ACCURATEin

I've been following the path of this Acura TL ever since it first made it debut in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill back in Dec. of 2004. I thought it might be nice to post some pics that i've collected and bring some attention to a car that has shown to be quite impressive on the track. From what i've gathered, it has accomplished the following...

3rd overall finish 2004 25 Hours of Thunderhill
7th overall finish 2005 25 Hours of Thunderhill
3rd overall finish 2008 Honda Challenge Mid-Ohio
2nd overall finish 2008 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade
1st place finish Endurance at Watkins Glen

It appears they built the car to test the J35 longevity, and accordingly it is powered by a substantial powerplant.

I love this car and finally got to see it perform on the track last weekend at VIR. It qualified pole position and it was a sight to see it pull away from the pack during the first 5 laps of the race.

It managed to pull a 2:09 in the 5th lap of the race, which is phenomenal!

As the 2009 redesigned Acura TL is being released, i am left wondering if the team will be pursuing any research with the new platform. Being marketed at the most powerful Acura ever, i'm sure there is something up their sleeves in Ohio. And not to forget the SH-AWD tranny and 6MT to be released later next year in 2009.

So hats off to this team and a job well done. I have a feeling this car is going to be retired and their focus will be in the 09 TL. Or atleast i hope haha.

If anyone knows someone with HONDA R&D, ask them if the car will be for sale. I might want to buy it.

Here are the pics...

Started off with the J32 and a silver/blue/white paint scheme in 04..










The Type S was released, and then a J35 was dropped in, painted red/black/white.












Upgraded to larger brembos in 08, allowed for faster lap times..




Watching it do work at VIR...


Congratulations guys. Your biggest fan - Eric

Here's another thread i started a long time ago on acurazine as a tribute to the THR TL...
http://tl.acurazine.com/forums...10330

Slow*Jim

Great read, thanks for posting up your pics. That blue and white color scheme was GORGEOUS

Is that your white TL?

ACCURATEin

Thank you Sir. I thought I would share the pics with everyone, as i'm sure not everyone is familiar with this car in particular.

Yes, the white TL is mine. It's gutted.

o-man

Yeah, I saw your car when I first got there sitting on the skidpad. Yes, The race TL is pretty sweet, and makes good noises

ACCURATEin

The idea was to pull my TL into the paddock and pop off some pics of the two TLs together, but the old VIR man told me to park in the skidpad. Was kinda disappointed, but oh well.

I loved the way the J-series motor sounded everytime the TL went by. Especially the first part when it was pulling away from the pack.

thawley

I know a few of them and will point them to this thread. But I doubt buying it will be an option. They usually have to crush cars like that when they're finish with them. Seems like a waist, I know, but looking at it from a corporate attorney point of view, it's the cheapest liability insurance they can buy...

Johnny Mac

There, fixed it for you. You're obviously up past your bedtime.

PIC Performance

Just to toss in my little photo of the car...



It sounds great too!

ACCURATEin

Nice! Definitely show some of them this thread, i'm sure they'll be happy to see someone cares. I figured this would be one of the cars they have to crush, but hopefully not. Maybe they can just set in on display at the design center or something creative like that.

ACCURATEin

I'm curious to see if this research team will be prepping the new platform for the track. We'll see!

And it was fun stripping the interiors guts. i got bored one day last summer, and went to town with the 10mm socket and extention haha. It's the easiest form of relieving stress on the motor.

MidShipCivic

6mt with awd? WAT ?

MSchu

Very nice... are you guys running the OEM LSD?

Do you have any spares fromt eh season you are trying to sell off?

Power2r

Here is a good picture from 07 NASA Nationals

Wai

I also love this car. It was great pleasure to race with them too (altho not same class).

slammed_93_hatch

There was/is (im not sure if it was already crushed) a twin to the car when it was blue and silver.

It was the "test mule" to that car.

And AFAIK the team is made up of employees from the Honda R&D facility in Ohio, they do the racing stuff after hours on there own time.

There is a group from the Research and Development facility in Southern California, Honda R&D West.

Outrun

Is this the same car? Or the crusher?

I took this at Mid-Ohio during the inaugural "unofficial nationals" August 2004.

sackdz

Raced with Brian at the unofficial 2004 nationals, they were nice guys.

Does Brian Shanfield still post on honda-tech?

He did tell me that they do this on their own time.

Brian if you read this, I called you about jobs @ Honda last year. Well I'm elsewhere, but we will be testing at a proving grounds down by you in Jan, I have a couple questions....

slammed_93_hatch

thats the test mule

Wai

Check out this in-car video. Starting from 2:40, you can see this TL on the screen until it pulls away at 3:40.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRDICw32Ths

chad

i have video bumping this car on the back straight at mid ohio....he was holding me up!

clem kevin

its a shame they made the new TL so hideous, this car looks wonderful. Always been one of my favorite sedans on the road.

EG94dude

the car is still alive and well and still racing hard as ever

We just got back home from the VIR 13hr race
3rd in ITE behind the 60 Mitchum 128i and the 46 E46 330i



5th overall of 54 cars










-THR

skylinetph26

^^ I was at the 13hr race this weekend. I closely watched this car during the whole race, very quick race car with impressive straight line speed!

Well done on a good finish!!!

EG94dude

what were you driving?

skylinetph26

I was a spectator. This is the second year I've been to the race, 2011 and 2012. It is very cool race to attend. There is so much access to the VIR complex.

As far as the Honda R&D team, it really sucked watching the V6 Accord wreck at the end of the back straight mid race. I was told by one of the mechanics that there was pretty much zero brake pad material left...must be scary going down hill at 130ish mph and realizing your brakes don't exist.