Honda's Strangest Vehicle

This video was made with the support of my sponsors whose names are on the screen now, if you want you can join them today and even get access to exclusive content. The link to my patreon is in the description, so check it out if you're interested anyway. Continuing with the show, there is no shortage of strange and unusual racing cars that have competed in events around the world, from the unusual practicality of the Volvo 850 and the perso 806 to the experimental ideas of the Delta wi chaparal 2J or GTR LM Nismo. In some quarters, anything is possible in the world of motorsports.

Japan's Super GT series has become known solely for its unusual cars that could not be found competing in any other series in the world at the time, in most cases these were privately entered cars. by smaller teams or one of the prototypes that were developed independently of the major manufacturers, there was one big exception: the Honda HSV 010 GT took the Super GT series by storm when it debuted in 2010 and has since become something of a racing legend. worship. Mysterious machine that seemed to disappear almost as quickly as it materialized. Virtually nothing about the HSV's history or design could be described as traditional, and although in some ways this car is quite emblematic of Honda as a whole, the HSV's legacy extends far beyond just the Four Seasons. in which he competed and in this video I am going to explain everything this is the complete history of HSV and Honda in Super GT if there is something you should know about Honda it is that they do not care In reality, it is not a convention, you just have to take a look at its main milestones to understand this.

They began producing motorcycles in 1955, entered Grand Prix racing in 1959 and by 1961 had already scored victories in the Isle of Man TT, the toughest and most prestigious road race. there was and if this was impressive, his achievements on four wheels must surely have been mind-blowing. They designed and built their first four-wheeled

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in 1963, the Honda t360 K truck, but that same year they produced the S500, arguably one of their best. sports cars ever made the following year they entered the Formula 1 World Championship as a full-fledged constructor building their own engine and chassis at the time they were one of the only teams to do this along with a little known constructor called Ferrari but in the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix they achieved something that not even Ferrari could do that year they won.

American driver Richie Ginther took Honda's first victory in Formula 1 in only his eleventh race and in reality those were just the origins of Honda's many successes in motorsports, but from this description one could come to to the conclusion that Hond is almost unstoppable and can achieve almost anything when he sets his mind to it, but this is not entirely true because rejecting convention is a double-edged sword. Honda has to be one of the most experimental. The companies you will find among the top manufacturers do things completely their own way. They've come up with some incredible innovations, like the much-loved VTEC system that manages to crucially improve engine performance without sacrificing fuel efficiency, but even though Honda has innovated on many over the years, not all of its ideas Winners, for example, are Honda's oval pistons that appeared on its NR series of motorcycles or its RA 302 F1 machine that had its magnesium-coated chassis.

Both were solid ideas in concept, but in reality they weren't. Not being able to achieve what was planned, the latter, of course, had much more dire consequences and was even one of the main reasons why Honda left Formula 1 for the first time. Anyway, all this should be a sufficient basis to explain Honda's stay in Super GT and how the HSV 010 came to be, of course, the first official season of Super GT, then known as the Japanese GT Championship, had place in 1994, but when the motley group of cars gathered for the first round of the championship at Fuji on May 1, there were no gifts from Honda and there were none until 1996, when one first appeared presented by the Kunimitsu team .

It was actually Leemon's winning Honda NSX GT2 in 1995, but as the car was brought into the top GT500 class, it was underpowered compared to its rivals. From Nissan Toyota and McLaren, the All-Star driver lineup of team owner Kunimitsu Takahashi and Kichi Suchia could only manage a best finish of seventh throughout the year, but by 1997 Honda would commit to producing its own purpose-built GT500 NSX and this would be presented. In the second round at Fuji it must be said that it was not the most glorious debut as the two cars entered from Kunam Mitsu and Mugan Dome retired after accidents in the first couple of LPS, but things improved as the season progressed .

