ACURA TO FIELD FOUR CARS IN THIS YEAR'S PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILLCLIMB - INCLUDING A '22 NSX TYPE S ACTIVE AERO STUDY
Acura is headed to the annual PIkes Peak International Hillclimb with no less than five cars to send up the famed Colorado hill. Four of the five will head up the hill at race pace, while the fifth will be doing duty as the event’s official pacecar. Representing Acura, the entry list includes a 2024 Integra Type S that will be driven by Loni Unser in the Exhibition Class which will also see Paul Hubers driving a 2023 Integra 1.5T and Jordan Guitar in a 2023 TLX Type S driving in. One JDM fans will be watching is definitely Yamabiko, the 2022 NSX Type S Active Aero Study that will be reigned in by James Robinson in the Time Attack 1 Class - a very competitive class with loads of fast entries. The final Acura heading up the hill as the official pacecar is a 2023 TLX Type S PMC Edition with well-known INDYCAR driver David Malukas at the helm. An interesting thing about the team entries is that they are prepped and crewed by a volunteer team of engineers from Acura’s Ohio R&D facility. It’s clearly a great way to run things as this is now Acura's 13th consecutive year of competition at Pikes Peak, and in that time has amassed an impressive 12 1st place in-division finishes, 26 podiums and a host of records. Four of these entries are race-prepped, production-based cars, and the last one is a project by HART (Honda of America Racing Team) Acura’s Skunkworks division. These are the very same chaps responsible for the Honda CR-V Beast we saw released a couple of months back.
The HPD Integra Type S racecar will be driven by 4th-generation racer, Loni Unser. At the same time, Acura engineer Paul Hubers is back for a second time at the wheel of an Integra 1.5T built HART, and Acura engineer and Pikes Peak veteran Jordan Guitar also returns driving a TLX Type S by HART. The HPD Integra Type S racecar brings Acura's own anime series to life with an anime-style wrap themed for the second season of Chiaki's Journey. Unser is a fourth-generation race car driver, following her father Johnny, who raced at the Indianapolis 500, with the Unser family (Al, Bobby and Al, Jr.) winning nine Indy 500 championships. The Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study was designed, developed and built explicitly for maximum aerodynamic performance to gain as much of an advantage as possible up a long and fast hill. "The HART program embodies the Honda 'Racing Spirit' by providing associates with invaluable experience through motorsports, while transferring vehicle performance learnings into the development and manufacturing of next-generation Honda and Acura products," said Aaron Kerestan, Honda Principal Engineer and Team Leader for Crazy New. "Crazy New takes that to the next level with a focus on bigger, forward-thinking ideas and more extreme builds, like the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study." The NSX has been given the nickname of "Yamabiko", a mythological mountain god or spirit in Japanese folklore. That’s pretty rad. The Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study features custom carbon fibre bodywork that was created after many hours of research inside the new Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO) facility, which is incidentally the world's most advanced wind tunnel. The radical designs incorporate active aero technology that includes a dynamic rear wing that acts as a drag reduction system (DRS) to increase speed on faster sections of the track. Also, under heavy braking, the electrically actuated rear spoiler deploys as an air brake to increase drag and improve balance. "We created the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study, aka 'Yamabiko', to improve our own Pikes Peak record. It's by far the most extreme machine the Acura Race Team has ever raced to the clouds." says James Robinson.
Take a look at the YouTube video from a good seven years ago when Acura entered the new-generation NSX in the 2015 instalment of the famed Pikes Peak International Hillclimb as the official pacecar, something the automaker has replicated for this year's 2023 race. Acura will field 5 cars, 4 for flat-out competition and the last being the TLX Type S PMC Edition that will fill the pacecar role: Acura - NSX Sets the Pace at Pikes Peak | Acura
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