2015 Honda NSX to Become Non-Hybrid Racer

Automakers are trying to convince us they can make hybrid sportscars that are as economical as diesel econoboxes on tiny wheels, but still offer all the thrills. We’re not so convinced, because once you actually do want to get on the gas, that power, be it electric or fuel-based, has to come from something.

But Honda doesn’t seem to be going back on its word and is making the next NSX into an all-wheel drive hybrid.

The NSX has been off the radar for a number of years now, and the Japanese have to actually prove their car is worth our attention. And to do this they will unleash it onto the track.

But the racing version of the NSX might be a conventionally-powered, non-hybrid car, at least according to an AutoGuide report.

According to them Honda will race their sportscar in the American Grand Am series, which currently does not allow hybrids. However, a new class could be created soon, as Mazda has announced a diesel racer for next year.

What’s more, the NSX will race in Japan in the Super GT Series, which would also forbid a hybrid AWD car under current regulations.

Source;
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2015-honda-nsx-to-become-non-hybrid-racer-47344.html

The Acura NSX Concept Meets an Original 1991 Acura NSX

Measuring Up to the Past

By Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor | Published May 15, 2012

Automakers are under no obligation to tell the truth about future product, especially when it comes to future sports cars. And double especially when those future sports cars embody the automaker's very DNA. So it is with the Acura NSX Concept, the car that portends the 2015 Acura NSX.

As such, upon the reveal of the Acura NSX Concept earlier this year at the Detroit auto show, we took the car's published dimensions with a grain of salt. Up there on the stage, it just looked...well, bigger. There was simply no way that car was in the same dimensional realm as the lithe and slim original from 1991.

Upon our half-jokingly expressing this sentiment to the folks at Acura, something unexpected happened — they opened their doors. They made the NSX Concept available for us at their Torrance, California-based design studio to pore over, measure, move around, sweat on (hey, it was hot in there). No chaperones, and no limitations other than "please don't break it." We spent an entire day with the two-of-a-kind car (the other, redder NSX Concept recently made an appearance at the Beijing auto show).

For perspective we brought along our long-term 1991 Acura NSX. That ought to bring into stark contrast just how gargantuan the concept is. Right?

Deception
When you finally set eyes on the Acura NSX Concept in a more natural setting than the glitzy show floor, the thing that first strikes you is that it is not the sprawling colossus of a supercar you expected. It's actually fairly tidy, the form compact and dense, the silver skin like Saran Wrap pulled tight over the mechanical bits. The car occupies less volume than you think.

Given free rein with a tape measure, we gleaned further insights.

That leads us to the next illusion: There are no mechanical bits. The NSX Concept doesn't steer, go or brake. It weighs as much as an SUV, a trait with which we became intimately familiar when we tried to roll the zoomy car around on the wheel jacks. A resin-board "structure" fills in the voids to be occupied by the mid-mounted V6, hybridized dual-clutch transaxle and twin electric motors that will provide drive to all four wheels of the production version. It's no exaggeration to say that everything beneath the concept's surface serves solely as a canvas upon which its bodywork can drape.

Yet a stylist's throwaway flight of fancy the NSX Concept is not. Far from it, the concept serves as the company's template for the production 2015 Acura NSX. There will be no Chevy Volt-like styling about-face when the production car drops. In fact, Acura officials tell us that their objective is to ensure that the 2015 Acura NSX's dimensions and styling mimic those of the NSX Concept as closely as humanly possible. Then again, that's the objective. Who knows where the realities of a street car will lead them?

Truth
The tape measure doesn't lie. Our measurements were within a tenth of an inch of the basic dimensions released by Acura at the time of its unveiling. Props to Acura for its truthiness, then. And it turns out a lot of wheelbase has been packed into the Acura NSX Concept. Its 99.6-inch wheelbase is within an inch of an Audi R8 and Ferrari 458 Italia, yet the concept's 170.4-inch length is between 4 and 8 inches shorter than those cars. It's also considerably lower — the NSX Concept stands 45.7 inches high to the Audi's 49.3 inches and Ferrari's 47.8.

Given free rein with a tape measure, we gleaned further insights. We measured its front track at 63.6 inches and its rear track at 63.3 inches, dimensions that again place the NSX Concept in the same realm as the midengine Audi (64.3 and 62.8 inches, respectively) and Ferrari. (65.8 and 63.2 inches). The zoomy Acura's front and rear overhangs measure 36.3 and 32.6 inches, respectively. Each angular mirror protrudes 5 inches prouder than the widest point of the car. Have tape measure, will scrutinize.

