• Acura will campaign four entries in the historic hill climb event including two Integra race cars and a wild NSX Type S Active Aero Study, nicknamed “Yamabiko”
• Integra Type S race car driven by fourth generation racer Loni Unser brings Acura’s Chiaki’s Journey anime series to life with a unique anime-style wrap
• INDYCAR driver David Malukas to pilot TLX Type S pace car in the “Race to the Clouds”

TORRANCE, Calif., June 15, 2023 – Acura will again demonstrate its commitment to Precision Crafted Performance at The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, brought to you by Gran Turismo with four production-based based race cars. The recently launched Integra Type S will make its motorsports debut in the 101st running of the “Race to the Clouds” alongside three additional race entries including “Yamabiko”, an NSX Type S racecar modified specifically for the iconic hill climb with advanced active aerodynamics. Additionally, INDYCAR rising star David Malukas will serve as the event’s official pace car driver in a 2023 TLX Type S PMC Edition.

Motorsports is a critical component of Acura’s commitment to Precision Crafted Performance, and its Pikes Peak efforts are a pure expression of this ethos. All Acura race team entries are prepped and crewed by a volunteer team of engineers out of the company’s R&D facilities in Ohio to further sharpen their performance-focused driving and engineering skills as they test future technologies for Acura production vehicles. This is the performance brand’s 13th consecutive year competing at Pikes Peak, with the Acura team amassing an impressive 12 first place in-division finishes, 26 podiums and multiple records.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado is one of America’s longest running motorsports competitions. Since 1916, drivers from all over the world, in a wide variety of vehicles and from multiple motorsports disciplines, race against the clock as they take on the 156-turn, 12.42-mile mountain course, starting at 9,390 feet and climbing to the 14,115-foot summit.

HPD Integra Type S Race Car
Marking the motorsports debut of the new high-performance variant, Acura is bringing the first race-prepped 2024 Integra Type S to Pikes Peak. The HPD Integra Type S race car will compete in the Exhibition division driven by fourth generation racer, Loni Unser, while Acura engineer Paul Hubers returns for his second year on the mountain behind the wheel of an Integra 1.5T built by the Honda of America Racing Team (HART). Fellow Acura engineer and Pikes Peak veteran Jordan Guitar also returns to Pikes Peak driving a TLX Type S, also built by HART.

Unser’s HPD Integra Type S race car brings Acura’s action-packed anime series to life, wearing a unique anime-style wrap tied to the new second season of Chiaki’s Journey. Unser is a fourth-generation race car driver, following her father Johnny, who raced at the Indianapolis 500, with the Unser family (Al, Bobby and Al, Jr.) winning nine Indy 500 championships.

The Unsers were the first family to race in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a tradition that began in 1926 with Louis and Joe Unser. Through three generations of Unser racers, the overall crown, King of the Mountain, was earned twenty-six times by the Unser family. Loni made her debut at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 2022 finishing an impressive 2nd in her division.

Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study
Designed, developed and built explicitly for maximum aerodynamic performance on the historic high-speed mountain course, the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study is the next project (after the Honda CR-V “Beast”) of Crazy New, a skunkworks division of HART, which consists of Honda associates across North America. With a mission to dream up and build unique concepts before they’re funneled into the mainstream HART race team programs, Crazy New serves as a creative playground for Honda associates, often finding opportunities or initiatives that are ongoing at Honda’s North American Auto Development Center (ADC) in Ohio or HPD in Southern California.

“The HART program embodies the Honda ‘Racing Spirit’ by providing associates with invaluable experience through motorsports, while transferring vehicle performance learnings into the development and manufacturing of next-generation Honda and Acura products,” said Aaron Kerestan, Honda Principal Engineer and Team Leader for Crazy New. “Crazy New takes that to the next level with a focus on bigger, forward-thinking ideas and more extreme builds, like the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study.”

