Brazilian Ayrton Senna is regarded as one of the greatest rockstar Formula One drivers of all time. Ayrton (34) had 3 Formula One world titles under his belt when he fatally crashed in 1994 leading the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy. This movie will commemorate and showcase his gifted driving skills and lifestyle from birth to death. The film will also most likely highlight Senna’s constant safety concerns which made him consider retiring from the sport after Roland Ratzenberger died the previous day (the first fatal accident in Formula One in 12 years). The next morning (Ayrton’s last race) was ironically spent meeting fellow drivers to take on a new responsibility to re-create the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, a Drivers’ Safety group to increase safety in Formula One. As the most senior driver, he was offered to take the role of leader in this effort. Since Senna’s death, no drivers have died behind the wheel of a Formula One car, despite large accidents still occurring.

To this day, the cause of the accident has still not been fully determined with theories ranging from a steering column failure to the car simply bottoming out over the bumps on the Tamburello corner. Many court cases followed immediately afterwards.

Senna’s family did not allow FOM president Bernie Ecclestone to attend his funeral where more than 1 Million fans lined the street of São Paulo to give their salute.

Senna had a special relationship with Honda company founder Soichiro Honda and was beloved in Japan where he achieved a near mythic status and was involved in the development of the Acura NSX.

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Gordon Murray – Reflections on the Acura NSX

[Source: Wikipedia, Google Images, YouTube]

Gordon Murray is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the famous and ultra wicked awesome McLaren F1 supercar. This is a translated reflection on the ACURA NSX by the Automotive Rockstar Designer himself.

To this day, the NSX is still a car that is near and dear to my heart. I put 75,000 Km on my NSX over the course of six or seven years.

It’s very difficult to discuss the NSX using current values and sensibilities. When the NSX debuted, the word “supercar” was still a relatively new idea in Europe. There are some who would say the Lamborghini Miura from the late 1960s was the first supercar. However, the truth is the explosion of modern supercars really started at the end of the 1980s.

At the end of the 80s was the time when McLaren Cars was conceiving the idea for the McLaren F1. To that end, I was concentrating on coming up with what I wanted in a road car.

To my thinking, the ideal car is one in which I could get in the driver’s seat and be out for a drive in downtown London, and then want to continue straight on to the South of France. A car that you can trust, with functional air conditioning, and retains daily drivability. No offset pedals allowed. No high dashboards restricting your view either. Having a low roof hitting your head every time you go over a bump in the name of aerodynamics and styling is out of the question. It is essential that a supercar be a pleasure to drive, and anything detracting from that must be excised.

I started by driving the cars known then as “supercars.” The Porsche 959, Bugatti EB110, Ferrari F40, Jaguar XJ220. Unfortunately, none of these fit the pattern of the supercar we were trying to build. What we wanted was a relatively compact, usable driver’s car. The Porsche 911 had the usability, but with the engine packed in the back, it had a weakness in its handling stability.

During this time, we were able to visit with Ayrton Senna (the late F1 Champion) and Honda’s Tochigi Research Center. The visit related to the fact that at the time, McLaren’s F1 Grand Prix cars were using Honda engines.

Coincidentally, I spotted an NSX prototype parked near the course. I also learned at the time that Ayrton was assisting in the development of the NSX. And that Honda rear mid-engined sports car–the NSX–was the friendly supercar that we had been looking for. This car had perfectly functional air conditioning, a reasonably roomy trunk, and of course, it was a Honda, with the high levels of quality and reliability that implies.

Then I had the opportunity to drive it. Along with Ron Dennis (President, McLaren Cars) and Mansour Ojjeh (Tag McLaren Group Representative), we drove the prototype on the Tochigi Research Center test course. I remember being moved, thinking, “It is remarkable how our vision comes through in this car.”

Of course as you know, the engine has only six cylinders; however, the NSX’s very rigid chassis is excellent and would easily be capable of handling more power. Although it’s true I had thought it would have been better to put a larger engine, the moment I drove the “little” NSX, all the benchmark cars–Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini–I had been using as references in the development of my car vanished from my mind. Of course the car we would create, the McLaren F1, needed to be faster than the NSX, but the NSX’s ride quality and handling would become our new design target.

