A blue prototype NSX circuited ahead of all others just before the Honda Indy 200 event took place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course today, generating a rush of excitement among the fans belonging to the state, which will shortly see the development and production of the NSX. The supercar is expected to be launched by year 2015, and efforts are steadily underway to ensure that. The NSX model ran ahead in the 2.4-mile winding road course, the driver being a member of the engineering development team based in Ohio. In 2012, an announcement revealed that the new NSX will run on a mid-mounted, direct-injected V-6 engine combined with Sport Hybrid SH-AWD® (Super Handling All-Wheel Drive) system, having state-of-the-art environmental performance and demonstrating dynamic capabilities of the next-generation supercar.
“With leadership from our R&D and manufacturing teams here in Ohio, we are developing a next generation sports car that will be equally at home on the street and on the race track, so it is natural for us to showcase the prototype vehicle here at Mid-Ohio,” said Ted Klaus, chief engineer of Honda R&D Americas, Inc. “It is exciting for us to see the prototype running on track, reflecting the great progress we’re making toward the 2015 global launch of the NSX as we engineer a new sports-car experience for customers around the world.”
Sport Hybrid SH-AWD® is the latest model having three-motor high-performance hybrid system incorporating the torque vectoring all-wheel drive and the advanced hybrid efficiency. It uses three electric motors, of which one is joined with the V-6 engine and the Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) used to drive the rear wheels, while the remaining two independent motors are used for the front wheels. The vehicle has a system that allows for instantaneous delivery of negative as well as positive torque to the front wheels while cornering, which helps it in achieving a renewed level of driving quality and performance, unmatched by the AWD systems currently in use.
The engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. in Raymond, Ohio are leading the global development of NSX and have been working on it for several years now. The supercar will be produced at Marysville, Ohio. The parts intended to be used will both be US-domestic as well as globally-sourced and the recently-established, high-tech and advanced Performance Manufacturing Centre where the sports car will be produced is currently undergoing construction.