The Acura NSX GT3 development race car will make its public debut during a surprise public test at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Thursday and Friday of this week.
The GT3 car, which is still slated for FIA homologation in the fall, is based on the all-new 2017 Acura NSX sports car, but won’t have the production car’s fancy hybrid all-wheel-drive powerplant. Instead, it will have just the twin-turbocharged V-6 engine minus the three additional electric motors.
The NSX GT3’s engine shares the same architecture as the production engine, but is only rear wheel drive. The 75-degree V-6 is built and developed at Honda’s Anna, Ohio engine plant. In fact, the NSX is an all-American supercar, having been designed, tested and built in the USA. It is the only supercar built in the United States, with production at the company’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio.
The choice of venue was in part based on the close proximity to the NSX’s home. It’s also a way for Acura to run the NSX GT3 alongside current GT3 race cars to see where they stand in terms of speed and performance.
The car, which will be piloted by test driver Peter Kox, will participate in practice at Mid-Ohio during the Pirelli World Challenge practice sessions.
Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development, said that the car that will run is the primary test vehicle for the NSX GT3 program, so they will take measures to keep the car safe and to avoid any potential crashes.
The car is run by RealTime Racing, Acura’s partner in the GT3 program. They also run two Acura ILX GT3 cars in the Pirelli World Challenge. Once the NSX GT3 is homologated, it will participate in the North American GT series.
Check out this TFLcar video of the Acura NSX at Pikes Peak:
