In RACER Magazine: Driving the Acura NSX GT3

The Acura NSX street car can show its performance chops on a racetrack, but the GT3 racer takes it to a whole different level.

It had been nearly two decades since I last sampled an NSX, and now I was on my way to GingerMan Raceway, Mich., to not only drive the latest road-going version, but also join the elite group of individuals who've recorded laps behind the wheel of the NSX GT3 racecar.

Up until the point I began circulating GingerMan, I'd somehow managed to never even see the new street NSX in the flesh, let alone drive it. On track, the power delivery was very impressive as the front-mounted twin motor unit aided the cars acceleration significantly, helping to negate any hint of turbo lag.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the mapping and performance of the nine-speed, dual-clutch transmission which, when set in track mode, always seemed to find the sweet spot. Try as you might, it's hardly worth the effort to bypass the computer and shift manually – chances are it's way better than you.

The carbon-ceramic brakes on our test NSX were tortured out on the track, as GingerMan affords numerous opportunities to get up to triple-digit speeds, before punishing the car at the end of those high-speed runs with the slowest turns imaginable.

The place where the NSX really shines is corner exit. As you roll in more throttle, the car pulls effortlessly off of the turn, clicks through gears in the blink of an eye and rapidly propels you to what lies ahead.

RealTime Racing Pirelli World Challenge GT driver Ryan Eversley was on hand to brief us on the NSX GT3. While the street version is comfortable and very capable on the track, make no mistake, the racecar is a different level.

"They are so different in what their capabilities are," says Eversley, comparing the NSX to his GT3-spec racer. "The racecar just has so much more grip than the street car. You have massive tires, massive wings, floors – it's just two different worlds. But it's cool to see that the racecar still very much resembles the street car; when they're sitting side by side, it literally looks like we bolted a gigantic wing on a street car."

The NSX GT3 is deceptively fast, without the (minimal) pitch and yaw of the street car, thanks to its purpose-built race suspension, sticky slick tires and aerodynamic additions. It feels poised, solid and – key for the range of driving talents who'll get behind the wheel when customer versions go on sale – inspires confidence. Where it might have taken a full session to push the limits of the street version, the racecar begs for more, immediately. It makes you feel like a pro.

Where the steering felt a touch overly sensitive on the street version, the GT3 spec feels precise, with just the right amount of effort required. And no matter how fast you enter a turn, you're pretty sure you could have gone even faster.

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