Acura marks return to prototype racing with ARX-05

Acura is indeed serious when it comes to motorsports. Just last year, the automaker was victorious at the 2016 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hillclimb after posting the fastest lap under the Time Attack 2 (TA2) category.

In the near future, Acura is setting its sights to return to prototype racing with an all-new race car. It is set to be revealed on August 18 at this year's The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering and has been given the name 'ARX-05'. Short for 'Acura Racing eXperimental, generation 5', it follows the company's successful line of prototype endurance race cars, namely the ARX – 01 through ARX – 04.

The car was styled by the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles. Leading the design is Dave Merek, Acura's global creative director. In designing the upcoming prototype race car, Merek said that they had to make several sketches, look at each one and send the best ones for wind tunnel and aero testing.

Currently, Acura is testing a camouflaged prototype of the ARX-05. There are no exact details yet to its design but based on the intitial photos, the ARX-05 appears to have a radical design.

As for its powertrain, Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development and Acura Motorsports, the ARX-05 will be utilizing the mass-produced V6 production engine that they use on their production models.

“We actually use the mass production base engine, so it's the same engine that is in the TLX and. MBX. The V6 is the baseline for our prototype,” added Cyr.

So far, there are no details as to what modifications HPD did to the standard V6.

It will compete at the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and will be fielded by renowned racing team, Penske. Its racing debut, on the other hand will begin at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January 2018.