Acura reveals the ARX-06 LMDh car for the 2023 IMSA season

Having previously only released limited images of the car in camouflage livery from Le Castellet testing in July, the Acura ARX-06 was revealed in full for the first time on Wednesday in a predominantly white color scheme.

A public demonstration will take place on Friday at Car Week in Monterey, California.

The marque also revealed that it had built a bespoke 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 combustion engine to power the Oreca-based LMDh contender, and it was developed in-house by Honda’s Performance Department.

Acura has said it’s the smallest engine the brand has built for endurance racing, well below the 3.5-litre V6 powered by the current ARX-05 DPI title car, but still matching its target output of 500kW at the rear axle .

He added that he went with a V angle of 90 degrees to lower the center of gravity and reduce polar inertia.

The ICU will be combined with a hybrid system specification developed jointly by Xtrac, Bosch and Williams Advanced Engineering.

Acura said the car’s exterior design was completed jointly by its Los Angeles design studio, HPD’s aero engineering team and chassis manufacturer Oreca.

The development process also considered driver input, with the position of the rear-view mirror adjusted to improve aerodynamics and visibility following a test run of the VR headset.

“We took on the challenge posed by this new package of rules from IMSA and ACO and developed what we believe to be a very competitive solution,” said Pierre Decamp, who led the HPD transmission design team for the ARX-06.

“We went in a new direction for HPD in the design of the ICE. It’s still the V6 that Honda is known for, of course, but we’ve included a few new bits that we think will make the best use of the electric MGU and battery.

“Our new engine will rev to the maximum 10,000rpm set by the regulations, so it makes a great sound too!”

The new ARX-06 will campaign Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing in the GTP class starting next season, with both teams remaining on IMSA’s list of manufacturer teams from the current DPi era.

MSR and WTR are the only teams in contention for the 2022 IMSA Drivers’ and Teams’ titles, guaranteeing Acura championship honors in the final season of DPi rules.

Acura said it is looking forward to the challenge of cross-brand competition next year, with current DPi rival Cadillac returning for another title assault and newcomers Porsche and BMW making it a four-way manufacturer battle in the GTP class.

There was no word on Acura’s testing program ahead of the car’s debut at the Rolex 24, but the Honda-owned company said it plans “24-hour simulations” in preparation for the 2023 season.

“We are HPD – we race, we develop our engineers and technology through racing,” said David Salters, HPD President and CTO.

“We have an amazing and unique racing heritage, both past and present. That’s what we do as Acura and Honda’s North American racing organization.

“We look forward to racing Porsche, BMW and GM at the top of the IMSA GTP Championship. We realize that this is a big step for us. We have a lot to learn, but that’s the race.”

“The new Acura ARX-06 has elements of our Indy-winning technology, Honda Formula One technology and Rolex 24-winning technology.

“This has been achieved using HPD’s world-class modeling, design, development and manufacturing technologies, developed, tested and validated by our own engineers. We are very proud of it. Now the hard work and hard work begins, including grueling 24-hour simulations. and learn how to maximize all aspects of performance.”

Acura currently has no plans to enter the ARX-06 in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship, which will allow LMDh cars to compete against the Le Mans hypercars from next year as part of a rules merger between the two series.