-The important point is of this entire situation is that NEITHER of you has been to the track before. the cars are almost secondary. I have instructed a little and been/driven in probably 50 track events. when my buddy started as a rookie last year, i really started to pay attention to the novice runs grps at these events. the is a huge range of natural talent, and affinity for driving a car at speed on road course. i have witnessed situations were a guy in a novice grp in a beetle turbo (stock) lapped everyone else in the grp in one 20 minute session at lime rock. he was 6 seconds a lap faster than my buddy who drives a 330i!!!6 seconds at lime rock in a lifetime. at VIR last month a woman was driving a ferrari 360 challenge car on pirelli slicks and was getting passed by guys in stock focus SVTs. the bottom line is that one of you is just going to adapt faster, and have more natural ability, and that will be the deciding factor who will be quicker. just my .02 cents.

 

That's exactly right...this whole thread is hilarious. People chiming in about which car will beat the other under braking or in the corners or whatever. As if the cars were going to drive themselves!

I'm also a driving instructor with the BMW CCA, BMW CC, PCA, and several other clubs. The car itself doesn't make much of a difference until you get much better as a driver. Among novices, it's all about who has more experience and who listens to their instructor better.

Emre

 

I have an Evo and a 98 NSX targa which is functionally exactly the same as an 04. I believe this would come down to the drive and that if both drivers are equally good (meaning the NSX driver is just as efficient in a rear wheel drive car) then the NSX would win as it has an edge over the Evo in overall power delivery and on the straights. I also have Best Motoring videos of NSX's (albeit in some cases R's" taking out 360's and everything else. They are very strong around tracks.

 

NSX would win because it is a total drivers car. Car and driver at laguna seca the NSX had consistent times between newbie drivers and pro drivers. This was between the NSX, porsche 911 turbo, and zo6 corvette. The newbie driver and amatuer driver both liked the NSX and had great times. Of course the pro driver Stillen or rod millen chose the z06 and said the NSX understeered way too much and was a newbie car.

So I'm just trying to say the NSX is a easy car to drive very fast, especially since laguna seca is has a lot of VERY fast straights. I would just be worried about the famous corkscrew considering the NSX does not have power steering.

 

It does have electrical assist.

 

I've driven a 94 NSX. I use to bash the NSX for not having enough power. After driving I found it to be great car and like mentioned earlier the numbers do not tell the whole story of the car.

Sam

 

The steering is really sharp on the NSX. It responds to input very well and very quickly with minimal effort.

I'm pretty convinced my pending contest will end up being a drivers contest which will be a total split. He has total coverage on the car and wouldn't be even slightly heartbroken if he totalled it

I guess I'll just have to run him into the dirt

 

wait... there's no such thing as full coverage at the track... unless you get the track insurance but does he have that?