Honda Announces Global NSX GT3 Customer Program

After a successful first season in America, the mid-engined GT racer goes global with sales for 2018.

Honda announced international customer sales of the Honda NSX GT3 for the 2018 season on July 27. The announcement, formally made at the Spa 24 Hours, offered up the GT3-spec race car for sale through several Honda motorsport arms around the world.

DailySportsCar.com reports that Honda plans to build and sell at least a dozen cars for 2018. At least two teams have expressed interest in racing the NSX next year, DailySportsCar also reports. That would add to the count of racing NSXs.

Four cars from two American teams have undertaken the bulk of the testing in the United States. Michael Shank Racing’s has won two races in IMSA’s GTD class while RealTime Racing have a heap of Top 10s in Pirelli World Challenge. All four of those cars race as Acuras, however the global GT3 cars will carry a Honda badge.

Honda Performance Development will handle customer orders in the Americas. Honda race shop JAS Motorsport undertook the first development steps on the NSX GT3 and will distribute the race car to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Mugen will take orders in Japan.

The NSX GT3 is eligible for the following classes and series: IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s GTD Class, Pirelli World Challenge GT class, Blancpain GT (and its assortment of associated series), Hankook 24H Series, Japanese Super GT’s GT300 class, Australian GT, ADAC GT Masters, British GT, Italian GT, Australian GT, International GT Open, and several more GT3-spec series.

Pricing

Before you start counting pennies, know that NSX GT3 prices start at around $545,000. That skews toward the higher side of GT3 race car prices but well short of the pricey Ferrari GT3 cars. That chunk of cash buys a chassis in bare carbon, though Honda doesn’t specify what else comes at that price in terms of spare parts.

The NSX races with a very race-proven engine in the J35-based twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6. Team Penske’s recently announced Acura prototype for IMSA will use essentially the same engine with some minor variation. That engine also powered Honda’s LMP2 prototypes and it took RealTime Racing boss Peter Cunningham to a class win at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in June.