TOV talks to Erik Berkman on the new NSX

For readers who are not members or a regular at our forums, TOV principal Jeff Palmer met up briefly with Erik Berkman, one of the lead designers of the new 2G NSX during the recent NAIAS. As the conversation was informal, Jeff did not put it in a formal article but shared it in our forums. Extracted and quoted below are Jeff's quick summary of his conversation with Berkman.

Basically he re-affirmed some of the stuff that been out there, particularly the 'reference list' of 3 or 4 performance targets (458, GT-R, McLaren MP4-12C, R8 GT). Said they have very rigid targets on power to weight ratio (which implies performance bogeys) and are very serious about meeting or surpassing those targets, but said top fuel efficiency is #1 target. Acknowledged that the competition is pretty stiff and they love the challenge. Hoping to beat the targets but noted something to the effect of 'even if we fall short, it won't be by much and it will still be one HELL of a performer' (that's paraphrased). I indicated that to me a 10th of a second here or there wouldn't matter as long a the overall driving experience was one of the best, as the past NSX offered a very rewarding driving feel/connection that other 'faster' cars couldn't touch. I said it needed stay true to Honda/NSX's roots, and to have a visceral element (high revs, high hp/l, etc...). Low mass very important to me (I DEFINITELY don't want a fat TECHNO-tank like the GT-R). He didn't comment much but seemed to be in general agreement with my sentiments. Indicated that there's a LOT of work to be done. Oh, I suggested that since they boxed themselves in with the V6 hybrid decree that a turbo would almost be a necessity to meet their performance targets and I didn't really get much of a denial, nor any sort of confirmation on that. Now I'm wishing I remembered his exact words there but several times during our conversation he indicated I should probably see if I could get any more info from some of the team members. We have a pretty good relationship with Erik, and I told him I'd like to speak to him more formally at a later point and he said he'd love to talk to us some more, but we'd obviously have to go through the proper channels to get it set up. (PR gatekeepers).