Video: F40 vs. 512TR vs. GT-R vs. RUF vs. NSX

27th January 2022

James King

We often look back at our formative years with rose tinted glasses. Nostalgia is a powerful feeling that’ll have you wishing for those days to be a reality once more. As car enthusiasts we had it good. In the UK we had a permed Jeremy Clarkson and the sultry sounds of Tiff Needell taking us through the motoring world and what would be the twilight years of the analogue car.

However, thanks to the internet, we were living a lie. We didn’t have the best motoring TV in the world. All three cans of Clarkson’s perm hairspray weren’t a match for the entertainment Japanese TV was offering. Where we’d have Tiff talking us through what made the Ferrari F40 such an icon, Japan went down the more industrial route of throwing it on a race track against a whole host of other icons… and a Toyota MR2.

Japanese TV lets the cars do all the talking. There is no better combination than setting up onboard cameras, giving every driver a mic and getting them racing around what I always thought was a fictitious circuit in Tsukuba. Yes, that circuit with a sub one minute lap wasn’t just a Gran Turismo creation, but is the proving ground for the best cars in the real world… and again a Toyota MR2.

The variety of cars is what really makes this a spectacle. You have the Ferrari F40 having to work its way through a field of a RUF CT-R, Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, Honda NSX, Ferrari 512TR, Mazda RX-7 and finally that Toyota MR2. I won’t spoil the result, but the heavily underpowered MR2 holds its own for more than you’d expect, even overtaking the RUF with the smallest of opportunities.

When you put all the elements together, you have a near perfect video for the car enthusiast and we could watch it on loop. Which of the grid would you want to take around the Goodwood circuit?

Welcome to Goodwood Elevenses, a mid-morning helping of motoring-related amusement to help break up your day. Watch the last video: V8 trucks jumping into orbit