Widebody Turbo NSX

Built as a direct competitor to Europe’s finest supercars such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches, the Honda NSX took the automotive world by storm. Its light weight, aggressive shape and powerful naturally aspirated all-alloy 3.0 litre V6, featuring Honda’s highly praised VTEC system, made the car a smash hit with everyone who drove it, with many automotive reviewers claiming that the car presented a direct threat to the supercars that it emulated.

Ayrton Senna, the legendary Brazilian Formula One World Champion, had direct involvement with its handling and chassis development while the motor received a host of Honda’s impressive engineering accomplishments like forged pistons, titanium rods, and an 8000rpm redline that enabled the V6 to make just over an advertised 200kw! For some though, that just wasn’t enough.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, a little introduction is in order. Angus Button has been a Honda enthusiast for years now, and has previously owned some pretty quick front tuggers including a turbo ’75 Civic that was quite capably running mid-12s a few years ago. “I’ve always loved Hondas, and I was looking to upgrade, so the NSX was the logical next step – I consider this to be the ultimate Honda!”

“Back in 2008, I took the NSX to Powercruise and was letting my friend drive while I enjoyed the view from the passenger seat,” says Angus. “He’d come into turn 3 way too quick, at about 140km/h, and the car just started to slide. I thought to myself, ‘ouch, this is gonna hurt!’ and then we hit.”

The impact of the crash smashed three of the four corners of the car, the NSX first hitting the wall with the rear passenger guard and then bouncing off and badly damaging both front guards. Thankfully, both Angus and his friend walked away from the accident without a scratch, but the NSX was now badly in need of repairs.

“I reported the entire accident to the insurance company,” says Angus, “and to our surprise, they paid it out. At the time, the price of new standard guards was the same as aftermarket widebody guards, so the insurance company agreed to pay for the widebody guards! The computer was damaged in the accident as well so they paid to have that replaced too!”

From here the car was progressively modified up to the point you see it here, with the next step being a set of KW coilovers with in-cabin electric height adjustment courtesy of East Coast Suspension. These are perfectly suited to Angus’ needs, with the car perfectly planted both on the street and track.

With the NSX’s handling now improved immeasurably, Angus started searching for a way he could get more power out of the stock power plant. “There is an NSX racing team over in the USA who are getting some pretty serious power out of their cars, so I contacted them for advice on how to get some power out of mine. They got back to me with some information, and it went from there!”

The information that the American racing team had given Angus proved invaluable and he promptly had the car sent to Hi Comp Performance, who rebuilt the motor to handle the plans that Angus had for it. “The motor is tuned now at a very conservative 450rwhp,” Angus told us, “We’re yet to really put any timing or fuel into the car. The American race team in the states have the exact same engine specs to this bar a slightly larger turbo and they’re making a shade over 1000hp, so we’re not even stressing the motor!”

Angus is quite the motorsport enthusiast, regularly taking his NSX to circuit days, Powercruise and Sydney Dragway. So far the car has run a best of 11.3@120mph down the strip on street tyres and pump gas and Angus is confident he can go much quicker.

“With more fuel and timing and winding the boost up, I’m aiming for a true 10-second car. I want to be able to drive the car to the track, run a 10-second pass, and then drive home again!”

Judging by how easily the car has made power up to this point, we’re confident you’ll see this blue streak running 10s very soon!