What would you do to an NSX? That's always been a keen question around our office (along with What would you do to a Skyline?, What would you do to an Evo?, and What does Moe do with all that Kleenex?). In the past, I've always answered it simply and blandly. Even with its aging silhouette, the mid-engine rear-wheel-drive NSX is the Liz Hurley of Japanese sports cars. It does it all and looks good doing it (even gray market fans will have to agree). And what more, I ask, could you want from Liz Hurley (I want bigger cans!-JW)? Well, I've just changed my mind.
From '92 to '95, Honda offered the NSX Type R in Japan (yes, bastards all of them). It came in Championship White, had a zippier engine combination, tighter suspension, Recaro seats, and all sorts of titanium bonus items. It put out 280 hp @ 7,300 rpm and 217 lb-ft @ 5,400 rpm. Pretty fly numbers, but a little less than what the current NSX-T puts out and hardly enough for the president of Gruppe M, Mamoru Ogose. A man with a hearty collection of Ferraris and Porsches, Ogose-san took it upon himself to design and produce a supercharger and an accompanying carbon-fiber intake scoop. At 0.45 bar of boost, the NSX has a maximum power output of 255kw @ 7,040 rpm and at 400Nm @ 4,350 rpm.
Gruppe M manufactures parts for every sort of high-end performance dream car, from the NSX-R to Ferraris and Mercedes. Its offices lie just outside of Tokyo. The building sits on a leafy residential street and blends in quietly with its Mr. Rogers surroundings. On most days, its only noticeable distinction is a K&N Japan plaque next to the garage door (Ogose-san's other occupation is distributing K&N filters throughout the Pacific Rim, while designing high performance products for K&N USA). But today, four Gruppe M employees and Ogose-san are busy moving all its cars for a demanding journalist from an import car rag in America. A Ferrari 360 Modena rumbles to life just as the 355 Berlinetta dies down. After that comes the Lamborghini Countache, the twin-turbo Mercedes 500SL, the supercharged Mercedes S-Class, and two NSXs (both customer cars who want the extreme Gruppe M NSX package). Flipping the ignition on just one of these cars ups the street's usual decibel level ten times. Cranking them all on erupts the neighborhood in an apocalyptic seizure. The neighbors must be used to it. No one utters a peep.
Compared to the other European supercars, Ogose-san's NSX-R holds its own. Since the Type R was offered before Honda changed the NSX powerplant to the 3.2L configuration in 1997, it still had the smaller displacement 3.0L DOHC VTEC V-6 (C30A). Based around an Eaton Roots-style supercharger, the Gruppe M supercharger sits visibly beside the red Type R valve cover. Gruppe M's intake scoop emerges out of the custom carbon-kevlar engine cover and rear windshield. It sweeps up to the roof and lies, in true race form, on the roof between driver and passenger, barely altering the lines of the car. Cool air shoots down through the carbon fiber and into the K&N air filter. Everything looks extremely pricey. It's obvious Ogose-san cares deeply about his cars.
So, just how serious is Mamoru Ogose about cars? Inside his private office, his shelves serve more as a giant garage for his collection of die-cast Le Mans and Ferrari Formula One race cars. Across from his desk next to the door, his design sketch for the Gruppe M supercharger is taped evenly on the wall. He tells me that he designs every Gruppe M item, and with the exhaust for his Ferrari 355 Berlinetta, he wanted to mimic the high Formula One full-throttle shrill and went through 22 different designs just to accomplish it. This is something he is eager to demonstrate, much to my fright.
The next thing I know, I'm sitting next to Ogose-san as he tears through the main road by his office-which isn't so main by my American standards, since it's just a two-way. He shifts with a series of jerks and convulsions. Taming 400 horses isn't an easy task. He dips down into a long straight through a dimly lit tunnel and starts to smile. I notice this only because I can't bear to watch the road. And there it is-the note. The full soprano hum that Schumacher hears every day. Ogose-san has bottled it and has the fantasy at his disposal (that is, whenever he wishes to hit 120 mph). There are no rainbows and unicorns for me, however, as Ogose-san crunches the brakes-downshifting with precision-just shy of force-feeding us into the back of a truck. He smiles as we turn around and head back to sanity.
The Gruppe M NSX-R isn't so extreme and doesn't warrant a shriek ride through Tokyo. But it's more than enough to change my opinion. So, make my NSX a Championship White Type R with a Gruppe M supercharger. And throw in Liz Hurley sitting shotgun while you're at it. That would be perfect.