When working on the development of a new car for years, it’s easy to be caught in certain pitfalls. When you drive the car under development for testing every day (in truth, I was responsible for two-thirds of the testing for the McLaren F1), in that time, you can unknowingly convince yourself you are making progress when in fact you are not. For example, it’s human nature that at the end of a long day you may want to think that your efforts to reduce low speed harshness are working better than they are. It is at times like this when you need a car to compare with. In those situations, the NSX time and again showed us the path in the areas of ride quality and handling, and also helped us recognize when we weren’t making as much progress as we thought.

In my opinion, the NSX’s most special quality has long been overlooked.

That could be summarized with the words, “The NSX’s suspension is amazing.”

Both the body and suspension are aluminum, and it probably couldn’t be helped that journalists’ attention has been focused on praising the aluminum body. However, the suspension is the much more impressive use of aluminum.

It’s lightweight, tough, yet compliant. Also contributing to the refined NSX’s handling and ride quality are 17 inch wheels and tires that are not overly large. The NSX’s suspension is truly an ingenious system, and back then I imagined the development costs must have been enormous. To achieve that unparalleled accuracy and superior ride quality, longitudinal wheel movement is allowed via the use of a compliance pivot.

Compliance refers to when you travel over a bump, the tire experiences a longitudinal force, which the tire and suspension must move with and absorb the shock. The pivot couples the upper and lower arms. It is connected to the arms via ball joints so that they move as a unit. When encountering input, the pivot rotates, keeping alignment changes to near zero while retaining compliance (see diagram). The inspiration obtained from this NSX suspension system would later influence the development of the McLaren F1′s suspension.

The NSX was also the first car to use DBW (Drive By Wire). It felt very pleasing. DBW is when instead of using a mechanical cable, an electronic signal is used to communicate throttle position. It achieved a very natural, linear feeling throttle, and I can now hide my embarrassment and confess that I copied the idea during the development of the McLaren F1 (laughs).

The low-slung NSX’s driver’s seat position also provided just the right head clearance and an amazing field of view. The NSX development team moved the air conditioning unit away from the dash and deep into the NSX’s nose in order to obtain more space. That air conditioning unit is an excellent one, and normally, you don’t notice whether it’s on or not.

On the day I bought the NSX, I pressed the “Auto” button and since then until selling it, I never had to touch it. It was that perfect. Ah, I also remember the audio system as being very good.

However, the media wrote up the aluminum body, and the many merits and advantages I perceived in the NSX have largely been overlooked.

In my opinion, the NSX, while being such a great sports car, had two large flaws in it’s marketing. First, at the time, the public was not ready to accept a Japanese car that was this expensive. The second is that for supercar customers, the power figures were not quite high enough. Of course, the prototype’s engine was not bad, and soon the VTEC engine was added. Whenever I hear that VTEC sound it’s amazing. I am repeating myself, but the NSX’s excellent chassis would have been capable of handling much more power.

With just a slightly lower price, or possibly selling it with a different brand name and a different badge, or perhaps endowing it with a touch flashier and more aggressive styling and additional power, there is no question the NSX would have reigned as a cult star of the supercars.

However, during that time, in Honda’s philosophy there was a resistance to large engines with many cylinders. I am not certain, but probably at the time, the voluntary restraint on power limits was a factor. Being a fan of Honda engines, I later went to Honda’s Tochigi Research Center on two occasions and requested that they consider building for the McLaren F1 a 4.5 liter V10 or V12. I asked, I tried to persuade them, but in the end could not convince them to do it, and the McLaren F1 ended up equipped with a BMW engine.

The NSX’s development costs must have been enormous. Everything on it is unique. The chassis, powertrain, even the air conditioning are peerless. That aluminum body was very expensive. The numerous hurdles overcome by the NSX to reach production in areas such as spot welding, corrosion, and repairability make it a monumental work in automotive history. The philosophy of creating a car for human beings is apparent throughout. If it were me, I probably would not have obsessed over the aluminum and would have settled for a steel structure with aluminum panels to try to achieve a similar weight reduction. But what I really want to emphasize is the suspension. It is a a groundbreaking use of aluminum.

There are a few things that could be improved on the NSX. First, the tires are too soft. Over the seven years I ran mine, I went through 14 sets of tires. After changing over to harder-compound Michelins in the rear, my tire life increased. As a result, rear grip was decreased slightly, but driving became more fun. The NSX’s traction control and ABS are first generation systems and as a result are somewhat slow-acting. I also missed having more storage space in the interior. However, such things hardly seem significant in a sports car of this caliber.