We continue with Mugan Doome taking Honda's first pole position in round five at M and the Kunam Mitsu car taking the first podium in that same event, but you could still argue that Honda was racing with one arm tied behind its back in 1997 , since they only participated. two cars compared to Toyota, which had up to six Supras competing in each event in 1998, the Honda field doubled to four cars with Doen Mugan expanding to run two separate cars and Nakajima Racing entering the fold. 1998 would be a breakout season for Honda that truly established the three-way fight with Nissan and Toyota that the series has become synonymous with into an incredible record that still stands to this day.

Honda took pole position and fastest lap in each race, seven in total and eight if you include the no. -Allstar Race Championship they also won four of them five, including the All-Star Race, making them easily the most dominant force that year and yet, despite all this, it was not a Honda that claimed the title but the penzo Nismo GTR and there was one. The main reason for this reliability is that the NSX quickly developed a reputation for being fast but brittle and this is ultimately what cost either Honda team to win the championship. The story was similar in 1999, where Honda once again took more wins than Nissan, but still couldn't seal the deal if there was a silver lining, although their two wins at the start of the season meant they had made it six consecutive GT500 wins, a record that once again has never been surpassed, and may never be, however, a complete reversal of Since the 2000 championship title would be decided in Honda's favor through sheer consistency.

Rio Mami took the GT500 title for Mugan after scoring points in every race of the season, including four second places and zero wins. Yes, Honda's first GT500 title came from a winless season, but in that sense, the Castel Mugan car was an outlier at the Nakajima Dome races and even Honda's newcomers scored wins with the updated 2000 NSX GT. . 2001 was another strong year for Honda, with the defending champion car Mugan and the number eight ARA machine heading into the season finale, with a strong shot at the title at around half the race distance, they were running in sixth and seventh place respectively, but with the championship leading a cumo Supra way down the order after a first lap spin, the title now had to be lost to Honda. and this is how they lost it: the autoback car was retired on the spot and the mugan car limped to 12th place with damage in 2002, the car received a facelift and scored an impressive five wins during the season, but one once again he couldn't. take the title with Nakajima Racing to a single point 2003 was not a great year for Honda, new regulations were introduced allowing greater flexibility in car design, but the NSX struggled to maintain its balance, they still managed two wins, but They were the best classified.

The Honda team was only seventh in the championship in 2004. Honda made a major change to the NSX. They decided to replace their naturally aspirated C32 B engine with a smaller turbocharged C30a. This would prove unfortunate as the unit was difficult to cool and therefore could not. To realize their full potential Nakajima Racing was the only remotely competitive Honda team to take a wet win at Motegi and finish eighth in the standings, so midway through 2005 they reverted to the c32b. In 2005 they would also build this Honda. NSX R GT, this road car was built as a homologation special for the GT500 machine, so its extended front and rear overhangs, as well as the roof air intake, served little to no real purpose on the road car. road, but allowed greater aerodynamic freedom with the racing car.

As a result of these changes, the 2005 GT500 NSX was a much more competitive package than in the previous two years, with ARA finishing second in the standings. 2006 was also very strong, with the Takata Doome NSX taking third place and the Rayb NSX taking second. Missing the title by just one point, if not for a drive-through penalty in the final after contact with the Zenar Zed, he would most likely have been champion, but after so many failures, 2007 would finally be the year. five. the race wins a lock between the top four in the championship and the winning team, so with a whole race to spare it was a complete dismantling of the opposition the years of experimentation had finally paid off this was the NSX GT in its final form By 2008 the car was hit with a 50kg handicap as a result of its overwhelming dominance the previous year, so it was never that competitive.

Dome managed to take a win at Sugo, a circuit where the mid-engined NSX was always strong and finished fifth overall. classification, but in 2009 another major change occurred in the GT500 regulations along with a unified engine. Formula One's mandatory rules only allowed the use of front-engine

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s, which meant the NSX would no longer be eligible. The problem for Honda was that they didn't. We had a suitable road car to form the basis for a new front-engined GT500. In the end a compromise was reached and the NSX was allowed to compete for only one more season. Of course, at that time the road-going NSX had not been produced since. 2005 with the GT500 car still based on the NSX rgt so regardless of these regulations the nsx's days were numbered and therefore 2009 would be the car where Swansong Arta took two wins en route to second place in championship, including the final round at the Honda-owned double-ring Motegi.

