Could These Two Honda NSX Test Mules Be Non-Hybrid And Rear-Wheel Drive?

A year or so after rumours surfaced suggesting that Honda was thinking about building a lighter, more extreme NSX without the hybrid drivetrain, these two suspiciously loud test cars have been spotted at the Nurburgring

Matt Kimberley

11 Aug 2017

Time to dust the speculation machine off: a pair of Honda NSXs have been spotted lapping the Nurburgring, both apparently with sensors over the engine covers and both sounding louder than the car we know.

Honda has previously talked-up the possibility of building a harder, more powerful NSX. We also know there’s a race-spec NSX available to buy, so there’s the possibility that these test mules are trialling some new kind of exhaust, cooling system, ECU setup or something else for the racecar.

Could These Two Honda NSX Test Mules Be Non-Hybrid And Rear-Wheel Drive?

But our guts tell us that’s not the case. Despite its devastatingly effective hybrid drivetrain that delivers epic corner-exit shove, the NSX’s 573bhp does look rather weak on paper next to the likes of the McLaren 720S’s 710bhp, for example.

A rear-wheel drive NSX has previously been rumoured, with less weight and a more traditional approach to speed, i.e. a good old petrol engine tuned to within an inch of its life. Such an NSX would be a lot lighter, too, and it would need a freer-breathing, louder exhaust like the ones on these test cars. But then again, we might be way off the mark. Guess away, CTzens!

Comments

It’s only logical. A non-hybrid hardcore NSX would make for a better link with the non-hybrid GT3 racer.

I bet Honda execs are pretty uncomfortable every time they need to explain why they ditched the innovative hybrid system for the race car.

Didn’t they ditch the hybrid systems because GT3 cars can only be RWD?

Nope. NSX is Next Sportscar eXperimental. Only possiblity to loose hybrid sistem is to go to full EV.

Experimental combustion engines….

It’s New Sportscar eXperience now. And it’s been talked about have 4 variants, so using the current one as a platform

Honda needs to make sure the grill on whatever this version will be matches the Acura design language currently. Acura started putting this new Superman esque grill on all their cars just a few months after the NSX went on sale. This picture goes to show how clueless Acura has been lately in terms of design.