WORDS B.K. Nakadashi PHOTOS Jayson Santoyo acing improves the breed, the old adage goes. Just because your grandpappy said things like that doesn’t mean it’s not true. There are some very potent examples where this is so: Nissan’s RB26DETT—the twin-turbo inline-six that lived in R32, R33 and R34 Skylines, was a race engine that was backed off just enough for street duty; Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evo—up through number IX, was also more of a tamed bespoke race machine for the street than a fortified street car. No one will deny that either of these machines is hard-edged and droolworthy. But rare is the blown Skyline whose engine has turned laps in points-paying Group A competition; they almost certainly won’t turn up in your driveway. Rare too is the Lancer Evo that’s survived competition in one piece, its engine removed from the ragged edge and placed into plebian commuter duty. Clearly, while proven race competition is something that car companies like to trade on, actual raced components are few and far between. And so Paul Coffman’s 1991 Acura NSX is that rare beast: a daily-driven machine whose specially-fettled heart has seen full-throttle, flat-out competition. He’d been obsessed with the Tochigi terror for more than a decade, and had the opportunity to sample multiple years and body styles
JUST YOUR AVERAGE DAILY-DRIVEN NSX WITH A PIKES
