Built by the finest engineering minds Japan had to offer and blessed with handling honed by none other than racing god Ayrton Senna himself, the Honda NSX had a lot going for it when it launched in the 1990s. In fact, it was so good that Ferrari even started sweating, spurring on the development of one of their best-ever drivers cars, the F355. However, as with any JDM sports car, there’s more than a few special variants for the true nerds to salivate over, like this immaculate 1994 Honda NSX-R coming up for auction with RM Sotheby’s in London on November 2nd.
While Honda fully intended on dethroning the kings of the supercar world when they launched the NSX in 1989, some concessions had to be made to make the car daily-drivable. So, when Honda started plotting a more hard-core version, they wasted no time in throwing out creature comforts such as air conditioning and the stereo to save weight, while stiffening the sway bars and uprating the suspension to sharpen the handling. However, the NSX-R wasn’t just stiffer and 120 kg lighter, it also received shorter gear ratios for more rampant acceleration, and an even more finely-tuned 276 hp VTEC-equipped V6 engine that boasted a fully blueprinted and balanced crankshaft assembly constructed by the same technicians that build Honda’s F1 engines.
This example, chassis NA1-1200178, is one of just 483 examples built between 1992 and 1995. Finished in the glorious shade of Brooklands Green and riding on Championship White wheels, this NSX-R should be a little easier to live with than most of its kind, having been optioned with the AC and radio. Currently showing just over 33,000 miles, this NSX-R would be an excellent addition to any world-class collection of Japan’s finest sports cars.
London, 2 Nov