It wasn't exactly the title, but it still wasn't a bad way to say goodbye to what was then the longest-serving GT500 car 106 races 50 drag positions 37 race wins and two drivers' championships A Dune GT500 NSX even competed in GT300 for a few seasons winning the title in 2004 with the mtech team, so it's safe to say that its successor had big shoes to fill to build anything less than exceptional would have been seen as a disappointment, but even at the end of the 2009 season it was still I didn't know what Honda was planning. The Honda HSV 010 GT was revealed to the world on December 21, 2009 as Honda's new GT500 race car, but what exactly was it?

It was clearly not based on any Honda road car, so after the NSX ended production in 2005, the plan for its successor was already underway, they had already anticipated a potential successor in 2003 with the HSC prototype, but no It would not be until 2007 that things became clearer. In June of that year, a modified Honda S2000 was seen lapping the Nurburg circuit. The car was clearly stretched, had a fixed roof and a unique exhaust setup, there was almost immediately speculation that this was a test mule for the upcoming NSX. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the motor industry, for example an Infiniti G35 coupe with a modified body.

It was also seen on the Nurburg ring in 2005, which was used for the development of the Nissan R35 GTR. Finally, in December 2007 it was announced that Honda intended to produce the second generation of the NSX for 2010 with styling based on the ACT ascc concept car that was shown earlier in the year, this confirmed a key detail about the car that was to come. to be front-engined, which brought it in line with Toyota's planned Lexus LFA, a car that would have been seen as one of its natural rivals along with the GTR, but another aspect that would have been similar to the LFA had to do with the engine in yes Honda planned to use a 5 L V10 unit as anticipated in the ascc M for an all-wheel drive system in 2008 a more representative prototype was seen again in Nürburg Lap times were around 7 minutes and 40c, but then, in September, just as things were starting to heat up, the financial crisis hit and the automotive industry was hit hard, even the largest and most profitable companies had to make cuts and Honda without exception sold their official Formula 1 team on the eve of the 2009 season, but there was still much to do;

They simply couldn't justify the cost of the new NSX, so inDecember 2008 it was announced that the project had been completed. cancelled, it was reported that this was a very unpopular decision within Honda's R&D departments, given the time and effort that had been invested in the project up to that point, it seemed completely cruel and not only that, but it left a Honda without a fly. We shipped a sports car, but all hope was not lost because Honda needed to replace the NSX in Super GT and it was decided that what had been developed for the new NSX would be used to produce the brand's next GT500 Challenger and thus the HSV was born 010 GT.

HSV stands for Honda Sports speed, not Honda's

strangest

vehicle. I don't know where you got that idea from, but anyway, comparing it to the Prototype NSX scene in the Nurburg ring, you can clearly see the similarities. It's funny to think that the only result of the cancellation of the new NSX in terms of Super GT was the name of the car, since if it had been made it would almost certainly have been used in the GT500 as the new NSX, but that still leaves the question of how HSV was allowed to compete in the first place.

Since the GT500 cars had to be based on production models, Hond was able to get around this requirement by claiming that while it was not based on a production model, it was a production-ready model as stipulated in the Super GT rules, this In any case it does. Highlighting how far the new NSX is in development was, I mean, not that Super GT had much of a choice anyway, it was giving the old NSX the exemption for another season or losing Honda from the GT500 together, that's how the HSV came in to Super GT, but the story does not end.

The HSV 010 isn't talked about very often outside of Japan, but if there's one thing you probably already know about it, it's likely that the noise this car makes is different, especially compared to its more conventional rivals. In the form of the Nissan GTR and Lexus SC430, many have compared it to the V8 Formula 1 cars of yesteryear, but I'd say it sounds even better. There have been some misconceptions that this car was powered by a V10 engine. however this is not true, it was always a 3.4 liter V8 as required by the GT500 rules at the time, but given the sound and the fact that the road car was intended to have a V10, I assume not is too surprising, also the name HSV 010.

