IMSA: Valuable lessons in Acura's NSX testing

Led by Michael Shank Racing in partnership with Honda Performance Development, the twin-turbo V6-powered NSX GT3s have been busy at numerous tracks, and according to HPD vice president Steve Eriksen, the mileage they've logged has been beneficial in many ways.

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"We recently came off a test at Sebring where some video was shown running around and had a few challenges; a couple of times the car went off the track where repair efforts were needed, but that was actually a positive thing," Eriksen told RACER.

"You get the chance to see what it takes to repair the car and found some things we want to update to make it easier and faster if our teams are faced with the same situation in a race. It's the kind of thing you would rather learn now than find out in the middle of a 24-hour event. Even though it's unfortunate to lose track time in testing, it's still a valuable experience."

Aside from the off-track excursions, Eriksen reports the NSX GT3s have experienced few problems while preparing for their upcoming WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.

"The really good news is the car is reliable," he said. "I wasn't surprised by that because of all the development that was done with the [stock] NSX because they went far above and beyond with the quality of the design, and that, frankly, has greatly eased the move into its GT3 form."

The NSX's endurance testing has taken place concurrently with HPD's efforts to complete the car's FIA GT3 homologation.

"We're right in the thick of the FIA homologation process and have done them before with LMP cars, but this is our first time with a GT3 car," Eriksen said. "The chassis side went a lot easier than the engine side; the FIA has a habit of not being very responsive, but that's OK; we're learning, and we're addressing any issues they've raised. There's still work to do on that end, and while that's going on, we're going hard in the background to turn more test miles."

Eriksen has taken pride in the direct role in testing and great influence provided by the team responsible for creating the new NSX.

"This is such a neat project for us because we're tied in so heavily with the factory," he said. "We had an assortment of people from the factory – all who race on their own – who are responsible for the NSX design that have attended the tests and they've been able to answer some very specific questions that we couldn't because they created what we're using to race. The Acura team that developed the car are located in Ohio, and because Michael Shank's team is in Ohio, they work closely and have come up with an 'Ohio supercar.'"

Although the duration of the works NSX program in IMSA's GT Daytona class is unknown, it's believed the project could transition from its current factory guise into a pure customer effort for 2018.

"The interest has been surprising," Eriksen said. "When we brought the car to run in some [PWC] practice sessions at Mid-Ohio the number of people wanting to buy the car was remarkable, and we haven't event shown it at an IMSA race. I think that because we've been doing Le Mans Prototypes for so long, people know that there's exceptional customer support that comes with HPD and that's a real attraction. They know all the GT3 cars are BoP'd, so the real differentiation comes down to customer support and that's one area where we feel we can make a statement with the NSX."

The MSR NSX GT3s driven by Jeff Segal, Katherine Legge, Ozz Negri, and Andy Lally will hit the track at Daytona Nov. 15-16.