Acura has unveiled the all-new ARX-05 Prototype race car on the stage of The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, which is a part of the ongoing Monterey Automotive Week. The Japanese carmaker will mark its return to the prototype racing with the ARX-05 at next year’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It will be fielded by the legendary Team Penske running two Acura ARX-05s in the 2018 season.
The name ARX-05 stands for ‘Acura Racing eXperimental, generation 5’. It is based on the highly successful ORECA 07 chassis. The chiseled body work is very futuristic and looks pretty aggressive. The signature ‘jewel eye’ headlights from the production-spec Acuras dominate the fascia. According to the DPi rules, the manufacturers are allowed to use only one of the four approved prototype chassis. The selected chassis is then fitted with an IMSA-homologated, but manufacturer-designed bodywork and engines. In the case of the ARX-05, the bodywork was developed by the Acura Global Creative team.
The space-ship looking bodywork hides a twin-turbocharged AR35TT engine underneath. It is basically the same 3.5-litre V6 engine that powers Acura’s series production models like the MDX, RDX, TLX and RLX. Based on the "J35" family, the engine has previously powered many race cars which participated in legendary races such as the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the LMP2 World Endurance Championship to name a few.
The ARX-05 will make its racing debut at the season-opening Rolex 24 in January, 2018. It will be piloted by a pair of the legendary champions – Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron. The second driver pairing will be announced on a later date. The multi-year DPi program will be administered by Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm for both Acura Motorsports and Honda Racing in North America.
The Japanese race car will be on display at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and then make its way to the Concept Lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