It doesn't help either, actually the reason for its glorious sound has to do with the decision to channel all eight cylinders through a single centrally mounted exhaust and, of course, its hr10 engine EG which was largely based on the one Honda used in Formula Nippon. But with all that covered, now we can finally talk about the HSV's racing exploits. The car debuted at the first round at Suzuka and made an instant impression. The Dome-led Weeda HSV took pole position at the hands of Tekashi Kagor, but on the first lap of the HSVs from Arta and Epson, this happened.

Both the WEA and Arta cars retired on the spot with the Epson HSV getting caught in the sandwich. Being left out of the competition after having to make repairs, the NSX didn't exactly get off to a glorious start in the series either and the silver lining was that the Rayb car was able to finish in a respectable third place. It's worth noting that one of the El rri HSV drivers was Naoki Yamamoto in his first Super GT race and he would play quite an important role for Honda in the following years. The second round of the season took place at Okama International and once again the Weeda HSV started from Fortunately, this time it was a much easier race for Kagura and her teammate L Deval, leading from start to finish, resulting in the first victory for the mid-engined HSV.

The old Honda NSX was always the outlier in GT500 compared to its front engine rivals Nissan and Toyota, this resulted in a car that had different strengths and weaknesses, sometimes it was able to completely crush the opposition and other times it was not Nowhere, the fact that the HSV was front-engined meant it was much less likely to experience these sharp changes in performance relative to the competition, but it still retained some traits from the NSX Sports L Sugo was always a very strong lead for the NSX as it favored a good weight balance, but the HSV with its impressive downforce also raced.

Well, here Sugo was in the fifth round of the 2010 season and the Hondas showed speed by qualifying four of their five cars in the first seven positions, but curiously it would be the HSV car that started from tenth place that would have the biggest leading role which he gradually had. He climbed places throughout the race until, with just a few laps to go, he reached the race leader. Weeda Car K struggled to keep Cudai Sukoshi at bay, but as is Sugo tradition, he was always going to come through. to the last lap in the closest Super in history.

GT finale Sukoshi snatched victory from cin Real Racing, the first in the series. It had only competed in a handful of races at this point, but HSV was already involved in some pretty memorable moments by round six, the series returned to Suzuka for a 700km race with Honda hoping to banish memories of The first round the ARA HSV started from pole position but lost to the Motal GTR in the first round of pit stops as it turned out they wouldn't need to fight too hard to get back. in the lead as the GTR was spun by a gt300 car in the end it would be a pretty simple win for ARA but the race was not without drama for the hsvs with the Epson car losing a wheel and its final pit stop but still finishing in seven places after having achieved a victory and two more podiums, it was the Weeda HSV that would reach the season finale in Moty as favorites for the title, once again they would qualify on pole, but they had their main rival in the championship, the Enos.

Lexus set off right behind them, the stage was set for An Almighty Showdown, but unfortunately the battle was decided before it even began. Bjon Werheim, who started the Lexus, had ignored a red light at the end of pit lane as he left the garage to head to the grid. For this, the team received a 20-second stop and a penalty, which took the pressure off the Weeder team, but they still had to finish the race after taking the lead with the Petronas Toms Lexus, at least not without a fight, they would return to home. Second to seal the GT500 championship in the hsv's debut year, this was only Honda's third GT500 title, but perhaps its most impressive given that it took an all-new car that no one knew existed until less than a year earlier and which Ponda would continue with.

HSV in 2011, the first race took place at Fuji in pouring rain and the best HSV returned home in only 8th place. The car never had amazing performance in wet conditions, but a big part of that was due to an external factor - you see, Super GT always has. It had an open tire war with several different manufacturers supplying rubber to each team. As told by 2010 joint champion, L Duval. 2011 was the year Michelan really excelled in GT500, their tires were generally good but in extreme conditions like when it was really hot or very wet they seem to have an advantage over the other three suppliers, Yokohama, Dunlop and Bridgestone .

