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Acura NSX is industry's first supercar with a female design lead

Michelle Christensen. Unless you've been casting about the web for some behind-the-scenes takes on recent exotic car launches or were unusually curious during the early days of the sport crossover trend, her name probably means nothing to you. She grew up in Northern California, where her family drag-raced. Venerables like the 1932 Ford, Plymouth GTX, and Dodge Super Bee rolled through her family garage. And Christensen grew up designing prom dresses for friends and dreaming of working in a pit crew. In fact, she didn't even realize car design was a real profession until junior high, when her father pointed out Chip Foose at a car show. After that, she was hooked, so she went to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where she reimagined the Plymouth Barracuda as her senior project. Today, Christensen can add the title of lead exterior designer on the 2016 Acura NSX to her resume. The first woman to lead the shape of a supercar, Christensen actually opened up her "First!" account with Acura in 2005 when the company swooped her up the night of graduation and she became its first female exterior car designer. Her first sketch on the job was a concept for the ZDX, and the bigwigs chose her design for production. She joined the NSX team after the mid-engined concept was introduced at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, replacing the front-engined V10 concept (we encourage you to go back and look at what was versus what is). Christensen thereafter led a crew of eight through a rework of the sheetmetal, with the focus being to keep the "emotional, 3-D kind of feeling." Reminiscing about her family's utterly unadorned '32 Ford hot rod, she said the NSX team was committed to keeping the design simple and light. Wind tunnel work led to larger bumper, hood and side intakes for better airflow on the production model. That, along with a switch in engine position, gave them a chance to go aggressive and to not only "punch more holes in it and make it more exotic," but also "take it to the gym and beef it up." In line with its decidedly un-retro rebirth, the third brake light that runs across the decklid is about the only nod to its predecessor. At age 34, we're certain we haven't seen the last of Christensen or her designs. Related Video:  

Acura is bringing back one of the first-gen NSX's coolest colors

Between 1997 and 2003, about 20 percent of first-generation Acura NSXs wore the color Spa Yellow, also known as Indy Yellow in some markets. As the legend of the NSX grew, so did the shiny color's reputation, and today, it's one of collectors' favorites. That's why it was odd that the second-generation NSX has not offered yellow paint ... until now. Acura announced the 2020 NSX will offer Indy Yellow Pearl, a similar-but-new take on the classic. Acura currently offers eight colors on the NSX: Nouvelle Blue Pearl, Valencia Red Pearl, Casino White Pearl, Source Silver Metallic, Thermal Orange Pearl, 130R White, Curva Red, and Berlina Black. Of those, Berlina Black is considered the only heritage color, and now it's getting a partner in Indy Yellow Pearl. Although Berlina Black can be ordered as a standard color, Indy Yellow Pearl will cost an extra $1,000, which seems completely worth it. Spa Yellow, which was the fifth-most-popular first-generation NSX color, was one of two yellows offered back then. For the 2004 and 2005 model years, the last two years of first-gen NSX production, Spa Yellow was replaced with Rio Yellow. The announcement comes ahead of California's famous Monterey Car Week, where the car will make its global in-person debut. It will be shown next to an NSX GT3 Evo racecar on the main strip in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.  The 2020 Acura NSX starts at $159,495, including destination.

Russian videographer nails this real-life 'Need for Speed' recreation

Aaron Paul and Kid Cudi tried. They really did. They put forth a decent acting effort, played with some incredible replica supercars, and filmed at some remarkable settings. But it's 2019, and 2014's "Need for Speed" sits at a 6.5/10 on IMDB, a 39 on Metacritic, and a 57% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The studio attempt to bring "Need for Speed" to life was lukewarm, so a Russian videographer took a shot at the idea with this impressive digital short. Unearthed by Reddit user, AbuDab1, the clip is the work of Russia-based videographer @Chekunov_v. Clearly a fan of all things fast and fancy, as seen by his Instagram, Chekunov recreated the start screen, the garage with car and mod selection, and the race sequences from the video game. The video starts with an Acura RSX Type-S (labeled as the Integra Type R) with familiar theme music playing in the background. Accompanied by video game sound effects, the spotlight switches between a Toyota Celica, a Toyota Supra and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. The Supra and Evo are locked, so the user settles on the Celica. He goes on to select mods, including a new spoiler, new wheels and a new color, again to the tune of the proper sound effects, menus and camera views. The car exits the garage and rolls onto the road, where the screen now shows a tachometer and an N2O gauge. The Celica is met with a race challenge, and the car lines up with a Mazda RX-8, an Acura RSX Type-S and a Subaru WRX STI. After a terrible launch, the Celica uses some NOS and takes the victory. Unfortunately, the video is a bit 2 fast, 2 short for our taste. It's well done, has some unique video work, and takes us back into one of our favorite video game series. Maybe this guy can direct the studio sequel.