It’s always easy to promote a revisionist history
but it’s probably fair to say if the Honda NSX had come from the factory with
twin turbos, it would have become the enthusiasts’ plaything like the Skyline
GTR or the Supra turbo. Instead, despite its technically superior mid-engine
rear-wheel-drive layout layout, aluminium monocoque construction and looks
arguably far better than either the Skyline or Supra, the NSX has languished in
the middle ground of cars that look good and handle well - but don’t go
ultra-hard.
So it’s ironic to find that during its
development, twin turbo, V8 and all-wheel drive versions were considered!
The story of the NSX is covered in Acura NSX –
Honda’s Supercar. Published by Veloce, the 224-page hardback is all-colour
and uses high quality gloss paper. The book, authored by Brian Long, is one of
the relatively rare publications devoted to a single Japanese performance car.
Mr Long lives in Japan and so it could be expected that his publication would
have a detailed, insiders’ viewpoint of the NSX, its genesis and subsequent
iterations. However, that’s not really the case – the publication is more a
collection of new car pamphlets and text snippets from contemporary road tests
from around the world. So don’t look for a detailed analysis of the mechanicals,
or even spec sheets showing the different models.
But with that kept in mind, the book is still
worth buying: its paper and print quality are excellent and so the dozens of
pages of new car pamphlets retain their attraction for those who love the NSX.
After all, those same pamphlets helped sell the car and so they’re bloody
good!
The opening chapter is a brief history of the
Honda marque, dominated – as have all major marques – by a single man, in this
case Soichiro Honda. His production of piston rings, then motorcycles, then
cars, is covered in a dozen pages with some of the most interesting content
being (yep, you guessed it!) original Honda print ads for the S800 and N360
cars, and Civic CVCC technology..
The next text-based chapter is probably the book’s
best: the development of the NSX concept. What layout to adopt, whether to use
four wheel drive (it would have added too much weight) or four-wheel steering
(another 29kg), the aerodynamic refinements and the choice and development of
engine are all briefly covered. For those interested in the technical, this is
the chapter which could have been four or five times as long – surely Honda
published engineering papers on the development of the car that would have been
a rich source of tech nitty-gritty? There’s an interview with the NSX’s chief
engineer but the opportunity is wasted with only a handful of pedestrian
questions asked. But the drawings of the suspension, VTEC system gearbox and LSD
are all interesting – although the captions and text tend not to explain any of
the details.
From the next chapter onwards, the pamphlet
extravaganza begins! Over no less than the following 28 pages is the first US
brochure, with some pages reproduced a little small (but still readable) and
other pages at what must be close to the original sizing. Fantastic cutaway
diagrams, discussion of the development philosophy, photos of the NSX body in
its bare aluminium, body design, aerodynamics, engine design, the interior, the
manufacture, and a full specifications sheet (the only one in the book) –
they’re all here with excellent reproduction. Following that are 17 pages of the
original Japanese NSX brochure – interesting, but unless you can read Japanese,
not of the same fascination as the US-market pamphlet.
From there the book moves through the different
years and models, covering the harder-edged Type R, the open NSX-T, and the Type
S. All these models are covered in 22 pages showing a Japanese market pamphlet
of the time. Racing NSXs have their own chapter and then the last, fixed
headlight NSX design is described.
The book is short on analysis – there’s no real
discussion of how the voluntary 280ps power limit hamstrung the naturally
aspirated NSX in a way the turbo GTR and Supra could circumvent with their much
higher forced aspiration average torque values, and the NSX’s relative lack of
success – it appears under 20,000 were sold – is never really gone into. (Or,
conversely, should that production figure be seen as very successful, given
Honda was pitching the car at the Ferrari end of the market? Either way, it
would make for an interesting analysis!) There’s no coverage of modified NSXs
and nothing to help someone considering buying a used NSX. The drive impressions
are extensive but they’re all based around new car tests of the time each model
was released – it’s always interesting to perform a retrospective driving
comparison and see the strengths and weaknesses of the older models from a
current perspective, but this isn’t done.
But with that said, without buying collectors’
copies, where else are you going to get so many pages of new car NSX pamphlets?
For both the casual browser or the avid enthusiast armed with a magnifying
glass, there’s plenty here to look at. It’s just a pity Mr Long didn’t take the
book to the next level of inquiry.
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Acura
NSX – Honda’s Supercar, Brian Long, Veloce Publishing, ISBN 1-904788-43-2, www.veloce.co.uk
Review copy provided gratis by the publisher
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