Unfortunately for Honda, none of their HVs used Michelan tires and at least according to Deval, this was a big disadvantage compared to Nissan and Toyota who each had a car on French tires, this did not deter Honda from trying next time. Once in Okama, a victory was within reach. The Weeda HSV led the race until they reached their pit stop at the end of lap 33, but there was a strange problem with the seat belts when changing the driver caused them to lose a lot of time and plummet, then the HSV belt took command and challenged the leader Kel Sonic GTR, but a misjudged overtake resulted in a drive-through penalty that ruined his chances.

Also at the third round in Malaysia, the weeder took pole and, in a repeat of Okama the year before, took a dominant victory. Once again, HSV's potential was made clear by the fifth round at Suzuka, HSV once again won and was once again Weeda's car, after a DNF in the previous round at Sugo, bounced back with a very strong driving in mixed conditions to place themselves firmly in the fight for the title, of course it was not without drama for the other Hondas, there was never a dull moment with the HSV finally Honda Consistency in 2011 and it would be the michelan team of Nissan , SRO Mohler, the one who would take the championship in dominant fashion, only won one race that year, but finished second in four more, the weeder would finish third in the standings, although with a huge 33 point difference from the winners, 2012 It started with another near-miss at Okama.

The Rayb HSV took the lead after the pit stops, but the Zent Lexus overtook it in dramatic fashion on the final lap. To be honest, 2012 was HSV's worst season. in some ways it says a lot when his two most notable moments were losing the lead just before the finish and also soshi's massive crashes at the Suzuka 1000 that said there was a bright spot at sapang where the weedar did a repeat of their 2011 performance by taking pole position and leading the race from start to finish this was Honda's only victory of the season in the championship. It would be the Rayb HSV that would finish as the best Honda in fifth place and ultimately beat Weeda's car by just three points, but still by a whopping 50.

Behind the Moler GTR, which again took the title in 2013, Honda decided to make some changes, the most obvious was to the exhaust system, instead of the single central exhaust pipe that the car had always used, they redesigned it so that there were two side outlets. exhausts one on each side, this arrangement allowed the car to increase the revs, although it was no longer as screaming as it used to be, the season would start strongly at Okama in the final laps, both the hsv rri and kahin were right behind the race leading Motal GTR when Rayre's car finally found a path that also opened the door for the relatives and both cars were practically glued to each other at the flag starting the season with a one-and-one finish for Honda's fourth round at Sugo was another iconic race in HSV history, both good and bad.

Four honders who qualified in the top seven once again showed their affinity for this track, but it would be the events of lap 70 that would leave a lasting impression on Weeder and Rayb. The hsvs were firmly in the hunt to take the win, but remember the almighty sandwich from the car's debut in 2010. Well, it happened again, both the Weeder and Ray Bri were left out on the spot and a few laps later, the Denso Lexus also succumbed to the This left goalkeeper Toms Lexus in the lead, but not for long because just a few corners later, the Arta Honda dived on the inside to take it from him and, after closing the final laps, they took a truly unexpected victory alongside to the ARA CRZ who had just won in GT 300 o ARA was one of the most prolific Honda teams in the NSX era, but the HSV years were a struggle for them, they finished last in the 2012 standings, so no one spared them some good luck in securing this memorable victory.

Weeda would bounce back at Suzuka where they would take another win after passing pole in the Motal GTR on lap 116. This would be HSV's third win in 4 years at the Suzuka endurance round heading into the final race at Motegi, for both weeda and kahin hsvs. They had a chance to claim the title, but had to beat both the Petronas and the Zen Lexus SC 430s, as it turned out that it was the Cen car that hadn't won a race all season that would be the most competitive of the two Hondas they would have. qualifying second and finishing second too, but unfortunately third place was all Lexus needed to seal the title and that would be the end of the HSV story.

