SUVs can be seen in every segment of the car market nowadays and now, Honda has even developed a SUV racing car with a hybrid powertrain. While SUVs have been used in competition before, this particular one is a special one-off project vehicle which is a sneak preview of the Honda’s technology to come.
Developed by Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm of Honda’s North American subsidiary, the CR-V Hybrid Racer will make its debut at the 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. In 2024, hybrid power units will officially debut in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, bringing electrification to the event.
Acura, Honda’s premium and performance brand mainly sold in North America, has had a long presence in endurance racing with prototype models. Next year, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, it will debut an all-new electrified racing car, the ARX-06, the sixth generation of a successful line of Acura endurance racing prototypes.
The ARX-06 has custom bodywork and aerodynamics based around an all-new ORECA LMDh chassis. The chassis carries an electrified hybrid power unit with an equally new, bespoke twin-turbocharged 2.4-litre V6 engine designed, developed and manufactured by Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm for Acura Motorsports in North America.
Smallest combustion engine With its 2.4-litre displacement, the AR24e power unit is the smallest displacement internal combustion engine conceived by HPD for endurance racing. It still meets the performance target of 500 kW as measured at the rear axle by torque meters. It features a 90-degree V-angle to reduce its centre of gravity and polar moment of inertia, and can run on sustainable low-carbon fuel.
The hybrid powerplant includes an IMSA-specified electric Bosch Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and Williams Advanced Engineering battery pack. The MGU is contained in a common transmission casing and gearbox internals provided by Xtrac.
“We’ve taken the challenge presented by this new rule package from IMSA, and developed what we believe is a very competitive solution,” said Pierre Descamps, who led HPD’s powertrain design team for the ARX-06. “We’ve gone in a new direction for HPD in the design of the ICE. It is still a V6, which of course for Honda is well-known, but we have incorporated several new elements which we believe will make best use of the electric MGU and battery pack. Our new engine will rev to the maximum 10,000 rpm set by the rules, so it also makes a wonderful sound!”
Both IMSA in North America and FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) rules require manufacturers to use one of four approved prototype chassis, fitted with IMSA-homologated, manufacturer-designed and branded bodywork and engines.
Continued partnership with ORECA In the case of the ARX-06, HPD and Acura have elected to continue their successful relationship with ORECA. Since moving into chassis design and construction in 2007, ORECA has produced a series of winning sports prototypes, including the Acura ARX-05.
HPD’s Vehicle Performance Group worked closely with the ORECA design team and engineers to simulate chassis layout geometries and lap time optimization studies. They also ‘coded’ the new car into HPD’s static and dynamic Driver in the Loop simulators to begin development of the car’s vehicle dynamics and vehicle dynamic control systems.
Critical to the projects was a clean sheet hybrid powertrain control system, brake-by-wire and vehicle dynamics control system – all written in-house at HPD. This control system architecture was implemented on a Formula 1-spec ECU hardware platform. HPD also utilizes its custom, in-house developed ultra-high speed data-logging system.
Styling by Acura Design Studio The exterior styling of the ARX-06 was led by the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles, in conjunction with ORECA, which is also one of the chassis suppliers approved for prototype competition in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the WEC.
Driver and team input was also sought throughout the design process. One effective change was a revision to the placement of the rearview mirrors. This is a seemingly minor adjustment but actually has a large effect on vehicle aerodynamics. Using VR headsets, the drivers were able to sit in the car virtually and recommend a much lower placement for the side mirrors, improving both the aero efficiency of the ARX-06 and visibility for the drivers.
Acura will continue its partnerships with the successful Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing teams to campaign a pair of ARX-06 entries in the GTP category of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Honda Performance Development (HPD), a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor which acts as the technical operations centre for the brand’s high-performance racing programs, has revealed its latest development of the Civic Type R – the race-ready Civic Type R TC racing car.
Priced at US$89,900 (about RM372,000), The Type R TC is designed as a turn-key solution for professional racers, and for skilled Type R enthusiasts who wish to transition from track time in a stock Type R to a fully-built racing car. The specially outfitted Type R joins the TCA-class Civic Si and TCR-class Type R in HPD’s portfolio of Civic-based, turn-key racing machines.
“The successes of Honda Racing Development’s TCA Civic Si and TCR Type R in North American touring car championship series have generated a strong interest in more ready-to-race Honda Touring Cars for North America,” said Ted Klaus, President of Honda Performance Development. “With the introduction of the new Type R TC-class race car, we now offer a complete lineup of turn-key, Civic-based race cars for registered racing customers in North America.”
Specifically for TC-class competition
Designed specifically for TC-class competition, the Civic Type R TC was developed and tested in-house by HPD engineers as a modified version of the production Civic Type R designed exclusively for track use. HPD engineers drew on experience gained from production car and race vehicle engineering, including development of the HPD Civic Si TCA racing car.
Major modifications to the production Type R include a high-flow front grille, a J’s Racing FRP vented bonnet, CSF-designed radiator and oil cooler; an HPD/Borla downpipe and turbo back exhaust; a 6-speed manual transmission with high-strength 3rd and 4th gears; an HPD/Cusco limited slip differential; HPD Girodisk 2-piece front brake rotors and HPD brake inlet ducts; an HPD/Pyrotect bolt-in FIA 16-gallon fuel cell; a welded multi-point racing cage; and an OMP racing seat with 6-point harness.
The HPD-developed Civic Type R race car begins life as a body-in-white from Honda’s UK plant and uses the proven 2.0-litre VTEC Turbo engine which produces between 270 and 330 bhp, depending on the series application.
The Type R TC retains the standard model’s exterior sheet metal, but adds racing components developed in-house and in partnership with select suppliers to build a ready-to-race machine that saves racers the time and money of doing it themselves.
