The Honda NSX Type R was all about shedding weight. It came to serve those customers that wanted even more from the beautifully-balanced NSX with better track performance and the lack of your regular creature comforts.
Honda built just 483 units of the NSX Type R and they were all offered on the Japanese market, hence the right-hand-drive layout. The example you’re about to admire went through a restoration that not only does it a lot of justice, but also makes us forget its age.
Once a superstar, always a superstar
On top of those deletions, thinner rear glass was used and the standard power seats were replaced by carbon-kevlar bucket seats, thus saving 38 pounds. All in all, the NSX Type R was 265 pounds lighter than the standard NSX.
The 3.0-liter V-6 cranked out 270 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque, but the real output was believed to be in the region of 290-300 horsepower. 0-60 mph now took five seconds flat instead of 5.5 seconds while top speed went down from 168 mph to 163 mph because the gearbox’s final drive was shortened for quicker gear changes and better acceleration.
The car you see here is chassis number 44 Series NA1, assembled in Honda’s Takanezawa plant in the Tochigi Prefecture. It came out of the factory in December 1992 and was fully restored by the team over at Plans Performance, who completely disassembled the car.
The body was painted in the original Formula Red and the engine and gearbox “were serviced to perfection and all the manufacturer’s tolerances were bench tested and verified.”
Well, that’s a helluva treatment and nothing less than what a JDM icon deserves.