This wild machine is what Acura will be using to climb up the formidable Pikes Peak this weekend.
As you can see, it closely resembles Acura’s NSX (with the addition of a hill-climb body kit), however rather than making use of a hybrid system, this vehicle will be fully electric and compete in the Electric Modified Class.
The NSX will use the all-electric, four-motor Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system seen in the experimental vehicle piloted by Rhys Millen last year (a car that came very close to beating Sebastien Loeb’s 2013 record). This system makes use of four individual motors, one for each wheel, meaning that the torque allocation is more accurate than a conventional toque vectoring system.
The team has spent the last few weeks fine-tuning the NSX in the hopes of making it even more competitive than the CR-Z EV that was used last year (which it should easily be, considering it boasts three times the power). Being fully electric, the delivery of torque will be instant, something driver Tetsuya Yamano – who was also in the hot seat last year – will no doubt appreciate.
Acura holds hopes of implementing this technology in some of its new models in the near future. It’s not yet clear whether this includes models produced by Honda.
Pikes Peak will be taking place from the 21st to the 28th of June 2016.