Lightning Lap 2016: Acura NSX

Class: LL4
Lap time: 2:50.2
Base price: $186,800
As-tested price: $203,100
573 hp • 3854 lb • 6.7 lb/hp
Tires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R
F: 245/35ZR-19 (93Y), R: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y)

From the first session on the first day, we suspected that this complicated new hybrid machine would be a difficult onion to peel, and it was. It took all three days, a second or two chipped away each day, to learn its layers and get it down to its ultimate lap time of 2:50.2. The attending Acura engineers pronounced themselves satisfied with our results, and the NSX proved to be the third-quickest car overall through the Climbing Esses, one of the circuit’s most daunting sections. We were never quite ­satisfied, though. When you’re this close to breaking into the 2:40s, such feelings are inevitable.

The only car in the test that is completely new from the ground up starts at $156,940 and surpasses 200 grand with our $46,160 suite of options (about $30K of which makes it go faster), meaning that it’s expensive and powerful and its lap time should be down there with the expensive and powerful cars. The Ferrari-like options include $9900 carbon-ceramic brakes, a $9000 carbon exterior package, and $6000 pearl-red paint. The Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R neo-slicks, at $1960, weren’t mentioned in any of the pre-launch publicity and are, like the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s we did know about, a dealer-installed option. Meaning that if you want to replace the standard Continentals with these Pirellis, the dealer will call Tire Rack and order them for you. Hmm.

Though it has supercar stats and pricing, the 573-hp, 3854-pound NSX is also heavy and just a bit too polite to pass itself off as a track animal. The fact that it is beaten by a Chevy Corvette—which, granted, outpaces a number of pricier cars—only exacerbates the nagging feeling that maybe it had a little more left to give. And boy, did we wring its neck trying to find it.

First things first: Switch everything off. Unlike some other cars here with more-transparent track modes, the NSX’s stability control is not yet smarter than a good driver. Then put instinct aside and trust the electrified front axle to do its work. After the engine and electric motors make a seamless and linear charge, a hard, reliable brake pedal gets the car slowed, the torque-vectoring system dragging the inside-front wheel while overdriving the outside to help point the nose at the apex. Then, as the Trofeos are on the ragged edge of grip and your foot wavers on the gas, reluctant to push further lest the front tires wash out, you have to gun it. Squeeze the gas and let the front motors do their trick, tractoring the car out of the corner and flinging it forward. Like another hyper-hybrid, the Porsche 918 Spyder we had a couple of years ago, the NSX is most startling coming off a slow corner. But you must learn to exploit it. It took us a while.

So it’s polite, but that’s not necessarily a negative. After pounding around in the explosive Ferrari or the booming Dodge Viper, our frazzled, overstimulated brainstems immediately relaxed as the NSX hummed out of the paddock, exuding a calm, precision-machined proficiency. As in the original, the new NSX has a low dash and its cockpit is set forward. Its seats are broad and welcoming. Actually, a little more seat bolster would have been nice for this exercise, but Acura wants to sell a daily supercar, which means a flatter seat. At speed, the twin-turbo V-6 trills in a fast, racy cadence, but it’s no hysterical all-day shrieker. Though designed and built in Ohio, with its engine parts cast in England, it’s somehow all Japanese.