TOKYO — When Takeo Fukui, former president of Honda Motor Co., cancelled development of the next-generation Acura NSX, it seemed to be the end of the legendary nameplate, the symbol of Honda's love for technology and performance. Those who were most disappointed with Fukui's decision were the people working on the sports car, as it was just about finished and ready to start production.
Now the car might make it to the road after all, only in the form of a racing car. The Super GT Series is the most popular racing series in Japan, featuring highly modified GT cars at races held throughout Asia. Most Japanese manufacturers are involved, notably Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota. This year, a midengine Acura won the championship at the final race when the favored Nissan GT-R had a flat tire.
For next season, the new-generation, front-engine NSX will be entered for the Super GT Series. It will be equipped with a 3.4-liter V8, not the 5.0-liter V10 that had been rumored for the production car.
Honda has managed to sidestep the Super GT rules that require the use of a car based on a production vehicle by presenting the drawings and specs of the car to JAF (Japan Automobile Federation), which sanctions the GT Series. The rules permit cars that are production ready, though not necessarily in production, which is why the NSX and Toyota Supra are still a part of the championship.
The officials at JAF have given the OK, so the NSX will take its place on the starting grid in Japan next year. This should ease the sting of Honda's retreat from Formula 1 and the cancellation of the NSX program, major blows to a company as dedicated to performance as Honda.
Inside Line says: Maybe this $100,000 sports car isn't as cancelled as we thought. — Mak Tokuyama, Correspondent
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debbaranko says:
11:32 PM, 03/08/2010
NSX? Nobody bought the ugly road going ones. Who would follow it in racing? V6? Slow? doesnt have a chance.
davesuton says:
09:53 PM, 12/14/2009
The NSX went out of production due to lack of interest. A V6 against superior V8's and V10's? I think the consensus around here was that it was, and will always will be, a "chick" car. I'll pass, again, on Honda.
stwok says:
12:46 AM, 12/13/2009
althought the NSX is still technically canceled, this gives me hope that they are still interested in racing. maybe when the economy picks up they will continue with the NSX and S2000 development. Toyota has the FT-86 and LFA in the pipeline, I'm sure Honda will eventually step-up to the plate (no the CRX doesn't count).
@smihal I share your disgust with Honda's actions recently, but have hope!
firstclass says:
11:12 PM, 12/12/2009
I assumed most on this sight would already be familiar with the Ferrari F40 enough to know its turbo charged it was arguably the best car to come out or the 80s and its intercoolers are clearly on display. turbos or not it's still impressive for a 2.9L.
Enough with the red pen, if you go around looking for flaws to circling in our comments you're going to find them. The comments come from real people not journalists. And I agree with you, Honda obviously took this idea seriously enough to develop the car. Why quit the race now? Not sure how much attention they'll bring to their company by merely racing it.
objectiveview says:
06:55 PM, 12/12/2009
Failed to mention that this is a Homologated Fomula Nippon engine. It is mandated by the rules as of this year, and Toyota/Lexus also use their 3.4L Formula Nippon engine in the Lexus SC GT500 race car (Supra was retired in 2006/2007).
Of note is that this engine format (3.4 V8) is in accordance with 2011(?) LeMans rules.
@Sentongyag.. get a grip. BMW made the McLaren F1 engines and if you were referring to actual F1 engines that can be said of a number of players, not to mention F1 engines are far and away from "ordinary" racing engines.
@ First class... you failed to mention that the F40 was turbocharged.
@hkjag... The NSX is dead.
on the whole, while I'm glad t see this car race, I find it extremely lame of Honda not to be bringing it into production.
sentoyang says:
04:55 PM, 12/12/2009
YAY! Way cool... even though I'll never be able to get one, its good to know that the NSX is coming back....
3.4 liter is big enough for Honda. They can top 150hp per liter. The F-1's engine where built by honda afterall.
the Super Gt NSX had a 3.5 liter engine-- producing 500 hp.
They just got to redline at 10,000rpm, which can easily be done for honda engine. They just need to stop BS-ing and show the world what they can do (Honda really need to stop with the whole "go green"-- u want to save the planet, have the airplane comp. make better airplane)
--btw I watched the final race of the super gt___ and the NSX smoked the other car. LOL
smihal says:
01:21 PM, 12/12/2009
+1 Firstclass. Very interesting and informative.
firstclass says:
01:17 PM, 12/12/2009
Contrary to the saying " no replacement for displacement"
The aston Martin DB4 had a 3.7L- v8, Ferrari f40 only had a 2.9L-V8, and the Ferrari 288 gto toped at just 2.8L-V8. Small displacement engines are nothing new and the surprising thing is there mostly seen on high performance automobiles. The little engines all have a very distinctive F1 note to them due to there high rev range as fuhteng pointed out.
the same can be said about manny V12s Lamborghini Miura 3.9L, lambo Countach 3.9L,Ferrari 275 GTB 3.3L. The Cadillac sixteen of the 1930s with its impressive V16 engine was only 7.1L that's about the displacement of the current corvette ZR1.
fuhteng says:
09:56 AM, 12/12/2009
perrito, it all depends on how you do it. The 4.3 in the F430 isn't big either, nor is the twin-turbo in the new McLaren (the one with a name like a sidearm). It will have an enormous rev-range, and won't produce much torque, but it will produce well over 100 hp/L, in road form, and god-knows how much in this form. American V8s are big because of their OHV (as opposed to OHC) configuration.
perrito says:
08:27 AM, 12/12/2009
"equipped with a 3.4-liter V8" - is this a typo? 3.4 liter? That's a tiny V8. Hmmm....