NSX at Pikes Peak this year

[bboxer]

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-pikes-peak-hill-climb-practice-day-1/

Does any one know who's the entrant of this black NSX and what class is it running?

 

[RYU]

You beat me to it Tino. I was wondering the same thing.

There's a "Acura Motorsports" (WTF is that?), HPD, and HART sticker on it and not much else. I'm going to guess this is the Honda Employee Team. I'm feverishly searching for articles on it now. I'm also asking my friends at Honda Torrance (and why have they been keeping this secret from me!!!!!!!!!)

HPD = Honda Performance Development
HART = Honda of America Racing Team

Here's a couple of pics. AWESOME LOOKING 91 is all I have to say. Thank you Honda for being relevant again. You have answered my incessant ramblings on your facebook page.
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-pikes-peak-hill-climb-practice-day-1/full/#photo-5198777
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-pikes-peak-hill-climb-practice-day-1/full/#photo-5198776
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-pikes-peak-hill-climb-practice-day-1/full/#photo-5198806

BTW.. that's a pretty badass widebody kit and I love how they did the sans popup headlights. Single lug/center lock wheels? Brilliant.
Also, What the hell?? Pike's Peak is 100% paved this year? Blasphemy!! I wonder if the LoveFab boys knew that before they made their intro video in the dirt.

 

[bboxer]

That was good info. Waiting for more.
Yes, looks like all 12+ miles are freshly paved.
BTW, the recent fires in CO were very close.

http://director.usacracing.com/ppihc/files/pdfs/map.pdf

 

[96cxt]

LoveFab's NSX is crazy looking!

All photos taken by iPhone4s and no editing other than a couple instagram filters lol


Today was tech inspection at Pikes Peak International Raceway

http://houston-imports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654690

 

[RYU]

Honda Racing tent. Dead giveaway.

ouuuuu... i'm all warm and fuzzy inside.

More pics..

check out those CBR mirrors.

 

[Nukem]

I am trying to figure out the headlights. I never knew there were that many wide variety of cars. From little almost stock VWs to Formula Cars and Le Mans Prototype look alike cars. Hope we will get to see some videos.

 

[NSX2398]

You beat me to it Tino. I was wondering the same thing.

There's a "Acura Motorsports" (WTF is that?), HPD, and HART sticker on it and not much else. I'm going to guess this is the Honda Employee Team. I'm feverishly searching for articles on it now. I'm also asking my friends at Honda Torrance (and why have they been keeping this secret from me!!!!!!!!!)

HPD = Honda Performance Development
HART = Honda of America Racing Team

Hmmm .. it says '91 NSX' but do you suppose this is really a mule that's testing the NSX 2.0 drivetrain? I mean wouldn't a twisty course like this be an excellent place to tune the hybrid torque vectoring? The 2.0 has a tranverse V6 and the battery pack is supposed to be about where our gas tank is, so the whole thing could be quite stealthy and not attract much attention. I'm not familiar with HPD but could this be part of the Honda R&D group that is responsible for the 2.0 development?

 

[sadlerau]

Hmmm .. it says '91 NSX' but do you suppose this is really a mule that's testing the NSX 2.0 drivetrain? I mean wouldn't a twisty course like this be an excellent place to tune the hybrid torque vectoring? The 2.0 has a tranverse V6 and the battery pack is supposed to be about where our gas tank is, so the whole thing could be quite stealthy and not attract much attention. I'm not familiar with HPD but could this be part of the Honda R&D group that is responsible for the 2.0 development?

Wow, big leap of imagination there! But hey, the stance doesn't quite look NSX v1 stock, and it's running the same size tyres front and rear? Interesting.

 

[RYU]

Hmmm .. it says '91 NSX' but do you suppose this is really a mule that's testing the NSX 2.0 drivetrain? I mean wouldn't a twisty course like this be an excellent place to tune the hybrid torque vectoring? The 2.0 has a tranverse V6 and the battery pack is supposed to be about where our gas tank is, so the whole thing could be quite stealthy and not attract much attention. I'm not familiar with HPD but could this be part of the Honda R&D group that is responsible for the 2.0 development?

