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Honda sending two NSX racers and new EV concept to Pikes Peak

Honda is always good for a few interesting Pikes Peak entries. In 2015, Acura supplied a 2017 NSX prototype for pace-car duty. This time around, two NSXes will compete alongside a reconfigured version of the company's four-motor electric racecar. Those aren't the 2016 entries above. The one on the right is last year's pace car and the one on the left is a first-gen NSX that did the hillclimb the past few years. The 2016 cars haven't been unveiled yet, but we know that one will be in the Time Attack 2 Production class, which is mostly stock with the addition of items like a roll cage, and the other will be in Time Attack 1. TA 1 allows modifications to the powertrain, additional aero aids, suspension changes, and other tweaks, so expect to see a lot more power and a big wing on the back. The cars will be driven by James and Nick Robinson, brothers who work for Honda R&D in Ohio. Honda will use a version of the four-motor electric powertrain from its 2015 CR-Z Exhibition class entry in a new EV. (We got to drive a non-race tune of this setup in Japan last year.) The 2016 version, which will wear a different body, moves to the Electric - Electric Modified class of last year's frontrunners. We're told this car is aiming for an overall win at the 2016 race; the CR-Z took 11th place overall in 2015. The EV will again be driven by Tetsuya Yamano, a Japanese Super GT driver. Oh, and there will of course be a factory entry or two from Honda's Powersports division. Honda engineer Keith Steidl will ride a 2015 TRX1000 ATV in the Pikes Peak Challenge - Exhibition Powersport class. In the past, Honda has fielded plenty of other neat stuff in the Race to the Clouds. In 2012, it ran an NSX fitted with a twin-turbo V6 from an LMP2 car, and the 2013 race saw the very practical 532-horsepower turbocharged Odyssey minivan join the Exhibition class. The 2016 race marks the Pikes Peak hillclimb's 100th anniversary (but not the 101st running since competition took some breaks back in wartime). We're looking forward to June already. Related Video: Image Credit: Honda Green Motorsports Acura Honda Electric Hybrid Racing Vehicles pikes peak exclusive

Acura already planning NSX Type R?

Acura just took the wraps off the production version of its long-awaited new NSX, but rumors are already circulating of an even hotter version to follow. Meeting up at the Detroit Auto Show this week, Auto Express asked the NSX's chief engineer Ted Klaus about the prospect of a Type R version in the future, to which he reportedly answered: "I think everyone who loves cars wants to see a version that we say is pure red. The NSX has always been silver first, moving towards red later. Someone asked me, 'when will you be satisfied?' Probably never. What you do today, you can improve on tomorrow." That doesn't mean that tomorrow will actually come tomorrow, but it does speak to a spirit of improvement on the NSX team that could stand to keep the American-made Japanese supercar on the knife's edge and out in front of the competition, which Klaus identified as including the Ferrari 458, Audi R8 V10 and Porsche 911 Turbo. The previous model bred the NSX-R two years after its release (in the Japanese domestic market anyway), benefiting from a 265-pound weight reduction, a stiffer suspension, and though never officially confirmed, a long-suspected bump in output. Related Video:

Acura NSX prototype gets back on track

Developing a new vehicle is not without its complications, we're sure, but usually things follow a fairly predictable progression: you develop a prototype, you test it, test it and test it again, then you put it into production. What you don't expect is that your prototype will burn to the ground, but that's what famously happened to the NSX which Honda engineers were testing a few months ago.
Fortunately, the Acura NSX prototype is back on track, both literally and figuratively, as you can see from this latest batch of spy shots snapped at the Nürburgring. This camouflaged prototype looks pretty much the same as the last one, only, you know... less crispy. Which is to say, it looks pretty much ready to hit showrooms.
The naysayers may point out that Honda chose colder and damper weather to put the NSX back into testing - thereby mitigating the risk of another fire - but we're sure the Japanese automaker has been working hard to fix the flammability issues, whatever may have caused them, over the past few months. At least, we hope they have.