Source (check out the link, massive photo archive for this post, beautiful!);
http://www.insideline.com/acura/nsx/the-acura-nsx-concept-meets-an-original-1991-acura-nsx.html

Autointrends: 2015 NSX Rendering

Out of respect to the author(s) of Autointrends, I am supplying the link below, while you're there check out the rest of the site, it has a ton of useful information!

http://autointrends.com/2012/05/02/renderinghonda-nsx-sport-car-is-in-develope-and-will-arrive-by-2015/

ACURA NSX CONCEPT @ AUTO CHINA 2012 BEIJING

Beautiful....

Next Gen Acura NSX Variant

As of now we have a good idea as to what the next Gen Acura NSX is going to look like, however I have stumbled across a variant idea that wouldn't look too far from the existing concept. Anyway, enjoy!
Source;
http://visions-autos.sport24.com/r16293/Honda/

Inside Line: Driving The Avengers Acura NSX Roadster Video

MotorTrend Looks at the 2015 Acura NSX

From the April, 2012 issue of Motor Trend
By Frank Markus
Photos Wesley Allison
Acura's 1991 NSX put an end to the era when sexy supercars could be unreliable, ill-handling, ergonomic disasters. The all-aluminum mid-engine marvel delivered laser-sharp handling and high-revving acceleration suffused with Japanese quality, while advancing the state of the production-car art with firsts like four-channel ABS, titanium con-rods, and electric power steering.

Since NSX production ended in 2005, the world has eagerly awaited its replacement. A front-engine V-10 layout was proposed and developed by Acura Design as the Advanced Sports Car Concept. Everyone involved agreed that it was cool, but it wasn't an NSX. The car you see here is.

Expected by 2015, the new NSX will employ a mid-mounted V-6, complete with titanium connecting rods coupled to a wet twin-clutch seven-speed transmission and hybridized with an electric motor driving the rear wheels. Two more electric motors will spin the front wheels, providing torque-vectoring under acceleration and braking to help the NSX turn into corners better under all conditions. This Sports Hybrid AWD system is purported to deliver big-V-8 performance with "better-than-four-cylinder" fuel economy (let's assume they're talking big turbo fours there).

We asked Honda's global CEO Takanabu Ito (who started his career as an engineer working on the NSX's aluminum monocoque structure) whether he felt it was important that the next NSX still be made of aluminum. He replied what was more important was that the engineering team face as great a challenge as his did as they work to offset the new car's hybrid drivetrain mass. When asked whether he'd established a weight-to-power target for the team, his coy answer was, "I hope it is better than the first car's."

But if we assume that here again he expects to challenge his engineers to an equal extent, and we know that the first NSX matched Ferrari's 348 with 11 lb/horsepower, we can expect the 2015 car to at least match the current 458 Italia (and Lamborghini Gallardo) with around 6 lb/hp.

The sexy, show-stopping shape features Acura's softening Keen Edge design. Dimensionally, it measures 3.7 inches shorter in length on a 1.8-inch longer wheelbase, so overhangs are cropped. It's also 3.3 inches wider and 0.4 inch lower than the 2005 NSX. The concept rides on 255/35-19 front and 275/30-20 rear rubber. The low-profile headlamps are LED-based, and while there is no interior in the concept, design chief Jon Ikedo presumes the battery will package in the center tunnel, luggage compartments will be fitted fore and aft, and the fuel tank will slot in just ahead of the engine as before to preserve weight distribution as the fuel level drops. With production slated for "within three years," the shape has yet to undergo extensive computer or physical testing. Ikedo says early scale-model clays are performing well in the wind tunnel, but cautions that crash development is likely to grow the car somewhat. That development work, by the way, is all happening in the USA, and the car will be built in Ohio.

Acura claims the next NSX will represent the "ultimate expression of man-machine synergy," with driver and car working in unison, rather than the driver being taken for a ride by a highly robotized car.

Indeed a three-motor, mid-engine supercar sounds like the ideal halo car for a brand attempting to distinguish itself as delivering luxury and performance without waste or excess. It may even shake up the supercar-world order again. We just hope Ito's engineers overcome their biggest challenge: programming those electronics to deliver realistic, not robotic, road feel.

