The back (front) story!
The adaptation of the NSX was built out of Honda’s top Super GT racer, which is its GT500-class NSX-GT. Honda had been racing it since the late 1990s, before ceasing production in 2005 and thus needing a replacement. Meanwhile, GT happened to be looking to shake up its ruleset for 2009, planning to mandate a front-mounted engine no larger than 3.4 liters. The easiest and clearest way to accomplish this was to modify an existing NSX chassis, with the end result a bit strange looking to say the least!
This front-engined NSX was tested in 2009, although the version was not presented with the awkward, nonfunctional roof scoop of the previous prototype, yet was still strange looking with the recognizable NSX cabin mated to a long hood covering a longitudinally-mounted engine.
In the area of power, for a combustion engine the NSX-GT FR Hybrid used a 3.4-liter V8 which was derived from the Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) motor. At that time, it was paired with a cutting-edge KERS hybrid system. Super GT was also considering new tech at this time, so Honda apparently volunteered this NSX as a development vehicle.
It is important to note that this test mule was way more than a next-gen drivetrain, it was also most notably a link between the mid-engined NSX of the past and a completely different front-engined one Honda had under development. This overall hodgepodge was actually a prototype for Honda’s next Super GT car, the HSV-010 GT, famous for being Honda’s intended successor to the NSX and with a front-mounted, naturally aspirated V10 thought to be about 5.5 liters.
What happened next halted the path forward for the front-engine NSX – the global recession, leading Honda to the wise decision to not launch a front-engined V10 supercar. This took place even as the HSV-010 went on to compete, until 2013, with the company eventually employing KERS in Super GT between 2014-2016 and utilizing hybrid power in its second-gen NSX, which would go to the racetrack with a front engine.
For the past few years, Honda has been permitted to run a mid-engined race car against all front-engined contenders in Japan’s Super GT class. But from 2020 on, DTM and Super GT will use the same specs in order to make the races even that much more thrilling, meaning that everyone will have rear-wheel-drive cars with the 2.0-liter turbocharged engines in the front. With Honda’s first front-engined NSX, it looks almost identical to its 2017 and 2018 GT500-spec cars, only with the exception of the relocated exhaust ports and aero tweaks.
Under the FIA’s Class One rules, Honda’s NSX competed against such powerhouses as the BMW M4, Audi RS5 and Aston Martin Vantage DTM cars, among others.
It is true – Honda did in fact make a front-engined V8 NSX, predating the NSX prototype and presented in the late 2000s. Built out of Honda’s top Super GT racer, this front-engine model definitely shook things up! Front and center and with an entirely new powertrain, this model, although gone by the wayside, was definitely worth remembering!