No "Old School" shootout would be complete without the car that was surely the pinnacle of Japanese performance in the early '90s. Described as the "thinking man's supercar," the almost entirely aluminum Acura NSX was undoubtedly an exotic, but it did a few things that exotic cars of the time just couldn't do.
Like start every morning.
The very same car that had the looks to rival a Ferrari and the gumption to walk away from one on the racetrack also provided owners with a luxurious daily commute and the drivability of an Accord. The original formula was so successful that the car changed little during its prolonged 14-year production run. The fact was that the NSX was so much more advanced than the challengers that lined up at Honda's front door each year that the company could sit back and twiddle its thumbs until the competition caught up.
There's no denying the visual appeal of the NSX. Thirteen years after rolling off the line, Ed Chan's spotless example still sits wider, lower and longer than anything else docked under the cloudy skies at Willow Springs. On this cold desert day, the boiling red NSX stands out like a supermodel in a truck stop. The high-pitched harmony howling through the custom exhaust echoes through the pits, sounding more like something handcrafted in Modena than something belted out of a factory in Japan.
And maybe that's why, despite being well-aware of modern-day AWD killers like Subaru's storming STi and Mitsubishi's notorious Evolution, Chan's chunk of change went to Honda's veteran exotic.
But these are the days of big horsepower. Five-hundred horsepower sedans are par for the course and all-wheel drive rally homologations run rings around rear-wheel drive rivals costing twice as much. And they're banging down Honda's door with boosted engines and be-winged decklids.
That said, the venerable NSX still has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep the new kids honest. And considering a clean one can be had for mid to high $20s, it's certainly a workable alternative to today's road-going rally cars. The cars representing modern-day muscle in this competition are hardly the stockers that rolled out of the factory, though, so it's going to take more than a box-stock NSX to give them a run for their money.
Ed Chan's NSX, tuned by The Wheel Supply of Walnut, California, is one that can. It's tastefully modified to be more entertaining on the street, while still remaining comfortable enough to passenger him to the valet at the Ritz.
The red classic breathes through an RM carbon-fiber intake, one of the few offerings actually proven to make more power than Honda's efficient stock plumbing. The intake makes for a slightly throaty growl, accentuating the unique melody of Honda's first VTEC engine on full boil.
On the pull-side of the equation, Comptech headers scavenge exhaust gases from the exhaust ports and fire them through a custom exhaust with-hold your breath-a Flowmaster muffler. The best part? It sounds amazing.
On the dyno, the lightly modified NSX was able to spin the wide Volk Racing AV3 wheels to the tune of 261-wheel hp at 7550 rpm. In an effort to make the most of it, NSX-R short gears were installed, which makes VTEC more accessible, making the car substantially more responsive than stock. The gears are mated to a 7-pound Jun aluminum flywheel and an RM racing clutch, a revvy combination that makes it awfully hard not to be the anus that constantly blips the throttle at stoplights.