The NSX is a landmark car. It awoke not only a lazy Ferrari, but Porsche as well and sparked advances in usability, ergonomics, and handling. It may not have achieved success from a marketing standpoint, but many influential and important people have owned them. The NSX is also unusual in that it continued to be on sale for so long. If I were to looking for that type of car now, I would–without a doubt–gladly own an NSX again.

CHECKOUT: NSX PHOTO ALBUMS HERE

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[Original Source: Honda.co.jp]
[Translated Source: docs.google.com]

Top tuners in the Nissan and Honda sectors come together for the first time on US ground. Mine’s Motorsports president Michizo Niikura explains and shows us Mine’s Motorsports Tuned Nissan R35 GT-R (Also checkout 600hp Nissan GT-R – Amuse Tuned) and Spoon president Tatsuru Ichishima explains the limited production NSX-R GT.

Daijiro Yoshihara drives the Mine?s GT-R and Tyler McQuarrie drives the Spoon NSX-R GT

Don’t forget to checkout the Nissan GT-R R35 Photos – Tuned by Garage Defend

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[Source: GTChannel.com]

We have recently been treated to several zebra-pattern camouflage 2010 NSX spottings in June at the Nurbrugring in Germany and as a result here are some speculative renderings to surface of Honda’s new V10 powered Acura NSX replacement.

Rumored to be fitted with a 5.5-liter V10 which should generate more than 600 horsepower and 450 some ft-lbs of torque, the future NSX will produce a beautiful exhaust note. The V10 can deactivate five cylinders to save fuel and lower emissions when driving the car like a senior citizen. It’s price tag should be around $160,000.

[Source: Edmunds.com, MotorAuthority.com, WorldCarFans.com]

Another Spy Video (3 mins!) of the 2010 Acura NSX screaming around the Nurburgring!

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Confirmed: New Acura NSX to Arrive in 2010

[Source: YouTube.com]

Here is a spy video following up on this weeks earlier 2010 Acura NSX SPY PHOTOS !!

THE CAR SOUNDS AMAZING, IT is going to be such a BAD ASS NSX!!!!

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2010 Acura NSX SPY Photos – Pre-Production Pics

[Source: BridgeToGantry.com]

FINALLY!!! Honda has apparently started testing pre-production prototypes of its highly anticipated 2010 Acura NSX, as speculated by these recent spy photos taken in Germany.

This pre-production prototype appears to be loosely based on the recent NAIAS Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept which received a lot of different reactions from many prominent automotive enthousiasts.

The new NSX, which has been delayed more than a UAW strike, is expected to incorporate a front-mounted, 550 hp V10 engine and a new high-performance, rear-wheel-drive based version of Acura’s `Super Handling All-Wheel Drive’ (SH-AWD).

According to Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., the delay has been because designers couldn’t agree on the NSX’s styling. “All of the designers are working together on the NSX, but they can’t agree on the styling,” he said in January this year. I think this is going prove to be a good thing in its final design, hopefully another beautiful and timeless design will come of this!!

American Honda President and CEO Tetsuo Iwamura recently confirmed the NSX will be launched in the U.S. in 2010. Honda will also be launching the Acura brand in Japan and Europe around the same time, but the automaker says it will launch the NSX in the U.S. market first.

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Confirmed: New Acura NSX to Arrive in 2010

[Source: LeftLaneNews.com, BrendaPriddyAndCompany.com]

Autocar has gotten word from a Honda insider that the NSX is bound for the 2009 Tokyo show, sporting a new front end that “has Chevrolet Corvette undertones” and is slated to for production in the fall of 2010.

The new NSX will supposedly kick off Honda’s first serious attempt at producing rear-wheel-drive vehicles to rival BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Infiniti, including new platforms that will underpin Acura’s larger sedan offerings and an S2000-based Acura sports car that takes aim at the Mercedes SLK. The launch of Acura’s 7-series fighter isn’t due to make an appearance until 2015. For Honda’ sake, let’s hope they can expedite development to make it happen around the turn of the decade.

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Confirmed: New Acura NSX to Arrive in 2010

Honda has aspirations to compete with Lexus, Infiniti and BMW in Europe, and Acura is the obvious platform from which to launch that assault.

Insiders told AutoCar that there will be a range of Acura models alongside the NSX. Honda will switch to rear-wheel drive for its large saloons and develop a range of more powerful engines.

The first new saloon will be a BMW 7-series rival, scheduled for launch in 2015.

