For those who have followed Formula One or the evolution of the NSX, this will come as no surprise to you. For the rest, I hope this helps confirm why the NSX is special.
The man driving the silver Honda NSX above is Ayrton Senna. This Brazilian driver is one of the best the sport has ever seen, winning three drivers championships and 41 races until his tragic death in 1994. He was brash, narrowly focused and incredibly intense; often raising the ire of fellow competitors and race officials. And he had a hand in the development of the NSX.
As the story goes, Senna was at the Suzuka International Racing Course (built as a Honda Test track in the 60s), testing his Honda-powered McLaren F1 car. At the same time, the NSX was being tested before it went into production. The engineers handed the keys over to Senna and he came back with some critiques; most notably saying it felt fragile. To the engineer's credit they took him seriously and went back to the drawing board to increase the chassis' rigidity. Senna also chipped in on the suspension and handling prowess -- something I hope to explore sooner rather than later.
For the uninitiated, this would be akin to having Mario Batali running your backyard BBQ or getting the Rolling Stones to play a few songs at your 40th birthday party. Senna was a magician behind the wheel and was as exacting a driver as there ever was. His soul lives on in this car. Honda gave him a few NSXs as a thank you, one of which is still in the family's possession. If any of his NSXs were to go up for sale, I'm sure it'd fetch a tidy sum.
In 2005, I visited the memorial to Senna at the Imola Circuit in Italy, the site of his tragic last race. It was not a race day and everything was eerily quiet. Still, there were fresh flowers adorning his bronze statue.
And of course, a video of Senna behind the wheel. Apologies for the Japanese Michael Bolton soundtrack. Also, notice how far back he sits, with his arms outstretched. At the two-minute mark, watch how hard he's driving it as he dips into the turn 11 hairpin. Wow.
Mark Takahashi, Automotive Editor
ed124c says:
07:19 AM, 10/22/11
Paint the LT NSX red.
Hope we get some on-paper performance specs soon. Based on this video, they should be pretty specatacular-- unless Senna's car wasn't stock.
throwback says:
07:20 AM, 10/22/11
I have watched/followed F1racing from the early days of Mario Andretti, still my favorite driver. But Senna was the best I ever saw. His drives in the rain, and his ability in qualifying was amazing to watch. A true genius behind the wheel.
blueguydotcom says:
07:35 AM, 10/22/11
Good grief I adore that low belt line. Man, why don't they make cars like that anymore! His outward vision is awesome. So annoying how all new cars have us sitting in giant steel tubs.
lyricist says:
07:45 AM, 10/22/11
It's great that you guys are making a Senna post so soon in your NSX long term test, but disappointing that you chose that particular video.
This is a much better video of Senna driving a NSX around Suzuka. There's no Michael Bolton here, just the sound of the NA1 NSX-R engine and a clear shot of Senna's amazing footwork and the dials as he pushes the limits. I hope Mark does the right thing and puts this up in the original post as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwJsOECGBU
stephen987 says:
08:05 AM, 10/22/11
The one pictured in the lead photo appears to have an automatic.
cars24seven says:
09:21 AM, 10/22/11
stephen987: I noticed that too. I bet he used this one as a runabout, daily driver sort of car and left the manual ones for track duty.
huyracing says:
09:29 AM, 10/22/11
so that is exact footage from that day i assume because that NSX seemed to handle very sloppily and the wheels are not accurate to the production model... you can see a marked improvement in Senna's driving in the other video. (but the NSX-R is better as well)
teechx says:
10:20 AM, 10/22/11
His NSX for sale is here http://nsxprime.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1353498&postcount=35
Brilliant and super gifted driver.
cr_driver says:
11:24 AM, 10/22/11
Subytrojan already posted that video here.
That one is old news now, LOL -at least for me-
But nice second photo.
teampenske3 says:
12:47 PM, 10/22/11
Senna was a true legend. This generation NSX will forever be Ayrton's car.
acbayard says:
01:05 PM, 10/22/11
Senna wasn't sitting that far back. Notice that he is able to turn the wheel 300 degrees + without ever lifting his shoulders up away from the seat.
Too many drivers can't do that in modern recline until you're barely sitting SUV/family cars.
brokenaudi says:
04:05 PM, 10/22/11
Thats an automatic in the main shot.. I'm surprised acura tested the automatic that extensively, since its obvious from the drop in power and their primary mission with the nsx that they didn't want to offer it with an automatic in the first place.
church123 says:
04:07 PM, 10/22/11
Love watching that guy drive. The footwork in the video posted by lyricist is amazing. Makes you wonder if that skill is being lost in modern race drivers with their "mash it to the floor and let the traction control sort it out" style.
In the first video, it looked like he was all over the place with the wheel, but when you see the outside shots, the actual attitude of the car is smooth and stable. I guess that's what a real genius can do. Me, if I was making those sorts of corrections, I'd be whipsawing back and forth all over the place because I'd be 1-2 beats behind the car, but his anticipation is so good.....wow.
explorerx4 says:
04:14 PM, 10/22/11
@church123
In the main video, I was very surprised at one point he just let go of the steering wheel as the car rotated.
Did someone put armourall on the steering wheel or did he just have sweaty palms driving it?
church123 says:
09:49 PM, 10/22/11
Looks like he had sweaty palms. Probably not used to driving without gloves.
Releasing the wheel, while not a common race technique is sometimes the best way to allow the front wheels to get pointed in the right direction in a big slide if you have to make more than half a rotation or so, or if the steering is slow (I always found the NSX steering to be a bit on the slow side myself).
liquid01 says:
10:11 PM, 10/22/11
I know this might sound crazy, but watching Aryton drive an NSX is unimpressive to me. Compared to other drivers such as Keiichi Tsuchiya, his reactions seem slow and his heel-toe technique doensn't match the revs as crisply as Tsuchiya. This is surprising to me because watching him drive a Grand Prix vehicle is one of the most amazing displays of skill I have ever seen.
acbayard says:
11:42 AM, 10/23/11
@liquid01: Senna drove the NSX for the first time at Suzuka. That vid may have his first time at the wheel around that track.
Keiichi Tsuchiya was paid to drive the NSX full time. Apples and Oranges.
stingray454 says:
08:06 AM, 10/25/11
That man could drive! Wow. He made opposite lock drift turns look like a walk in the park in a car he had never driven before.
It would have been great to see him drive a more powerful and capable car like the ZR1 or GT-R, but alas, we never will. :(
liquid01 says:
08:27 AM, 10/25/11
@acbayard
Sorry if it seeemed like I was trying to make Senna skills appear insignificant. I was just trying to say that this video didn't to it for me in terms of enjoyment.