Legendary Motor Matchup #10
Every Tuesday for 10 weeks, starting March 3, 2020, we will present one head-to-head challenge. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to cast your vote on each matchup. The results will tally on the Top 10 Legendary Motors page every week.
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MAY 12–16
And so the end of our motored matchup feature has come down to the last battle. There are many legend-making power plants that we have missed and wished we could have included. But with twenty slots to fill, we wanted to make sure we included some unexpected power plants, which put some apparent contenders on the sidelines.
How to close this showdown in all the right ways? That has become a more difficult task than we anticipated.
The likes of the 959 vs F-40 indeed came to mind, as did the Enzo Ferrari vs Porsche GT, or Lamborghini Murcielago vs Pagani Zonda. But all these would make it too easy and suspect. Rest assured, all these legendary rides will have their own feature soon.
No, this one had to play out as a surprising finale. Two unusual suspects to be sure of.
If the question was put forth, "what were the most exhilarating and iconic sports cars you could race on a Sunday afternoon and drive back home on the same day, and be thoroughly spent in all the right ways?"
In this final matchup, we are teeing up two six-cylinder beasts, richly bequeathed with winning F1 racing technologies, carried over from a pedigree of multi-championship race engines.
Enjoy this final matchup!
HONDA
V6 VTEC NSX Type R
What do you get when you mix Honda F1 technology, free reign from money clenching bean counters, development assistance from the great Ayrton Senna, and a one-super-car-to-do-it-all mission statement? You get the holy grail of all Hondas—the NSX Type-R.
Chief Engineer and Honda Legend, Shigeru Uehara, set out with his team to create the most complete version of the NSX the world would see.
The NSX-R 3.2-litre V6 came balanced and blueprinted from the factory! It featured variable valve timing and lift electronic control (VTEC) and was the first production engine to contain titanium connecting rods. It could rev to 8,000 rpm—all day long—but still, fire up with the reliability of a Civic!
Each NSX-R engine was hand-assembled by specially appointed technicians who used unique instrumentation and techniques usually reserved for building race car engines. This meant that all rotating components such as the pistons, rods, and crankshaft were precision weighed and matched to achieve minimal weight differential tolerances.
The full rotating assembly was balanced to a level of accuracy which was ten times that of the regular NSX engine!
The six pumped out 290 hp @ 7,300 rpm and 224 lb-ft @ 5,300 rpm, with a 0–60 time of 4.7 seconds. No big whoop by today’s standard, but back in that period, Honda, along with all Japanese automakers at the time, was still hamstrung by an informal, but honourably self-enforced gentlemen’s agreement which limited the horsepower of production cars to 280 HP. Many speculate that Honda NSX-R’s rated 290-horsepower is likely understated to satisfy the agreement.
As a result of all of these changes—along with chassis and handling improvements—the 2002 Honda NSX-R was able to outperform many of the day’s modern supercars, despite being in the 10th year of the same design and often having up to a three-figure horsepower handicap.
At a time when the words “supercar” and “reliability” couldn’t be spoken in the same sentence, the formula Honda used to create the NSX resulted in a vehicle that was truly unique for its time—it had all of the desirable characteristics of a supercar but was packaged with the same reliability, build quality, and sensibility of a Honda Accord.
The NSX-R is one of the last bastions of the purest and most privileged driving experiences one could aspire to have as drivers and automotive enthusiast.
Or is it?
PORSCHE
“Mezger” 4.0 flat-six
Hans Mezger was Porsche's most famous engine designer who shaped the character of the Porsche brand for years, and led Porsche to many successes in racing. He went straight to work at Porsche's Works 1 development department after graduating from Stuttgart Technical University in 1956, with a Diploma of Engineering degree.
Over the next 35 years, he took part in the 1960s F1 program, undertook design leadership for the first Porsche 911 production engine and leader of the famed 1960s Race Design office that turned out the mighty 917s. He also led Porsche's development of turbocharging with the 1,100 hp 917/30 and its application to the 911 Turbo.
Mezger was also responsible for the Porsche-made TAG Turbo engine in the McLaren MP4/2 chassis, in the mid-1980s, winning multiple F1 races.
When a Mezger motor was wedged into the first generation GT3RS in 2003, undiluted race DNA was injected into the 911 lineup. As with Porsche's previous 911 RS models, the 996 GT3RS was focused on racing, and so was devoid of items that added unnecessary weight to the car.
This naturally aspirated 911 weighing just 1,360 kg was a lightweight marvel. Maximum output of 375 bhp at 7,400 rpm and 284 lb-ft from 5,000 rpm. It carried the RS to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and on to 190 mph, screaming all the way to its 8,000 redline.
So what makes a Mezger so special? In the words of a passionate RS owner:
"Firing it up immediately fills the spartan interior with noise. A clatter, to be more accurate. Even if you miss the whirring of an air-cooled 911's belt-driven fan, there's plenty of honest, mechanical noise to make up for it. Blip the throttle, and the engine revs up quickly before it settles back down into an uneven idle. It's a hint of what's to come, as redline is set just a few ticks below 8,000 rpm, its happy place."
In 2007, the first generation 997 GT3RS took the victory, ahead of the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and Audi R8. Then, in 2010, the second gen 997 GT3 RS once again beat Italian competition in the form of the Ferrari 458 Italia.
This feat was again repeated a year later in the ultimate Mezger powered 991, the GT3RS 4.0, the pinnacle of the legendary Mezger engines. With a staggering power output of 500 hp, this "godlike engine" was Mezger's swansong.
We here at MOONRCKT believe the 4.0 Mezger is and will always be the most special engine ever put in the back of a 911.
“We bow down for a man, whose engines are world famous for being powerful and reliable while arousing emotions in every petrolhead. The sound of a Mezger engine is still motivating many people for working hard everyday, just to fulfil the dream of owning a Porsche sports car.
Thank you Hans Mezger, for automotive pornography, which hopefully causes sleepless nights for many generations to come.”
- Richard Lindhorst