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So I had signed up for an Xtreme Xperience ride in the 2017 Acura NSX at my local motorsports park, and got to enjoy that ride yesterday.
Wow! What an experience it was to drive this thing at speed on a challenging and fun track. Atlanta Motorsports park is a lovely track located just 5 miles from where I live, so after short jaunt over in my Acura RL, I signed up for as many extra laps as were available in my time-slot, so I had a total of 9 laps in the NSX, all back-to-back with a pit drive-thru every 3 laps.
The comfort of the cabin is incredible, it is seriously well designed and put together. Visibility is great, and you need it at AMP, as you have to look out the side windows on several of the corners to keep you eyes on the next apex. That and the changing elevations means good sightlines over the hood and fenders is likewise critical, in the NSX I had no problem keeping sight of the track over the blind crest at turn 12.
Now, I've driven this track before, first in a Nissan GT-R and then a full day performance driving course using my own highly modified WRX. So good AWD experience on a track where it can be a decided advantage, such as coming out of turn 6 (a tight, cresting right hander).
My first few laps were not that fast, as I was behind some slower cars and was getting re-aquainted with the track and familiarizing myself with the NSX. But it was easy to feel the Super Handling torque vectoring both in deceleration and acceleration. Such as in turn 4 (wide radius sweeper with two apexes) one lifts slightly to tuck in the nose to head for the second apex, and the regen torque vectoring makes it super-easy. Coming off of turn 6, one can get on the power early and thanks to both AWD and SH, it just rotates and charges ahead. One can see that in the G-Meter from the Vbox recording where I was pulling about equal forces for lateral and acceleration G's.
By the fourth lap, I was fully ready to start to push it a bit more, and passed a Hurracán and a Ferrari to get on the tail of the pace car. Lap 6 was a good one, as I was feeling the tires hitting their limits in a few of the tighter corners. Blasting up onto the straightaway at over 100Mph and goosing it down the straightaway to over 130Mph was exhilarating. This thing has power at any speed, and brakes are astounding. I was seriously impressed with the pedal feel, which is entirely synthetic, but just felt right no matter what. The car does make funny noises under heavy braking, as there is a combination of regen from the TMU and the computer-controlled friction brakes. But I was entirely comfortable with them and it was easy to trust them going into turn one where you need to slow down to 40Mph (from 130).
The final three laps were a blast, as I was just behind the pace car and was able to push hard enough to get the tires to squirm on 6 and 11 and was actually held up by the pace car on the straights.
I could do this all day long. But those laps were quite memorable. The NSX is a dream machine of mine, and this chance was wonderful.
Now I'm more eager than ever to get my 4-door NSX, the Acura RLX Sports-Hybrid as my daily driver.
I'm 5' 8" with a 30" inseam, 150Lbs. It even felt roomy for a sports car. Just as comfortable as the RL, but with better seat bolstering. I could drive this all day on road or track.
I'm 5' 8" with a 30" inseam, 150Lbs. It even felt roomy for a sports car. Just as comfortable as the RL, but with better seat bolstering. I could drive this all day on road or track.
And here's a capture from the in-car video. Pretty comfy for me.
A capture from the exit of turn eleven, which is a downhill to a sharp-right hand turn followed by a steep uphill, you want to carry good momentum through it, and the NSX allowed me to have about equally high lateral and acceleration G's just after the apex (red dot is the car location on the track), as shown on the G-Meter. AWD + SH is sheer magic. This corner was hairy under power in both the GTR and my WRX, and those are AWD cars, I'd hate to try that in an RWD car.
I'm 5' 8" with a 30" inseam, 150Lbs. It even felt roomy for a sports car. Just as comfortable as the RL, but with better seat bolstering. I could drive this all day on road or track.
:-)
As I suspected, and this explains the less enthusiasm from over here.
34" inseam might mean that too much of my total 74" is in my back, and then when you add a helmet, I'm just not perfectly comfy for high pressure driving.
From the XX lineup, when I was signing in and requesting more laps, the lady said I could all the extra's I wanted, as I was the only person booked for that car in my time-slot.
The next day (Saturday) the NSX was so under-booked, XX used it and the Corvette Grand Sport to give ride-alongs. Meantime all the Ferrari's and Lambo's were booked solid.
This is the perfect supercar for any novice, as it smooth, self-correcting and pretty hard to screw up. The hybrid drivetrain and the DCT means shifts are buttery smooth, so no surprises. And there were a lot of spouses and even a grandma or two (really) booking drives in the other cars. <sigh>
Great review. I can only imagine how the RLX SH with a track-tuned suspension would do around that track, even with its weight.
I'm hoping that the MMC RLX comes with magnetorheological dampers and has an extra sport+ mode that would firm it all up for 'spirited' driving on road or track.
I'd bet the SH would surprise at just how fast it could go (assuming some good tires, like Michelin Pilot Sport Cup). My guess is the weight is mostly a challenge on the brakes, I'd figure three/four laps and one would have to bring it in for a cool-down.
06-03-2017, 06:35 AM
