It’s probably fair to say that the public reaction to the new Honda NSX supercar – due in early 2014 – has been mixed at best, especially when you put the first-gen. NSX into the mix; a car that car-lovers just adore. Some say the new car is too generic supercar, with a lot of Audi R8 in it, and too many angles and shapes that could have come from anything automotive, fast and recent. Well, sure, taste is a personal thing as always, and if I had to choose one, I’d take the first NSX home all day long. I’ve popped a white, 1st gen. NSX-R in the pics below just to remind you want a jet-fighter-like stunner she was.
But how about this new NSX Concept-GT racecar? This so-sharp, race-ready NSX will compete in the popular GT500 class of the Super GT Series, in Japan from 2014, as part, no doubt of the big PR push to herald the launch of the NSX road car. The Honda NSX has done well in GT racing over the years; something to do perhaps with F1 legend Senna setting up the old NSX chassis? There are no claims to F1-ace’s input with the new NSX, but it”ll be a cold day in hell when Honda sells a shabby supercar, surely.
The NSX GT car is covered in wide-aero, and I can’t see a single curve apart from the wheels! It’s an air-slicer for sure, and while this car is ready to race and complies with the 2014 GT500 rules – including its basing on the new NSX road car – this racer has a 2-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol motor in the mid-mount position, where the road car will have a V6.
We don’t know the full power and performance specs of the new road car, but we do know it will have rear-wheel-drive from that petrol V6 and a couple of electric motors up front with a wheel each to power and the latest in torque vectoring to really pull it through the bends. The racer gets a hybrid system, but will be rear-wheel drive, as per the rules. A combined power of around 500bhp and as much weight-trimming as possible will doubtless reveal a very quick GT track car.
With new car sales (kind of) picking up around the world, it seems that the big brands want to go racing again, and Honda while running this vicious new NSX in GT500, will also power the McLaren F1 team in 2015. It’ll be great to see the famously fast, ‘Championship White’ Hondas racecars on the track again, and maybe this hard-not-to-love-it, new NSX GT500 car will go some way to firing up some positive emotion for the new NSX road car. Especially if it wins tons of races!
By Dan Anslow
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