Honda New NSX-GT
Honda is gearing up for another season of Super GT
racing with the competition-spec NSX you see here left in bare black carbon fiber.
The new NSX-GT picks up where the
existing NSX-GT Concept leaves off after three years of competition. But while
it looks like a track-focused version of the roadgoing supercar, underneath all
the composite bodywork sits a completely different powertrain.
Instead of the production model's complex 3.5-liter
twin-turbo V6 hybrid powertrain with its nine-speed dual-clutch transmission
and all-wheel drive, the NSX-GT packs a 2.0-liter turbo four with a
paddle-shifted constant mesh gearbox. Though smaller in displacement, the
competition engine produces slightly more power than the trick hybrid, with
over 600 horsepower trumping the road-going model's 573.
The revised NSX-GT will compete in the top GT500
class of Japan's domestic touring car series. It has big shoes to fill,
succeeding the original NSX that won the championship three times and the
experimental HSV-010 that scored another in 2010.
To prove itself worthy, it will have to beat
the Nismo GT-Rs that won last year and are poised to win again this season –
not to mention the new Lexus LC500 that replaces the RC F as well.
