Acura is taking its NSX sports car, souping it up and unleashing it as a GT3 racer that will perform on various racetracks in the U.S. in 2017.
With one win already under its belt with the regular NSX at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in June in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Acura decided it was time to unveil its race car version to the world.
Acura released photos and specifications today of the new GT3, which is being designed, developed and produced on U.S. soil at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio. The Japanese car company is touting the new NSX GT3 as packing a powerful punch without the help of any electric motors.
The new NSX GT3 will use the same engine specifications that’s in the regular NSX and will come with a 3.5 liter, 75-degree, twin-turbocharged, dual-overhead-cam, V-6 engine.
But unlike the regular NSX, which has a hybrid system that uses two electric motors that drive the front wheels and an electric motor attached to the gas engine, the GT3 will be strictly combustion-only. The GT3 will also have a six-speed, sequential-shift racing gearbox that will deliver power to the rear wheels.
The initial development of the NSX GT3 started at Acura’s race engineering arm and was tested on racing circuits in Europe and Japan. The final testing and additional development will be handled by Honda Performance Development, the Japanese automaker’s North American race engineering group. That final work will prepare it for FIA GT3 global racing.
Check out this TFLnow video from Pikes Peak as the Acura NSX took on the race to the clouds: