Sport Compact Car; 2005 Honda NSX Type-R - The Ultimate Honda?

Picking Apart Spoon Sports' 420bHP NSX Type-R GT
By Jay Chen
Photography by Steve Demmitt

The noise begins as a slight echo, cutting through the quiet silence of the still air. It soon crescendos into the distinctly hollow wail of an NSX exhaust note and Spoon Sports' white rocket suddenly appears over a nearby hill. The mid-engine Honda rides the curb, on the edge of adhesion, and devours the short straight ahead. By the time it's disappeared from view, the tingles have barely left my spine. I'm standing on the outside of Turn 2 at Infineon Raceway and in front of me is one of the greatest things that one could ever wish for - an empty racetrack.

As you may have noticed, this is no normal turbocharged NSX. For this test we've dispensed with the pedestrian and instead have lined up what can only be described as a Honda nerd's Internet bench racing fantasy. Yes, we've signed up the ultimate enigma, otherwise known as the Spoon Sports NSX Type-R GT.

To Honda fans, Spoon Sports needs no introduction. Founded more than 20 years ago by Tatsuru Ichishima, himself an amateur racer, Spoon is one of the most famous Honda tuning companies in existence. Spoon's distinctive yellow and blue paint scheme has appeared on numerous company racecars, campaigned in such events as the 25 Hours of Thunderhill and the Super Taikyu race series. Their philosophy has been built on optimization rather than re-invention, with a parts line-up that consists mostly of naturally aspirated engine assembly, exhausts, suspension kits, stronger drivetrain pieces, and cooling upgrades.

Spoon built its reputation and success through a history of race-derived parts that sought to improve upon, rather than completely replace, Honda's original engineering. For example, Spoon's infamous monoblock brake calipers are designed to function with stock brake rotors and engine balancing is more common than sleeving. Up until now, there wasn't a forced induction kit in sight and the Spoon catalog had a larger selection of mufflers and throttle bodies than high lift camshafts.

This NSX changes all that. From the outside this Honda appears to be an NSX Type-R GT, fit with a set of 17-inch Prodrive wheels. But it's not really that simple. The NSX Type-R GT is a mythical fable in the Honda world, modified beyond the standard 2nd-generation NSX Type-R with the use of carbon bumpers, larger side scoops, and that distinctive roof scoop. Five examples were built solely to homologate the car so that the Super GT (then JGTC) racecars could make use of the scoops and body dimensions. On the street legal GTs, the non-functional roof scoop terminates right onto the rear hatch glass.

The price of entry for a Type-R GT was nearly $500,000 when the car was announced. It's the rarest of all Hondas and some H-badge fans even cling to the belief that the five GTs were never built, with Honda having pulled an elaborate ruse on everyone the world over.

This Spoon NSX is, parts and build-wise, an NSX Type-R GT, but it isn't actually one of the original five. This Honda began life as a standard 2005 Honda NSX Type-R before it was disassembled by Spoon Sports. With years of partnerships and connections, Ichishima has built up a relationship with Honda of Japan that surpasses any dealings aftermarket tuners have with Honda here in the US. Through Honda of Japan, Spoon was able to source the OEM NSX Type-R GT parts necessary for a conversion, such as the bumpers and scoops.

But Spoon wasn't done there. This NSX was designed to be a complete Spoon-built car, not too unlike the wares available from Saleen or Ruf. Thus, a stiffer Spoon suspension was added along with more rigid Spoon monoblock front brake calipers. And you must have noticed by now that this NSX isn't wearing the distinctive yellow and blue Spoon colors that have become synonymous with their name. The reason is simple - only the racecars wear the yellow and blue paint. This NSX is even packing the original stereo system, which was a factory option on JDM Type-R models.

And because this is a true street car, it would need more power. The kind of big, honking, tire smoking power that blows the doors off anything else on the road. For that, Spoon would have to step into uncharted territory. A turbocharger kit was fabricated for the V6 engine using a single HKS 3037 turbo. With a tight engine bay making packaging difficult, the turbo is low mounted within the chassis, mere inches above the ground. The air-to-air intercooler is also low-mounted, with the compressor outlet nearly feeding directly into it. Scoops and ducting on the underside funnel air through the core and a custom Spoon oil pan and oil cooler kit help keep temps in check. Power output is now a claimed 420bhp, up from the factory rating of 280bhp. The turbocharger was chosen for response and low-end power, with boost coming on quickly and, unfortunately, tapering off as the RPMs reach redline.

We brought the Spoon NSX Type-R GT out to Infineon Raceway for our testing, which features elevation changes, blind crests, the quick downhill left Carousel turn, and the treacherous car-eating Turn 10. As well as this NSX drove, with empty pavement and curbing in front of us, we couldn't help but wish that we also had on hand Spoon's other NSX Type-R GT, the full race version. Prepared for the upcoming 55th Macau Grand Prix (which will have passed by the time you read this), the yellow and blue Spoon NSX Type-R GT racecar features an even stiffer suspension, stickier tires, and full safety prep.

Beyond its performance, perhaps one of the most interesting elements of this car is its availability. Spoon Sports will soon begin selling copies of this car to the general public, with early estimates for pricing hovering in the $135,000 range. An official announcement will be made at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon. We've received images from Spoon's Tokyo headquarters of readied GT bumpers and carbon-kevlar Recaro seats resting in storage after delivery from Honda. Spoon is even planning on providing this treatment to left-hand drive US-model NSXs, which should help owners step around tricky US importation laws governing ownership of Japanese-market vehicles.

This is a huge article, so here's the rest of the link, excellent read;
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/sccp_0902_2005_honda_nsx_type_r/gt_body.html