It was announced for 2014 that Super GT would begin merging its technical regulations with the DTM. German Touring Car Championship, the formula that was adopted in 2009 of 3.4 liter naturally aspirated V8 engines would be replaced by 2 liter turbocharged four cylinders and the dimensions of the cars would also be modified, acquiring a more boxy car style , which would require all new designs. This meant that after just 4 years of service, HSV 010 would be sent into early retirement for a car that was intended to serve simply as a stop gap solution. It certainly left a lasting impact in more ways than one, it must be said. that even though the HSV is a unicorn car that surely didn't stand out in the way they raced it, they crashed a lot of them, in fact apart from winning races, crashing is what they did most of their time, but this is super.

GT, so I guess you could say that, over most other cars, I really love the HSV,is the quintessence of Thinking Outside the Box Thinking at its finest. Many people were frustrated by Honda's decision not to put it into production, but honestly, I'm grateful that we got to see it in Super GT. Think about it this way. Toyota ended up producing the LFA despite the 2008 financial crisis, but they never raced it in Super GT, instead sticking with the SC 430 which ended production. in 2010, I mean, could you imagine a GT500 LFA? Even though Honda didn't produce its spiritual rival LFA, they eventually raced it with me.

These two cars directly complement each other in a strange way, but as I said at the beginning of this video, the HSV is emblematic of Honda as a whole and when we take a look at Honda in Super GT after the HSV, things somehow They become even stranger. The second generation NSX was first seen in January 2012 at the Detroit Auto Show, named NSX nc1, this car was designed completely from the ground up. With virtually nothing carried over from its previous PR attempt, it was a mid-engine, all-wheel drive hybrid supercar, although the car looked almost finished, it would take four more years before it finally ended up in production;

Meanwhile, Honda still needed a car to compete in GT500 under the new 2014 regulations, so what they did was lean once again on the production-ready clause of the GT500 rulebook in August 2013, the GT T concept Honda NSX was first shown with a center mount. 2L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, of course the main difference between this car and the HSV was that this NSX would eventually be manufactured; It was also mid-engined, just like the original NSX from 2014. Mid-engined cars were allowed once again in GT500 at least. Initially, something else that set it apart from the Nissan GTR and the new Lexus RCF in the GT500 was its hybrid system, just like the NSX Road car.

The NSX GT concept had its twin engine with a hybrid powertrain to give it additional power. In fact, this makes it the first and so far only GT500 car that was hybrid once again, it was just another example of how Honda did something different anyway, in that first season the car managed a single victory at round five in Fuji with Weeder, although this was not entirely representative. Since the race took place in pouring rain and most of the Hondas had little ballast due to poor results in the previous races, although Weeder Doome would finish fourth in the 2014 championship, no other Honda team even made the top 10, One of the biggest problems with the car was the added weight of the hybrid system which simply wasn't offset by the increase in power, so for 2015 the car was allowed to ride a little lighter, it still had some of the pace of the Nissen. yLexus, but the Kunimitsu team achieved a victory in the usual Honda arena.

Sugo would finish the season in third place overall, 19 points behind the title-winning Nismo team, but after 2015, Honda decided that having the hybrid system was no longer worth it, so they abandoned it for 2016, sadly, This did not result in improvement in the form they had hoped, as not having that hybrid drive showed in full, the lack of power from the HR 414e engine and Honda failed to win a single race for the first time. Since 1997, when it officially joined the series, the top-ranked Honda team was 11th and in five cars they only managed three podiums in total for 2017.

An all-new car was introduced, although it didn't look much different than the previous one. The road to the NSX. had finally gone into production the previous year, so Honda updated its GT500 car in accordance with no longer basing it on the Prototype model, yet the season got off to possibly the worst start imaginable at Okama, first the Cahin NSX failing to light the lamp formation and then the ARA NSX also died before the race even started with two nsx scattered around the circuits, the start was cancelled, but even as the cars were forming back up on the grid, the Epson NSX also slowly stopped and When the race finally started, the NSX Rayb gave up after just six laps.