New Tech

The NSX won't be first with a hybridized twin-clutch tranny, but, unlike the Jetta Hybrid's, its electric motor connects to (we're guessing the odd) gear shaft instead of the input shaft. By releasing both clutches, more energy can be regenerated with no engine braking effect, and by connecting the motor to the (odd or even) gear with the most advantageous ratio. Under acceleration, power is transmitted through a preselected odd gear even when an even gear is in use.

2015 ACURA NSX
BASE PRICE $130,000*
VEHICLE LAYOUT Mid-engine, AWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE 3.7L DOHC 24-valve V-6 + 2 front and 1 rear electric motors; 480 hp comb*
TRANSMISSION 7-speed twin-cl auto
CURB WEIGHT 3100 lb*
WHEELBASE 101.4 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 170.5 x 74.6 x 45.7 in
0-60 MPH 3.0 sec*
EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON Not yet rated
ON SALE IN U.S. 2015

Source;

http://www.motortrend.com/future/future_vehicles/1204_2015_acura_nsx/

Honda NSX Concept Unveiled to Europeans in Geneva

Honda Motor Europe President, Manabu Nishimae delivers Geneva Press Conference Speech

-New Civic with 1.6-litre i-DTEC diesel engine will deliver CO2 emissions of 95 g/km*
-NSX will be sold in Europe as a Honda
-New European CR-V prototype makes debut
-UK factory to double 2012 production volumes to 180,000

A full transcript of the speech follows:

Good morning, and welcome to Honda's media conference. I am very pleased to be here with you today.

Last year proved to be a very challenging year due to the natural disasters in Japan and in Thailand that impacted on our supply of new vehicles. Our ability to deliver cars to the customers who wanted them was restricted. Our Thai plant resumes full production within a month and all other production activity is fully restored. Whilst we must learn from recent history, we now look forward to what is an exciting future.

This is an important show for Honda. We are displaying products and technologies that will be at the heart of our growth plans for Europe. We are now entering a period of numerous product launches which will see Honda increase production volumes and increase sales.

In 2012, our UK factory will double production volumes to 180,000 units. In May, the New Civic assembly line will start a double shift and 500 new workers will join us.
Later in the year we start production of the New European CR-V.

The all New CR-V will be built in Europe and will be introduced in the Autumn with improved quality, performance, and enhanced fuel economy, along with new features unique for the European market. Today, we are showing a European CR-V prototype. We will display the production model at the Paris show in September.

Honda will also renew our entire European engine line-up, with a new engine series called Earth Dreams Technology. With these engines we aim to be Number 1 in fuel economy in each sector within 3 years.

The first engine from this series will be a new 1.6 litre diesel engine. Designed for Europe, it is expected to deliver 95 grammes per kilometre CO2 emissions and is the world's lightest engine in its class. It will be introduced on the New Civic and production starts at our UK factory at the end of this year.

Earth Dreams Technology engines will also deliver excellent performance characteristics. And at the summit of this range.... There is the new NSX.

This NSX Concept is powered by a mid-engine V6 ... and a new Sport Hybrid All-Wheel Drive system that comprises of 1 motor on the rear axle and 2 on the front. Supercar acceleration and outstanding efficiency will be the hallmarks of this revolutionary powertrain. The two motors in the front axle enable independent control of the left and right wheels to realize a ground-breaking "On-the-rail-cornering" experience. New NSX is set to define a new standard of Super Sport.
The US will launch new NSX with the Acura brand in 3 years. I can confirm the NSX will come to Europe....as a Honda.

NSX is the ultimate top-line Sports model, could we develop a smaller one? The EV-STER is another European premiere. This small sports EV Concept indicates the direction of how environmental technology can be incorporated with the pure joy of driving.

Our sporty plans are not limited to new models. A half century ago, Honda established the Suzuka circuit in Japan. It was the first racing track in Asia.

In October, at the Suzuka round, we plan to enter a European Civic into the FIA World Touring Car Championship. This celebrates the 50th anniversary of Suzuka Circuit. It also marks the 40th anniversary of Civic.

This racing Civic will be powered by Honda's new 1.6 direct injection turbo racing engine solely developed by Honda R&D. This is an important first step as we enhance the sportiness of Civic and the Honda brand.

Through Earth Dreams Technology, Honda will continue to minimise our environmental footprint so that we will all be able to enjoy sports driving for future generations and preserve Blue Skies for Our Children.

Thank you for your attention.

