Acura will campaign the NSX in the GT3 series.
The newly reborn Acura NSX makes use of an unusual three-motor hybrid system, but when the sports car starts campaigning in the FIA GT3 series later this year, it will adopt a more conventional driveline layout, Honda’s luxury division revealed today.
It’s not that Acura wouldn’t like to use its hybrid drivetrain to challenge the competition, but the rules currently won’t allow it, Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development, told TheDetroitBureau.com.
So, the NSX GT3 will use a track-modified version of its 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 when it begins its racing career, and a good portion of that powertrain will be lifted right out of the street edition Acura NSX.
The production model only recently went back on sale after an extended hiatus. Acura spent years trying to come up with a unique formula that would be as groundbreaking as the original NSX. The solution was a hybrid version of the brand’s Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive technology, with two electric motors powering the front wheels, a third motor paired with the V-6 driving the rear axle.
The NSX GT3 undergoing testing at Michigan's GingerMan Raceway.
“Building on the very solid foundation of the production NSX, we’re making steady progress in our development and looking forward to campaigning the GT3 racecar next year,” said St. Cyr.
The 75-degree, DOHC V-6 will do all the grunt work on its own in the NSX GT3. The race car will maintain the same design specs as the street model, Acura note, including its block, heads, valvetrain, crankshaft, pistons and dry sump lubrication system. For the track, the biturbo six is paried with a 6-speed sequential-shifting race gearbox powering just the back wheels.
The NSX GT3 is being produced at the same Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio where the street sports car is assembled.
(Click Here for a review of the 2017 Acura NSX.)
The photographs here show the GT3 edition with exposed carbon fiber bodywork undergoing testing at the GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan.
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A look at the NSX GT3's carbon fiber bodywork.
Acura has been hoping the revived NSX will pump new life into the brand, and it’s betting that a good showing on the race circuit will build street cred for the sports car.
It got off to a good start at this year’s just-concluded Pikes Peak International Hill Climb where a “near-production NSX won the Time Attack 2 class.
An entirely electric version of the NSX was also run up the treacherous mountain course, a fourth motor added in the rear to replace the stock V-6.
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In today’s motor sports world, it’s a challenge to run a non-traditional drivetrain like the hybrid NSX package. But St. Cyr told TheDetroitBureau.com that Honda is hoping it may eventually find a way to put the three-motor system on the track.