"Chitty" nonsense
A lot of nonsense has been written at one time or another about the immortal aero-engined "Chitty-Bang-Bangs" with which Count Zborowski used to thrill Brooklands habitues, but none so concentrated…
Plans Performance bills itself as the leading Honda NSX specialist outside Japan. It sells, services and restores them, and boss Graham Horgan is particularly proud of a ground-up restoration of a 1993 Type-R that’s currently on the go.
“The car is in the final stages of a bare-metal, nut-and-bolt restoration,” says Horgan. “These cars are now getting to the point where it is economically viable to restore them, particularly Type-Rs. The challenges in restoration are the same challenges faced in maintaining the NSX. Because they are amazingly reliable people get confused when they go wrong. They forget they are driving a 25-year-old car.
“The NSX had the world’s first computer-controlled climate control, but circuit boards inevitably corrode. It had the first four-channel electronic ABS system, but the valves get gunged up. These systems are all unique to the NSX and we have the expertise to restore and renovate them.”
Horgan says that sourcing components for maintenance isn’t problematic: “When they were still building the original NSX, they put a huge amount of parts in store and there is a large source of used components in the USA. We have some parts re-manufactured. The lower front balljoints are only available as part of a complete upright, so we make an aftermarket version to save our customers money.”
The red Type-R is due to be finished soon. Horgan says “It will look and drive just as it did when it left the factory”.
Plans Performance Shalford, Guildford.
Tel: 01483 898888, plansperformance.com