As much as I want to say yes, unfortunately my money says no. the one thing that makes hpd so awesome in my book is its a grassroots initiative of sorts. I like that Honda isn't throwing a ton of marketing dollars that way but instead letting its actions and support for racing speak for itself. Which is probably why many haven't heard much about them. This may change though once the Marketing VPs exploit HPD like Toyota did with TRD USA in the late 90s.

More about HPD here.
http://hpd.honda.com/

 

[CL65 Captain]

It's not a hybrid or mule, the cars go through tech inspection.

 

[RYU]

Tino - This is a Honda sanctioned car. It's an employee/engineer championed effort out of the Ohio office not Torrance (no wonder!). I'll let the blogs and news media fill in the rest.

I don't know if this is funded by the massive Honda R&D budget and/or perhaps via the Marketing Dept. Which is why I suspect it's more a "grassroots" effort within. In any case, I try not to talk company politics when out having fun with the toys. We'll find out soon enough!

 

[RYU]

This might be a little OT but I'm one of the few who have not replaced my Acura emblems with JDM Honda badging. Acura/Honda Corporate may have "lost their way" but I can attest that the proud engineers/employees are diehard enthusiasts. The HART team for example work off hours to campaign their race team (I think even Billy Johnson can attest to this). They have day jobs just like us.

I support the Acura brand but moreso their employees. So should you

Here's some of my HPD fanboy stuff. Notice the really small sticker on the license plate frame..."Machined by HPD". That's a sign of pride and not sure how that got thru the corporate filters haha.

 

[Oyagi]

Cool to see Honda/Acura car making a splash at Pikes Peak. Here I am thinking Cody was the only one.

 

[Coz]

Now this is some scary stuff !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEUrEPPABbY

 

[shrddr]

Now this is some scary stuff !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEUrEPPABbY

that is a friend of mine from the racing/autocross world. both he and his navigator/codriver were injured, but nothing serious. they are both ok.

 

[Coz]

Thats great to hear..that was a major fall.

that is a friend of mine from the racing/autocross world. both he and his navigator/codriver were injured, but nothing serious. they are both ok.

 

[NSX2398]

It's not a hybrid or mule, the cars go through tech inspection.

So, why would that exclude a hybrid or mule? The car is running in the Pikes Peak Open class and the description is: "These cars may look like stock cars from the outside, but major modifications can be done to their engines, transmissions and suspension." Sounds like it could easily accommodate the NSX concept powertrain. And if it was done by Honda R&D, it should be good enough quality/safety to pass inspection

 

[johnjohn]

Did you all see the crashes on Pike's Peak?
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motora...peak-climb-amid-heart-stopping-130045334.html

 

[e.pie]

It didn't have a C30 or C32. I was looking at it at the Pikes Peak Fan Fest and the guys at the booth said it was the HR28TT from the HPD LeMans program, it's a twin turbo 2.8L V6.

 

[butter78]

Now this is some scary stuff !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEUrEPPABbY

Holy crap that was nuts Good to hear that they survived that.

 

[e.pie]

There were an absurd amount of wrecks this year, luckily no one was seriously hurt.

 

[EZdoesIt]

It didn't have a C30 or C32. I was looking at it at the Pikes Peak Fan Fest and the guys at the booth said it was the HR28TT from the HPD LeMans program, it's a twin turbo 2.8L V6.

No kidding? If you have any more specs please share

Here's a great photo/wallpaper (too big to embed).
http://cdn.speedhunters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/pikes12part1desktops-20.jpg

 

[e.pie]

I have a couple pictures of it as soon as I have the chance to get them off the camera.

 

[e.pie]

 

[e.pie]

If I remember right it had a sequential transmission as well.