Oracle founder and self-made billionaire Larry Ellison is a Silicon Valley legend whose life has been full of headlines-grabbing colorful moments. Ellison’s brazen style and antics often earned him more attention than his genuine contributions to the world of technology. His actions have long been a subject of discussion and debate within the industry and the media. The tech mogul is also famous for his extravagant lifestyle.
In addition to owning an island in Hawaii, Ellison’s possessions include multiple superyachts, a fleet of private jets, a Mig-29 fighter jet, and a collection of rare and desirable automobiles. However, there was one particular sports car Ellison loved so much that he not only owned multiple examples of it but also ended up gifting several of them to his friends and associates.
Over the years, Ellison’s personal car collection has included rare exotics such as the Ferrari Enzo, Lexus LFA, and even a McLaren F1, which was auctioned last year for a whopping $3.6 million. The billionaire was once even taken to task by the local authorities when he tried to secure a fake smog certificate for his McLaren F1 sports car.
In the 1990s, Ellison was often seen driving around in a red Ferrari Testarossa. But his troubled ownership experience with the beautiful Ferrari two-door coupé is what led to him falling in love with a sportscar that had emerged in the ‘90s as an underdog in the performance car segment. The automobile we’re talking about is the legendary Acura NSX, which is now considered one of the best sports cars from that era.
According to the Oracle CEO’s biography titled “The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: God Doesn’t Think He’s Larry Ellison,” he wanted a more reliable replacement for his Ferrari.
Here’s an excerpt from the biography where the writer, Mike Wilson, talks about how the billionaire chose the Japanese sports car: “Ellison’s Ferraris kept catching fire on him, so he took Adelyn Lee (Oracle employee at the time) with him to test drive an Acura NSX sports car, a low-slung two-seater capable of hitting seventy before you got out of the garage. He liked the NSX so much that he eventually bought one, and another after that, and another.”
Larry Ellison reportedly owned 7 different Acura NSX sports cars over the years. The most notable of them was the 1996 NSX-T. It was a unique factory custom-built edition finished in Sebring Silver, which was not officially available in the US back in those days. The car was sold in 2001 with under 13,000 miles. Interestingly, Ellison also gifted a few of these $80,000 sports cars every year of the model’s 15-year production run to his friends and his best-performing employees, according to a report by Complex magazine.
What made the Acura NSX so special?
The two-seat, mid-engine Japanese sports car debuted in 1990 and the first generation model remained in production till 2005. It was created by Honda to lock horns with the European and American manufacturers that dominated the performance car segment in that era. The sleek design of the NSX was penned by Ken Okuyama, a renowned designer who also played an instrumental part in creating the Ferrari Enzo supercar. NSX also became the world’s first mass-produced car to feature an all-aluminum body.
Under the hood, the sports car featured an all-aluminum, 270 horsepower, 3.0 L V6 engine, which was replaced by a larger 3.2 L V6 engine that produced 290hp. While its power output may not seem a lot as compared to modern sports cars, it was incredibly quick around race tracks. The highlight of the Acura NSX was its precision handling, which is quite understandable as it was developed with inputs from the late Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna. The NSX was also famous for its user-friendliness and reliability, unlike the comparable European and American sports cars of the day. The Japanese sports car became such a hit that Honda was forced to introduce a second generation that debuted in 2015.
25 years later, Larry Ellison seems to have moved away from an Acura to a Lexus supercar. He has been spotted numerous times behind the wheel of a $400,000 Lexus LFA. Limited to just 500 units it is powered by a thunderous V10 engine developed with Yamaha, it delivers 553 horsepower at 9,000 RPM and goes from a standstill to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds.
