Acura/Honda’s NSX is an interesting case, using new-age hypercar hybrid tech in the super/sports car field. In order to determine if the new tech allows the super Honda allows it to compete completely on-par with the traditional turbocharged benchmarks in the form of Porsche’s 911 Turbo and Nissan’s GT-R. Jethro Bovingdon takes all three cars through a series of tests to determine which of them is actually the superior steed.
The first test is simply to determine whether the cars provided by each manufacturer have been fiddled with, a proper scientific method test. Each car is weighed and run on the dyno. The Porsche falls pretty much bang on what Porsche claims it weighs and produces for power, as it turns out, this 911 Turbo is the lightest and least powerful of the trio. The Nissan is a bit of a porker, weighing nearly 4000 pounds, and is down about 30 horsepower from the claims Nissan makes (possibly a bad batch of gas?). The NSX falls between the two cars on weight, still quite heavy, but more than that, the car’s hybrid drive system delivers power so rapidly that the dyno can’t cope and the car gets wheelspin above 6000 RPM.
The next test is a simple timed drag race to 150 miles per hour on an airstrip. By virtue of the hardest launch, Porsche’s 911 Turbo smashed the race to 150 by nearly two seconds over the GT-R and almost 3 seconds over the NSX. It’s strange to call a 911 Turbo a ‘lightweight car’, but compared to these two big bruisers, it kind of is.
The final test is to run all three cars around the race track. If you want to find out how the three cars compare at the track, you’ll just have to watch this video. It’s a brilliant film if we’re honest.