No Hybrid technology for 2017 Acura NSX GT3 Car

As announced Tuesday from the New York International Auto Show by Honda Performance Development head Art St Cyr, Acura will return to the world of North America GT3 spec Grand Prix racing for the first time since 2009 -- behind the wheel of a twin turbocharged rear-wheel-drive 2017 NSX. As to when in 2017, where, and what team gets to drive it, remains an unknown..

For those of us following the long developing story of Acura’s halo car, it wasn’t a question of what if, but when Acura would unveil a race prepared 2017 Acura NSX. After all, we’d watched several accounts of Acura NSX track testing during its development, including a track malfunction resulting in fire and a subsequent meltdown. I reported on the 2015 Pikes Peak NSX Pace Car here.

NSX track tested, race ready

Bottom Line: Most if not all performance cars are bench tested and developed through racing well before they hit the public roads and highways of the manufacturer’s intended market. We did catch glimpse of a pre-production NSX on the freeways of Los Angeles in 2015.

In the case of the the long awaited 2017 Acura NSX, the chassis, safety cage engineering, mixed-composite body panel structure, engine and trans axle components -- mostly hand assembled and originate at the Anna, Ohio engine plant, or the Marysville, Ohio Performance Manufacturing Center, come out of aerospace engineering and race development.

On a recent tour of Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center we witnessed the exceptional end result of “personal accountability” on an 8-car-per-day hand rolled assembly line. The 2017 Acura NSX may be the most affordable, hand assembled Supercar available to the market today.The NSX GT3 pictured above is assembled in the same Marysville, Ohio facility as the production NSX. It's not that far of a visual stretch when compared directly to the factory specified 2017 NSX.

No hybrid drive technology for NSX GT3

According to Art St Cyr: Race specifications for the NSX GT 3 will eliminate the employment of 3-motor torque vectoring and smart handling all wheel drive; as featured in the production NSX. The end result will be a track nimble twin turbocharged 3.5 liter V6 engine utilizing the factor specified engine block, heads, crank and valve assembly, all components conman to the factory specified engine.

Torque News anticipates NSX GT3 horsepower production well north of 600 hp as demonstrated by the 2016 Acura TLX-GT car built and driven by Real Time ™ Racing in the Pirelli World Challenge series.

There have been more than a few rumors circulating the virtual office water cooler as to Real Time Racing dropping the TLX platform for NSX in 2017. Could Be! Only time will tell.