Another new model could be an S2000-based Acura sports car, which would replace the ageing Honda two-seater, taking it more upmarket to rival the Mercedes SLK.

If Acura is to have an impact on the European market, it will require a huge investment from its parent company, but the brand needs sales here to succeed.

[Source: AutoCar.com, AutoBlog.com]

Confirming widespread speculation, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. CEO Tesuo Iwamura told WardsAuto.com “We are developing it without any delay, so most probably we will have it in the period we already promised”. The car will arrive in 2010.

However, 2010 is at least a year later than the 2008-2009 time frame earlier set by Honda Motor Co. Ltd. CEO Takeo Fukui.

“We are now focused on the development of a new model to succeed the Acura NSX for a new era,” Fukui said in a July 2005 speech. “We would like to debut a new super sports car equipped with a V-10 engine in three to four years.”

Last January, Honda unveiled the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept (see photo below) at the North American International Auto Show, saying it hinted at the new Acura NSX.

[Source: WardsAuto.com, WorldCarFans.com]

Due to an unfortunate incident, my 1993 Honda Prelude SR-V requires a new engine. I had just installed a JDM H22A no less than 4 years ago when I bought the car and it still drove like new. I will get into the full details about my prelude issue once I serve a particular service station with a small claims suit. Yes they don’t want to take ownership for something they did resulting in my engine requiring to be replaced.

I wasnt planning on starting to look for my next car until next year, and I have been on the deciding fence for the last 5 years. I had narrowed it down to either a used Porsche 911 C4S $50k-60k CAD or a used Acura NSX $35k-45k CAD. Both amazing engineering masterpieces, both amazingly fun to drive. However the C4S would have been a yearly-daily driver where as the NSX would only be able to be driven 8 months of the year. We get some nasty weather and there is enough snow and salt to make even undercoated 4×4′s cringe during winter.

I recently made my decision based on my love to drive and my love for Honda Engineering.

Decision made, my next car is going to be: NSX

1st Test Drive:

Year: 1996 NSX Targa
Mileage: 49,000 miles (US car)
Wheels: 17/18 Inch Enkei BORTEX RPM 2
Tires: Kumho Ecsta 215/40/R17
Price: $44,900

I went to test drive a Red 1996 Acura NSX Targa still for sale in the AutoTrader.ca. The car was in Burlington and I had the opportunity to take it for a solid 20 minute drive. The owner was comfortable enough to allow me to drive it as I wish, and had no problem with me pushing the car to 7500rpm for a couple shifts.

This is the 3rd NSX I have driven (both previous TD’s have been 91′s) but is the first Targa I have driven.

I am not even considering a Targa, but needed to see and feel the torsional loss due to the Targa Top.

When asked how many owners this car had, the owner replied with ‘i don’t know’. Not a good way to start off when selling your NSX to somebody extremely serious about purchasing an NSX. After talking with the owner, I easily felt that this car was purely bought for joyriding and show boating.

The car started cleanly, it was a sunny Sunday, about 20 degrees out, I started the car and the SRS stayed on until I turned the car off and back on again. The owner said he had never seen that before. (strike 2). The engine light also remained on during the entire test drive. (strike 3) The passenger side window went up about 95%, then when the window met the A-pillar, it required opening the door to complete the window closure. (strike 3)

After letting the car idle for a solid 10 minutes (temp gauge 3/8), we got in and drove away. I drove it very gingerly during the first 5 minutes as I waited for the temperature gauge to get to 1/2. (Habit from driving my 1993 Prelude SR-V). The driver said “its ok if you want to drive it and redline a couple shifts” and I said I was just waiting for the car to properly warm up. He replied “it should be ok by now”. (strike 4).

I drove it on some service roads, over some bumps, curves, on and off ramps, and avoided the highway due to an accident I noticed on the way down. I noticed that the car was not as tight as the non-targa on some corners and over some major bumbs, but my senses could have been tricked from the experience of having the targa top off.

The last thing I noted was the non-symmetrical gap between the engine bay glass cover and the passenger side body panel where the two meet. (strike 5) There seemed to be a noticeably larger gap on the passenger side. I wonder if this is a body panel alignment issue, possibly from an accident or repair, and also assumed that it was probably connected to the passenger side window not being able to fully close without opening the door.

This would be the opposite end of the spectrum of what I am looking for. At $44,900 it is priced to sell, just not for someone who values the NSX and is serious about its current condition.

So The Hunt Continues……