The only NSX that didn't have problems was the Motal Mugan Car, which came home in ninth place. Fortunately, this would not bode well for the rest of the season, as Honda's performance improved greatly, partly thanks to Some technologies derived from Formula 1's pre-chamber ignition were first used by Ferari in 2015, but Honda was the first to implement it in Super GT in its new HR 417e engine, which helped make up for the previous year's power deficit. It allowed ARA to take victory at round five at Fuji and, most memorably, the Epson NSX to take a surprising victory at the Suzuka 1,000 km, but in reality 2017 was just a preparation for 2018, the year in which Honda finally He regained the crown after eight long years.

Honda achieved four wins this year and it would be the team that brought the brand to the series in the first place, the Kunimitsu team, that sealed the championship. It's incredible to think that it took the new NSX 5 Seasons to do something that the HSV managed in its first but in 2019 it was formally announced that Super GT and DTM would be completely unified under a common set of rules known as class one. This is what both series had been working on for several years, but there was only one problem: the NSX, both the Nissan and the Lexus.

The GT500 cars shared a common unibody with the DTM cars, while that of the NSX was slightly different due to the engine being mounted behind to achieve complete parity, all cars would have to be front-engined, which meant 2019 would be the Last season the mid-engined NSX would be eligible, their form was not as good as the previous year but they also suffered quite a bit of bad luck and the only win went to ARA in the season opener and cin Real Racing would be qualified. as the sixth-best team overall when it came to the DTM tie, this took two forms, first, one car from each of the three GT500 manufacturers entered the DTM final at Hackenheim, making the NSX in the only mid-engined car to ever compete. the DTM before its GT3 era the second era known as the Super GT DTM dream race which took place at the Fuji Speedway this was a two series event with one driver per car six DTM cars three from BMW and three from Audi made the trip To compete, of course, the second race would be the last time the mid-engined NSX would compete in GT500, but it was also the final race for the Lexus LC 500, which was being replaced by the new Toyota Supra for 20120, so send the Lexus left, they decided to crash them all into each other, the bold Choice Honda on the other hand made the much more conventional decision to try to win the race and they would achieve it with the Nakaima race car sponsored by Modulos and who was the driver to give.

The Miden-powered NSX won its last victory, none other than narrain caran, yes, the narrain caran among a group of some of the best drivers in Japan and Europe, narrain kakan, you know, I think I know why they called this the career of your dreams, because whenever you think. About that, it sounds like a weird fever dream, but I swear this really happened, look for it anyway for 2020. Honda needed to bring in a front-engined car for the new regulations, very similar to the situation they found themselves in 10 years earlier , so what did they do? Maybe they came up with a successor to the HSV.

No. They took the NSX and put the engine in the front. It was a simple solution to a simple problem. The thing is, they had already thought about this back in 2008. Before the new GT500 regulations were about to arrive, Honda was dragging around a front-engined version of its existing NSX, you can tell by the different ion ratios and lack of air intake on the roof that the engine is clearly in the front, but they ultimately decided against it. and I opted for HSV. I assume this was done because the NSX was already a 5 year old design at the time and there was no real reason to continue as they didn't even sell the car anymore, but having been shelled for a couple of years, The front-engined NSX was seen again in post-season testing at Moty in 2010.

Initially many were confused by this, as the HSV 010 had already debuted and even taken the title, but it soon became clear that the NSX was being used as a test mule. For the curv kinetic energy recovery system, Super GT was looking to test this system already seen in Formula 1 to potentially introduce it in a future season. This NSX was chosen specifically because it represented a car that conformed to current regulations and yet did not. It gave Honda an unfair advantage with extra test miles, as they had no intention of racing it. Furthermore, it was agreed that all data collected would be shared with Nissan and Toyota and of course Kur was never used in Super GT, but in hybrid systems.

