This puts a tear in my eye. Go Honda!! Having friends in the company, i've always known that at the grassroots level you have diehard car guys working for the company. I just wish the corporate BS settles down and Honda start building inspirational cars again.
Onto the build............ (I had to copy this from Facebook)
Please "like" this. Let's show these guys how much we appreciate their efforts!
http://www.facebook.com/notes/honda-racinghpd/2012-pikes-peak-nsx/613105528705689
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acura NSX
The 2012 Pikes Peak NSX Project actually started from the 2011 Pikes Peak Honda Fit that HRAO (Honda R&D, Ohio) jointly campaigned with HPD. After this successful event with the Honda Fit and the announcement that the entire hill was to be paved, we decided that we needed to develop a more purpose-built car to improve our competitiveness. At the same time, we became aware of a unique opportunity with one of our other internal race teams, HART (Honda of America Race Team). HART had an ex factory-built Acura NSX body with spare parts that had never been assembled, and they agreed to let us try to get it running as a basis for our 2012 Pikes Peak competition car. This car has an interesting history, as it was initially constructed to be an endurance race car, with full carbon-fiber body panels and custom billet aluminum suspension. The body was caged and seam welded, but never assembled into a final race car...
Base 1991 Acura NSX Race Car Body
We received the base car and parts at the beginning of 2012, and began the reassembly process in earnest from April. The fantastic team of fabrication specialists at HRAO built the car in 7 weeks!
Seven-Week Summary of the Car Build
We also got help from HPD (Honda Performance Development) in the form of the HR28TT race engine, used in the ALMS P2 class. This engine actually won the manufacturers’ championship in 2012, so we knew it was going to be great in this application.
HR28TT
The main change that we made to the base NSX race car was to swap the engine from the naturally aspirated 3.0L, 90-degree V6 to the more modern 2.8L, 60-degree V6 twin-turbo engine. This engine was tuned to make about 500HP at sea level, and substantially increase torque from the base engine. We also were able to take advantage of the New Old Stock race suspension left over from the endurance racing car setup. This included billet control arms with spherical rod end joints and aluminum uprights. Massive 6-piston AP brakes and aluminum hat rotors rounded out the suspension, along with single-nut racing hubs and three-piece race wheels.
NSX Suspension / Brakes
Probably the most noticeable change we made to the car was the exterior, which used the ex-Le Mans Wide Body Carbon Fiber body panels. This gave the car a very aggressive look, and helped us keep the overall weight of the car below 2200lbs!
Carbon Fiber Wide Body Kit
With the car fully built and shaken down, we headed to the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where the car received significant interest both on the hill and at the Fan Fest Event. We also were able to successfully run in the Pikes Peak Open race class and finished fourth with a time of 11 minutes, 42 seconds! Out of all of the car competitors up the hill, we were able to post the 12th fastest time.
Finish!
After we finished the event, we immediately began making plans to return to Pikes Peak in 2013… So far, we are looking to return with the NSX and some new additions to improve our time. Our goal for 2013 is to improve the competitiveness of both the car and the driver and go for the class win!
The team wants to thank Honda R&D Americas and the dedicated fabrication department for their excellent help in preparing such a fantastic car, HART for the opportunity to rebuild and run this NSX, THR (Team Honda Research), HPD for the great race engine, and Michelin for their support and experience with hill-climb tires. Look for us again in 2013!!
Onto the build............ (I had to copy this from Facebook)
Please "like" this. Let's show these guys how much we appreciate their efforts!
http://www.facebook.com/notes/honda-racinghpd/2012-pikes-peak-nsx/613105528705689
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acura NSX
The 2012 Pikes Peak NSX Project actually started from the 2011 Pikes Peak Honda Fit that HRAO (Honda R&D, Ohio) jointly campaigned with HPD. After this successful event with the Honda Fit and the announcement that the entire hill was to be paved, we decided that we needed to develop a more purpose-built car to improve our competitiveness. At the same time, we became aware of a unique opportunity with one of our other internal race teams, HART (Honda of America Race Team). HART had an ex factory-built Acura NSX body with spare parts that had never been assembled, and they agreed to let us try to get it running as a basis for our 2012 Pikes Peak competition car. This car has an interesting history, as it was initially constructed to be an endurance race car, with full carbon-fiber body panels and custom billet aluminum suspension. The body was caged and seam welded, but never assembled into a final race car...
Base 1991 Acura NSX Race Car Body
We received the base car and parts at the beginning of 2012, and began the reassembly process in earnest from April. The fantastic team of fabrication specialists at HRAO built the car in 7 weeks!
Seven-Week Summary of the Car Build
We also got help from HPD (Honda Performance Development) in the form of the HR28TT race engine, used in the ALMS P2 class. This engine actually won the manufacturers’ championship in 2012, so we knew it was going to be great in this application.
HR28TT
The main change that we made to the base NSX race car was to swap the engine from the naturally aspirated 3.0L, 90-degree V6 to the more modern 2.8L, 60-degree V6 twin-turbo engine. This engine was tuned to make about 500HP at sea level, and substantially increase torque from the base engine. We also were able to take advantage of the New Old Stock race suspension left over from the endurance racing car setup. This included billet control arms with spherical rod end joints and aluminum uprights. Massive 6-piston AP brakes and aluminum hat rotors rounded out the suspension, along with single-nut racing hubs and three-piece race wheels.
NSX Suspension / Brakes
Probably the most noticeable change we made to the car was the exterior, which used the ex-Le Mans Wide Body Carbon Fiber body panels. This gave the car a very aggressive look, and helped us keep the overall weight of the car below 2200lbs!
Carbon Fiber Wide Body Kit
With the car fully built and shaken down, we headed to the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where the car received significant interest both on the hill and at the Fan Fest Event. We also were able to successfully run in the Pikes Peak Open race class and finished fourth with a time of 11 minutes, 42 seconds! Out of all of the car competitors up the hill, we were able to post the 12th fastest time.
Finish!
After we finished the event, we immediately began making plans to return to Pikes Peak in 2013… So far, we are looking to return with the NSX and some new additions to improve our time. Our goal for 2013 is to improve the competitiveness of both the car and the driver and go for the class win!
The team wants to thank Honda R&D Americas and the dedicated fabrication department for their excellent help in preparing such a fantastic car, HART for the opportunity to rebuild and run this NSX, THR (Team Honda Research), HPD for the great race engine, and Michelin for their support and experience with hill-climb tires. Look for us again in 2013!!
Attachments
Last edited:
