Here’s a question Jeremy Clarkson asked in an episode of Top Gear. “When was the last time you, just got up and went for a drive, not to anywhere, not for anything, just for a drive?” It was this question and the review that came after it, along with two RKM cars, that motivated me to do exactly that. To drive. And drive, and drive. For this ‘re-review’, I decide to ditch my normal testing ground, the TGTT, for something longer, and more German. The Nurburgring Nordschleife, the infamous thirteen mile race track with 73 corners which now serves as the ultimate testing ground of a car’s chassis. So quite a race track then, which means I’m going to need quite a car. Now, I suppose you’d expect me to say that the car I’d be using for this drive is RKM’s ring taxi, the M5. Well, no. That car’s far too heavy, far too powerful and far too big for me. I’m a novice here, so something which is forgiving and nearly idiot-proof is a must. After a great deal of time wasted on debating which is the top two I’d choose, I settled on these two. The user-friendly supercar, the NSX-R, and the best of the touring cars, the Castrol Tom’s Supra.
Right, that’s the cars and the track explained, now let’s get going. Dawn just broke over the ‘Ring and I have the track to myself for just one hour. There’s no time to lose, let’s go.
Starting with the Castrol. My god, this car’s just fantastic. No, better than that. It feels like the coming together of all the great elements from every great car you’ve tuned. Its got a hint of the mechanical feel that the YellowHat Supra had, a hint of the fire within the RX7, the calm and collected spirit of the DB9, the sense of stability from the Emperors and GTR’s, the drivability of the 370Z along with the all-round capability of the NSX. Put all these things together and add 578hp into the mix and you’d get this. A car that feels mechanical but will respond with the gentlest touch. A car which will make you fight it through turns for fun but will always be on your side when things get rough and the roads get slippery. For once, I can say that a car has no bad points at all. Well, nearly. There is only one slight problem with it. It’s not a problem with the tune, but rather a stupid design fault. The windscreen wipers are too damn small! I’m not joking, I drove one lap of the ‘Ring in the rain, and I couldn’t see a thing because the wipers couldn’t reach the far sides of the windscreen, i.e where the driver is sitting! But ignoring the tiny wipers, this car is in a class of its own. Let me tell you something, I’ve never actually liked the ‘Ring, I thought it was too long and too pointless, I thought you’d need to be mad to do a race here and feel anything other than boredom and dread afterwards. But now, I drive here at least twice a day in two cars, and it’s the Castrol that I keep on picking.
Now, I won’t go into detail about the laps since 1) I don’t know all the names of the corners so descriptions will be tricky and 2) it’ll take forever. But I’ll say two things. This is one of only two cars which have got me through the carousel at speed without spitting me off and also, with relatively conservative driving, I did a 6:50.402, which isn’t THAT bad. In fact, I’m rather proud of that time. Especially since it was just my second lap. And then, as I pulled into the pits and got into the NSX, it started raining. Actually it wasn’t rain, it was a flood. Thats’s 410hp, 1051kg on sports softs in rain so heavy that the visibility was next to nothing. Right…should be interesting.
And it is indeed interesting. This car, even in the wet, still feels like it’s on your side, working with you to make the most of the rain. The car grips remarkably well given the tyres it’s using, there is no actual fear of crashing that you would expect from driving a high powered MR on wet surfaces and nor is there any real hint of wheelspin, and it is just so damn good at drifting. In the first low speed section, I spent the whole time drifting, showering the barriers with the huge wall of spray. Mind you, this car was set up by Ayrton Senna, and he was a god at driving in the rain. So it’s sort of fitting that the car he helped put together has a place in the wet. And I was thinking that right up until the moment the outside rear wheel clipped the grass and sent me spinning into a wall. ****! Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until the rain stops to finish my lap. The rain carried on pouring down for a good 30 minutes, leaving me with only 15 minutes left to play. Still, the rain finally cleared. So out again for 2 last laps. In these semi-wet conditions, the NSX still feels like it’s driving on dry tarmac. Which means it’s just as perfect. Both compliant and edgy, soft and aggressive, a constant knife edge and but forgiving all at the same time. This car encourages you to drive like a lunatic, hurling the car from corner to corner. But even on the ‘Ring in these conditions, it’ll always catch you if you mess up, it’ll never throw you off. Ok, I admit, it bit me a few times and sent me flying head first into the walls on my first lap back on, but it’s really nothing special when that happens. What is remarkable is the grip it has. It must be the third or forth time I’ve mentioned it, but it really is that amazing how rooted to the road it feels. This car never fails to impress me, it always shows me something new about it with each drive. Really, it’s that good. And the time it did was 7:30.699, good or bad, I’ll leave it to you to decide.
Edit: Roj, yea the SV didn't have any modifications except for the tyres and suspension.