Honda HSV-010 GT to race Super GT this weekend
The upcoming 2010 Super GT Championship race to be held at Sepang this weekend, 19-20 June 2010, will see the first live appearance of Honda’s HSV-010 GT race car on Malaysian soil. Spearheading the challenge of five teams, the HSV-010 is Honda’s first attempt at the front-engine rear wheel drive layout.
Followers of the Australian motoring scene will no doubt be familiar with the HSV abbreviation, which in that context stands for Holden Special Vehicles. The Honda version stands for Honda Sports Velocity, and will be replacing the NSX, now rendered obsolete by Super GT regulation changes.
A recent revision of Super GT regulations makes the FR drivetrain a mandatory requirement for all cars, forcing the mid-engined NSX to retire. The HSV looks to retain as much of the NSX’s DNA as possible by having a front-mid engine placement. While the NSX is dubbed as the ‘cornering machine’, the HSV is self-styled by Honda as the ‘ultimate cornering machine’.
Powering the HSV is the 3,397cc HR10GE naturally aspirated V8. The eight-cylinders, which have a big bore short stroke combustion chamber, are lined up at right angles to each other with twin camshafts operating four valves per cylinder. Peak horsepower is said to exceed 500hp, while maximum torque is in the north of 392Nm.
An 8-4-2-1 exhaust manifold channels out waste gasses through a single muffler at the end. The system is engineered to produce a distinctive sound, which Honda describes as ‘sensual’. Getting this sound right was top priority for the Honda folks, as an alternative exhaust system which promised a substantial horsepower was aborted simply because ‘the sound got worse’.
A total of five teams are racing the HSV-010 GT in the Super GT Championship season – Weider Honda Racing, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri, Keihin Real Racing, Raybrig Kunimitsu, and Epson Nakajima Racing.
A series of live interviews with Honda Racing Malaysia are being scheduled with selected online media. You can follow the interviews live on Honda Racing Malaysia’s official Facebook page (link provided below).
Autoworld is scheduled to participate in the interview alongside Motorsportchannel.com tomorrow, 17 June 2010, at 3:00pm. The interview will take half an hour, with the final question set to be answered by 3:30pm, after which questions are ‘open to the floor’, where you as the reader can ask whatever question you choose.
Pictures: Official Honda release
