Honda Motor Co. Ltd. had on the 18th of January 2010 introduced the HSV-010 GT. This is a prototype model which will compete in the GT500 class of the 2010 Super GT Series (Japan GT). Honda had also revealed that the car would be based on the canceled NSX production vehicle. Honda's decision to campaign a non-production vehicle required it to obtain special permission from the Super GT organizers to be exempt from the production homologation requirements for the series. This is good news for Japan GT or Honda motorsports fans who intend to travel in order to witness this year's Japan GT leg at Sepang. They may get to view this car in action.
One other reason why Honda went through so much trouble to race the HSV was the fact that it did not have a competitive car ready to compete in the series. This was due to the fact that in October 2009, Honda had officially announced the end of the mid-engine NSX Super GT's participation in Super GT racing due to new Super GT regulations that allowed the use of only front engine rear drive cars. It also showed the dominance of mid-engined cars in the Japan GT. The NSX super GT first started racing in the Japan GT since the All Japan Grand Touring Championship days of the 1990s and it was still winning races till its retirement; albeit the only similarity between the early models and new ones is the basic shape of the NSX and I believe, nothing else. It has nothing much similar to a road going NSX as I remember sometime in the late 90s an uncle drove an automatic version wearing a sarong and slippers to a family gathering.
Now back to the HSV. The letters “HSV” stand for Honda Sports Velocity, which is so much better than if it had stood for Honda Service Vehicle. It will have a naturally aspirated 3.4liter V8 making 370 or more worth of horses and about 392nm of torque. It would be enough in a car that weighs around 1100kg as it would give a power to weight ratio of approximately 336bhp/ton. Of course the engine in most GT500 cars have its intake restricted to a certain size to even out the playing field. As a comparison, a 2009 320bhp Subaru Impreza STI would have a power to weight ratio of approximately 237bhp/ton.
And it looks good. Not disappointingly out of proportioned like the newly launched CRZ.
Honda, Honda HSV and 3 more...
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