1'07's.
This time "Track Addict" measured a best of 1'05.5 meaning that I gained more than 2.5 seconds a lap.
I was of course hoping for more but we all know how difficult it is to gain the last second...
BTW I'm still on my Bilstein Zanardi suspension combo and while the car felt a "little" loose it was really well balanced front to rear specially in a very tricky "parabolic" turn where it would severely understeer previously.
Now for the really good news.
Two Porsches attented the same meeting one a 981 GT3 (476 bhp) and the other a Cayman GT4 (385 bhp), two genuine track weapons.
I had the opportunity to race both and to be driven in each.
My personal dream was to own a GT4 until then and sure enough the car is really fast ( the driver was very good) and he lapped maybe a second faster than my NSX but only because the car was more stable in a dangerous blind downhill bend that I didn't dare take at at the same speed.
Pulling out of the curves however, he could not stay with me and was obliged to brake really hard at the end of the straights to regain the lost time.
As a passenger, I noted that the car was really lacking torque and all in all I was disappointed and by far preferred my NSX with it's weaknesses.
Next came the GT3, now this is someting else, gone the manual gearbox against a PDK, gone the 8K redline against 9K.
Both cars ran on Michelin Sport Cup 2's but here the stability was absolutely out of this world.
The braking performance is unbelievable lap after lap and my head would hit the neck protection each time the PDK shifted at 9000 rpm.
I just couldn't believe how fast we were going until I read the onboard chronograph: 1'06 consistently.
Alone on board he managed a best of 1'04.5 exactly one second faster than my NSX.
Admittedly we was not as fast as the Cayman driver and the gap would have been larger with a more experienced driver but all the same having my NSX running comparable times to these Porsches made my day believe me.
This brings me to another conclusion: the NA days for cars are over!
Can you imagine that it took Porsche 20 years of development to create a car that has to rev at 9K rpm to keep a turbocharged NSX at bay.
I had come away from the passenger experience in the new NSX with some doubts but I now believe that if Honda produced the same car without the electric motors in a GT3 spirit that I would choose it without any hesitation ( if I had the money of course!)
The guy in the GT3 took a video that I'll try to post when I get it.
Since my last trip there, I solved the leak between the turbo and the TB, I installed my NA2 ABS system ( thanks Kaz), I relocated my rear cylinder bank catch can and the car is now shod with Avon ZZR semi-slicks.
The track was dry and around 20°C ambient temperature.
My best lap previously with Toyo R 888 tires was in the high 1'07's.
This time "Track Addict" measured a best of 1'05.5 meaning that I gained more than 2.5 seconds a lap.
I was of course hoping for more but we all know how difficult it is to gain the last second...
BTW I'm still on my Bilstein Zanardi suspension combo and while the car felt a "little" loose it was really well balanced front to rear specially in a very tricky "parabolic" turn where it would severely understeer previously.
Now for the really good news.
Two Porsches attented the same meeting one a 981 GT3 (476 bhp) and the other a Cayman GT4 (385 bhp), two genuine track weapons.
I had the opportunity to race both and to be driven in each.
My personal dream was to own a GT4 until then and sure enough the car is really fast ( the driver was very good) and he lapped maybe a second faster than my NSX but only because the car was more stable in a dangerous blind downhill bend that I didn't dare take at at the same speed.
Pulling out of the curves however, he could not stay with me and was obliged to brake really hard at the end of the straights to regain the lost time.
As a passenger, I noted that the car was really lacking torque and all in all I was disappointed and by far preferred my NSX with it's weaknesses.
Next came the GT3, now this is someting else, gone the manual gearbox against a PDK, gone the 8K redline against 9K.
Both cars ran on Michelin Sport Cup 2's but here the stability was absolutely out of this world.
The braking performance is unbelievable lap after lap and my head would hit the neck protection each time the PDK shifted at 9000 rpm.
I just couldn't believe how fast we were going until I read the onboard chronograph: 1'06 consistently.
Alone on board he managed a best of 1'04.5 exactly one second faster than my NSX.
Admittedly we was not as fast as the Cayman driver and the gap would have been larger with a more experienced driver but all the same having my NSX running comparable times to these Porsches made my day believe me.
This brings me to another conclusion: the NA days for cars are over!
Can you imagine that it took Porsche 20 years of development to create a car that has to rev at 9K rpm to keep a turbocharged NSX at bay.
I had come away from the passenger experience in the new NSX with some doubts but I now believe that if Honda produced the same car without the electric motors in a GT3 spirit that I would choose it without any hesitation ( if I had the money of course!)
The guy in the GT3 took a video that I'll try to post when I get it.