Nicknamed “Yamabiko” (a mythological mountain god or spirit in Japanese folklore) during development, the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study features custom carbon fiber bodywork front and rear that significantly improves the supercar’s ability to maintain downforce and reduce drag. Shaped inside the new Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO) facility, which is the world’s most advanced wind tunnel, the NSX’s radical design incorporates active aero technology, including a dynamic rear wing, which acts as a drag reduction system (DRS) to increase speed on faster sections of the track. To help slow the hybrid-powered supercar under heavy braking, the electrically actuated rear spoiler deploys as an air brake, increasing drag and improving balance.

The Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study will be driven by Honda engineer and experienced Pikes Peak racer James Robinson, who drove an NSX to the current Hybrid fuel class record (10:01.913) in 2020. “We created the Acura NSX Type S Active Aero Study, aka ‘Yamabiko’, to improve our own Pikes Peak record,” said Robinson. “It’s by far the most extreme machine the Acura Race Team has ever raced to the clouds.”

Acura at 2023 Pikes Peak:

Vehicle	Team	Driver	Division
2024 Integra Type S	HPD	Loni Unser	Exhibition
2022 NSX Type S Active Aero Study	HART	James Robinson	Time Attack 1
2023 Integra 1.5T	HART	Paul Hubers	Exhibition
2023 TLX Type S	HART	Jordan Guitar	Exhibition
2023 TLX Type S PMC Edition	–	David Malukas	Official Pace Car

The following is a list of modifications made to each Acura competing in the 2023 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

HPD Integra Type S
• Custom hood
• Custom front splitter
• Custom Swan-Neck Carbon Fiber Rear Wing
• Borla exhaust
• 19-inch Titan 7 wheels
• Yokohama Advan A005 tires

HART NSX Type S Active Aero Study
• Custom front splitter, rear diffuser and active aero rear wing
• Larger turbochargers
• Enhanced engine management software
• Weight reduction of more than 200 lbs.
• Lightweight HRE forged wheels
• Yokohama Advan A005 tires

HART Integra 1.5T
• Bilstein dampers
• Eibach springs
• HPD TCA suspension kit
• Cusco Racing LSD
• Lightweight 18-inch HRE forged wheels
• Yokohama Advan A005 tires
• HPD billet engine mounts
• Borla exhaust
• Aero undercover
• OMP racing seat, steering wheel and safety harness

HART TLX Type S
• Larger turbocharger
• Additional engine cooling
• Retuned engine, transmission and SH-AWD® system software
• Suspension lowered 1-inch
• Race-compound brake pads
• Lightweight 19-inch HRE forged wheels
• Yokohama Advan A005 tires
• Weight reduction of more than 600 lbs.
• Carbon fiber hood
• Composite front splitter, rear wing and dive planes

About Acura Motorsports
Acura Motorsports programs have been integral to the brand since the launch of Acura in 1986. The rich legacy of Acura sports car racing includes the 1991, 1992, and 1993 IMSA Camel Lights manufacturer/driver championships, and the 2009 American Le Mans manufacturer, driver, and team championships in both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes. With the ARX-05 prototype, Acura swept the 2019, 2020 and 2022 IMSA manufacturer, driver and teams championships; plus the Michelin Endurance Cup titles in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Acura will campaign the all-new, electrified ARX-06 prototype sports car in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, available for North American customers through Honda Performance Development, Inc., has won multiple championships, including IMSA GT championships in 2019 and 2020 and SRO World Challenge series titles in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

About Acura
Acura is a leading automotive nameplate that delivers Precision Crafted Performance – a commitment to expressive styling, high-performance and innovative engineering, all built on a foundation of quality and reliability. The Acura lineup currently features four distinctive models – the next-gen Integra sport compact, TLX sport sedan, the RDX and MDX sport-utility vehicles, along with high-performance Type S variants. Acura’s first all-electric model will be an SUV, the ZDX and ZDX Type S, and will arrive in 2024. All Acura vehicles sold in America are made in the U.S., using domestic and globally sourced parts.

[Source: Acura]