Source;
http://www.hondanews.eu/en/news/index.pmode/modul,detail,0,2198-DEFAULT,21,text,1/index.pmode

Honda's SUPERCAR - Acura NSX by Brian Long

Wow, everything you could possibly want to know about the NSX....

http://books.google.ca/books?id=87k-Xt36RtIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

-Befitting the subject, the author is a leading motoring historian, who lives in Japan and who has received full co-operation from Honda
-Full year-by-year coverage of all production models, including limited editions
-Japanese, American and European markets covered in superb detail
-Well over 380 contemporary pictures, including rare prototypes, mainly in colour
-Advertising and sales brochures are also reproduced
-Interviews with key personnel
-Sales and production figures

Description
Honda’s superbly engineered flagship model, the NSX, is the ultimate Japanese supercar. This book charts, in great detail, the complete history of the Honda NSX from inception to the present day, and also incorporates a buyer's guide. Features over 380 colour photos, advertising literature and interviews with key Honda personnel in order to tell the real story of the NSX. An absolute must have for anyone who owns, plans to own, or just plain admires the thinking person's supercar, the NSX.

The Author
Born in Coventry, Brian Long comes from a family with a proud heritage in both automotive and aviation engineering. He trained as a mechanical engineer, and worked at his father’s garage. Since 1990, he has had more than 30 books published. A member of the RJC (Researchers’ & Journalists’ Conference of Japan) and the Guild of Motoring Writers. Brian lives in Japan with his wife, Miho, son, Louis, and daughter, Sophie-Mercedes.

Thanks for the tip Leo!

TOV Reader Daniel K. findsHonda files NSX Spider design sketches with European Patent Office

Straight from www.vtec.net:

"One of our observant readers in Europe saw some new NSX design sketches on a French automotive blog and notified us. A quick search of the European Patent Office shows that Honda filed a set of six wireframe sketches of an open-roof NSX on 22nd February, along with the more traditional 3D renderings of the fixed roof version. As you can see the drop-top looks pretty much identical to the Avengers NSX. See all 12 images below."

Source;

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1044223

1991 Acura NSX: Suspension Walkaround

Here's a great artical on a truely legendary car....
by Dan Edmunds

At long last the 1991 Acura NSX suspension walkaround you've been clamoring for is finally here. Turns out there's lots of cool stuff to see under there, even if this car is old enough to drink and play blackjack.

Let's not waste any more time with preliminaries. The NSX is racked on our 2-post Rotary lift and fully exposed.

Here's the full article;
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2012/02/1991-acura-nsx-suspension-walkaround.html

Freeze Frame: The Next Acura NSX Meets The Aborted Acura NSX

Written by: Evan McCausland
Honda didn’t really reveal anything shocking at its global motorsports press conference this week, but it did manage to infuse a bit of irony when it parked the new Acura NSX concept (wearing Honda emblems, of course) next to what could have been the next Acura NSX.

Long before the current NSX program debuted, Honda envisioned the second-generation Acura NSX as a front-engined gran turismo. The Acura Advanced Sports Coupe concept, which made its North American debut at the 2007 Detroit auto show, reportedly gave a good look at what Honda had planned for the NSX’s successor, including a ten-cylinder engine and a variation of its torque-shifting Super Handling-AWD (SH-AWD) system.

As the story goes, those dreams never exactly became reality. Honda shelved the NSX program after the global economic kerfuffle, but the progress made to that point wasn’t for naught. Honda’s motorsports wing adapted the design into the HSV-010 GT Super GT car – which you see here in black, alongside the new 2015 NSX concept.

Honda has hinted the new NSX could spawn a race variant of its own, but until then, the HSV-010 GT continues to compete in Japan’s Super GT GT500 series. Honda’s fielding five HSV-010 GT cars this year, all of which receive mild aerodynamic revisions for the 2012 season.

Source;
http://rumors.automobilemag.com/freeze-frame-the-next-acura-nsx-meets-the-aborted-acura-nsx-110529.html#ixzz1meNKdZj5

Honda Takes a Look at the Past and Future of the NSX Sports Coupe

Back in the early 1990s when the Japanese auto industry went sports car crazy churning out models like the third generation Mazda RX-7, the Mitsubishi 3000GT, the Nissan 300ZX and Skyline GT-R, and the Toyota Supra, one vehicle stood out from the rest and that was the Honda / Acura NSX.

The NSX taught American and European car manufactures a lesson or two on how to build a high-performance sports car that not only looked good but also was reliable and reasonably priced for what it had to offer.

The fact that it remained in production virtually unchanged for 15 years from 1990 to 2005 is a testament to the innovation of its original design.