In some ways, this NSX has a tangible link to the NSX GT concept that was introduced in 2014, much like the HSV anyway, when the front-engined NSX finally debuted in 20120, it immediately picked up pace and took the first victory. of the car at round two at Fuji and this was followed by three more wins for the car throughout the season. In the end, Team Kunimitsu would once again claim the title (their second in three years) in dramatic fashion in the final round and there would be three Honda teams in the race. The top five positions in the championship, in fact, even achieved a lock in the top five in the seventh round in Motegi.

The front NSX had arrived. 2021 was also a very strong year with four wins throughout the season and 300 teams in the top six of the championship, but in the season finale at Fuji Karma he would return the favor of the previous year to the kitsu team with the Stanley car Running fifth and in prime position to take a third title in four years, they were wiped out by a GT300 NSX, that's how it happens sometimes. 20 22 Honda produced an updated NSX Type S Road car, the final version of the model and the GT500 machine was updated to reflect this.

It was another solid year with Stanley and Asimo nsx staying in the title fight until the final race, but Nissan too strong with their new Zed and that clearly takes us to 2023, the most recent season as of now, this was a season difficult to judge because the NSX showed good pace, but there were simply too many mistakes made by both drivers and teams. In the end the best Honda was the number 16 ARA in fourth place, 36 points behind the winning Toms team and here we are today, once again Honda finds itself in the position of needing to change its car for the 2024 season , but this time. by their own choice, at least really when you boil it all down, the fact that Honda is the Oddball in GT500, it all comes down to one key fact: they have never made a proper front-engined sports car; the only thing that really came close was the S2000, but that was a roadster and Honda never really saw that model as a pure performance car, which is why it never received a Type R variant or was used in Super GT.

So what choice did Honda have when it came to replacing the outgoing NSX GT? Well, it was announced in early 2023 that a successor had been decided and here is the Honda Civic Tyar GT500. This was a bit of a shock when it was first announced for obvious reasons, but the more I think about it, the more it starts to make sense: the Civic Typar has been reintroduced. in the '90s, but as time went on, the car steadily grew into what it is today in its latest FL5 version. At its core, today's Civic typar is a high-performance front-engined sports car that also happens to be a practical front-end.

All-wheel drive hatchback when you put it in those terms, frankly, it seems like the obvious choice - GT500 regulations have allowed four-door cars for more than a decade, but the Civic will be the first, of course, to comply with the regulations which this Civic was converted to. rear-wheel drive, so it's not exactly a perfect solution, but with the second-generation NSX now dead, the Civic typ R is undoubtedly Honda's high-performance model and when the 2024 season starts at Okama on April 14, I can't wait to see what Honda can achieve with it. I've done several videos about Super GT, but there's something I've never talked about before about my loyalty, so you may have already figured it out, but I really support Honda in any of the Honda teams, but more specifically the team.

Mugan, who currently drives the number eight and number 16 autoback sponsored cars, when I look at Honda's history in Super GT, I think it's obvious why I find them so fascinating, because whether they win or lose, always doing something interesting using a midsize car designing a new engine that they would only use for one season competing with the first hybrid in GT500 bringing F1 engine technology completely redesigning their car to put the engine in the front and now using a front engineall-wheel drive hatchback as the basis for one of the fastest GT cars on the planet. There's never really a dull moment with Honda in Super GT and I think the HSV 010 is the ultimate sum of all that.

A stillborn super that is used to create a racing car. that would represent the brand in the most important national championship, where it would win races and even a title surely has to be one of Honda's best works. Super GT will feature a new GT500 rule set in 2025 that will abandon the outgoing class one Rex Aside from those few races in 2019, Super GT never crossed paths with the DTM again, both BMW and Audi leaving the series at the end of 2020 meaning they won't be There was no choice but to scrap their class one cars and switch to the much more profitable ones.

Ultimately, the GT3 formula, the union between Super GT and DTM that began in 2014, is the reason HSV had to be eliminated in the first place, but in the first class we saw Honda's ingenuity again. I look forward to seeing it. What new possibilities arise from the new regulations and I will certainly keep an eye on a particular brand. The only way Honda can achieve true greatness is by doing what only Honda can do.