The Honda Supercar, HSV-010 GT

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. has 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 ï¿½HSV� stand for Honda Sports Velocity, which is so much better than if it had stood for Honda Service Vehicle. The front/mid-engine racer will have a naturally aspirated 3.4liter V8 making 370 or more worth of horses and about 392nm of torque, sending power through the same Ricardo sequential manual gearbox fitted to the 2010 SuperGT cars from Nissan and Toyota. Underneath all that glorious carbon fiber is the same chassis Honda's been working on (originally as an NSX replacement) for the last two years. 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.

At the season opening round at the challenging Suzuka track, the HSV-010 GT�s virgin race will show if it is a worthy successor to the legendary Honda NSX. Other challengers such as Nissan and Lexus will be strong as always, so it will certainly not be easy. Hopefully success on the race track can convince Honda to produce a road going version of the HSV after all.