We don't know if the Japanese carmaker will be able to repeat the success with the new NSX that is due in 2015 as an Acura in North America and as a Honda in the rest of the world, but the company is doing its best to create a connection between the first and second generation model.

In the promo video that follows, you'll find more than seven minutes worth of film from both the original NSX and its successor which is previewed by NSX Sports Hybrid Concept.

Source;
http://www.carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/02/honda-takes-look-at-past-and-future-of.html

Gran Turismo Acura NSX Concept Teaser

NSX Concept Video at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show

Another Next Gen Honda/Acura NSX Rendering: 2012 BEST CAR

Source;
http://jp-cardesigncorner.blogspot.com/2012/01/yet-another-honda-nsx-successor.html

Another Next Gen Acura NSX

Source;
http://rumors.automobilemag.com/report-new-acura-nsx-to-have-400-hp-roadster-version-97469.html

New 400bhp Honda NSX

Honda supercar returns with a four-wheel-drive hybrid drivetrain, and the coupe version will debut at Detroit Auto Show
The Honda NSX supercar is set to return as a 400bhp four-wheel-drive hybrid. Honda has already confirmed that a new NSX will be revealed at the Detroit Motor Show in January, and now we have more information on the Japanese Audi R8 rival.

We’ve already seen spy shots of a concept car on the set of the new Avengers movie, and we’ve since had confirmation that the Detroit show car will be heavily based on that model. Our images show a coupe, but the final production version will also be offered as a roadster.

The concept will be shown as an Acura – the firm’s luxury North American arm – but it will be badged as a Honda when it arrives in the UK, and retain its forebear’s NSX name. Power will come from a 3.5-litre V6 driving one axle and a pair of in-wheel electric motors to turn the other. This will give the NSX four-wheel-drive traction and 400bhp-plus. Performance will be impressive, with 0-62mph taking under five seconds.

For full details on the new NSX, including how the hybrid powertrain will be adapted to suit the project, check out this week’s Auto Express magazine.

Source;
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/276454/new_400bhp_honda_nsx.html

Acura NSX Approved for Production! Concept to Appear at 2012 Detroit Show

Much to the delight of rabid, froth-mouthed fans—and more than eight years of teasing on Acura’s part—a proper second-generation NSX sports car is on its way. The concept version debuts at the Detroit auto show in early January. (You can dive into the NSX 2.0’s decade-long gestation here, from its shifting engine placement to prototype spy photos to being repurposed as a race car. And those are just the tip of the iceberg.)

The first NSX was a technological tour de force when it arrived in 1990. The mid-engine sports car packed a dual-overhead-cam V-6 under an all-aluminum wrapper. The engine made 270 hp, a staggering number for a six-cylinder engine at the time. For all that, it was the car’s handling that was the most impressive—piloting an NSX is like having the controls hard-wired to your gray matter.

Acura has decided that the new NSX will again use a mid-engine layout and that it will follow the first car’s general philosophy: The second-gen model will be relatively lightweight, efficient, and make use of lots of new technology.

The company is still quiet about powertrain specifics, but we can offer some educated speculation. The engine will again be a V-6, but this time the gasoline engine will play a role in an ensemble hybrid-electric drivetrain. One or more electric motors likely will power the front wheels, and translation services between the gasoline engine and the tarmac will probably be provided by Honda’s new seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because you read our own Mike Austin’s piece on Acura’s new hybrid AWD system. The impression we have is that the NSX’s powertrain will be inspired by the front-engine system Austin recently sampled in an Accord.

Styling-wise, the NSX concept we saw isn’t terribly far off from the sports car that Tony Stark (that’s Iron Man’s civilian name—or “Robert Downey, Jr.” if you want to get technical about it) drives in the upcoming Avengers movie. Proportions are similar to those of the original NSX: There’s a short, low hood, a relatively big canopy over the cabin, and a low, wide rear end. (The original car is pictured above—Acura hasn’t released official images of the concept yet.) This one’s also got side scoops to feed air to the engine.

When the car is unveiled at the Detroit show, Acura’s spokespeople are going to say this is a concept only. They may even say a decision is still yet to be made. But we hear it’s already received a green light for production, and will arrive sometime in 2012 or early 2013. It won’t be cheap, but Acura has no intention of approaching Lexus LFA pricing, either. We’d guess on a sticker in the $90,000-to-$130,000 range.

Source;
http://blog.caranddriver.com/acura-nsx-approved-for-production-concept-to-appear-at-2012-detroit-show/