Bill Vince's Bridgewater Acura

In 1984, Honda decided to design a a mid-mounted C20A 2.0 L V6 sports car known as the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina Xperimental).  This then evolved to what we know today as the NS-X (New Sportscar eXperimental).


1990: The Release of the first NSX:
 
  Upon its release in 1990, the NSX design concept measured 1,170 mm (46 in) in height, (only 141.3 mm (5.56 in) taller than the legendary Ford GT40), and showcased Honda's technology.  The car's strong chassis rigidity and cornering/handling capabilities were the results of Ayrton Senna's direct input with NSX's chief engineers while testing the NSX prototype car at Honda's Suzuka Circuit during its final development stages.  Today the NSX is still considered by owners of the marque as one of the most reliable exotic cars ever manufactured, with many examples exceeding 100,000 miles (160,000 km) without serious notable reliability issues or having suffered manufacturer recalls.

The NSX-T:

In 1995 the NSX-T with a targa top roof was released in Japan as a special order option. In North America, the NSX-T replaced the standard coupe entirely as the only trim available, with the notable exceptions of the Zanardi Edition NSX in 1999 and a handful of special ordered post-1997/pre-2002 3.2 liter coupes. The removable roof reduced the chassis rigidity of the NSX and added about 100 pounds (45 kg) of structural reinforcements. In addition to this major change, the suspensions have also been softened to improve ride, comfort, and tire wear, at the ultimate expense of handling. The suspension redesign was also intended to reduce the sudden-oversteer problems that plagued most mid-engined vehicles. All roofs were now body-colored instead of black, although in Japan the two-tone black roof/body color was still available as an optional feature. Finally available in the manual transmission version NSX was electric power steering, previously found in the automatic version exclusively.

The Second Generation NSX:

A second iteration of the NSX-R was released in 2002, again exclusively in Japan. As with the first NSX-R, weight reduction was the primary focus for performance enhancement. The chassis is based on the fixed-roof coupe, due to its lighter weight and more rigid construction. Carbon fiber was used to a large extent throughout the body components to reduce weight, including a larger, more aggressive rear spoiler, vented hood and deck lid. The vented hood was said to be the largest one-piece carbon-fiber hood in production cars. Additionally, the original NSX-R weight reduction techniques were repeated, including deletion of the audio system, sound insulation and air conditioning. Furthermore, the power steering was removed. A single-pane rear divider was again used, as were carbon-kevlar racing seats manufactured for Honda.  The result of Honda's second NSX-R effort was a vehicle that could challenge the latest sports car models on the track, despite having a base design that was more than 15 years old.

The NSX-R GT:

After the release of the Second-Gen NSX-R, Honda developed a more agile, more responsive, and quicker limited edition NSX-R called the NSX-R GT. The NSX-R GT was created by Honda solely to comply with the Super GT production-based race car homologation requirements. As JGTC rules required at least five production cars for any race car version to compete, the NSX-R GT was limited to a production run of only five cars. The differences between the Second-Gen NSX-R and the NSX-R GT are not fully known. One clear difference is the addition of a non-functional snorkel attached to the roof of the car. In the JGTC NSX race cars however, this snorkel is fully functional, feeding outside air to an individual throttle body intake plenum. The NSX-R GT also has a lowered suspension and widened body. More aggressive aerodynamic components such as an extended front spoiler lip and large rear diffuser are used as well. It also is speculated that the NSX-R GT incorporates more weight savings over the NSX-R.

Where We Are Today:

The NSX was discontinued in 2005 due to the high production costs and low annual sales worldwide.  However, rumors have been brewing about Honda re-releasing a new model of its superior sports car to the public in 2013.  Honda released no details on the new NSX concept, merely saying it would show the "styling direction for the next generation of Acura's super sports car."  Honda continued to state that it will unveil a concept version of a new Acura NSX at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  Honda also announced it would bring a concept called the Acura ILX to the Detroit show which will be an entry-level premium car under the Acura nameplate.

The Legend Once Again Becomes A Reality:

The day has finally arrived.  The concept for the new Acura NSX has finally hit the streets.  Be sure to visit our page about what's new with Acura to get more details on this piece of artwork, along with a few new concept cars released by Acura.