Honda Is Moving The NSX Engine To The Front For Racing

2020 will see the Japanese Super GT and German Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) motorsports series unite under a common umbrella of regulations that’ll allow the two series to compete against each other in a number of crossover races as the cars will be evenly matched.

We’re all for seeing the likes of the new Toyota Supra A90, Nissan GT-R and Honda NSX go up against the Audi RS5, BMW M4 and Aston Martin Vantage. However, the new rules; dubbed Class One, requires the engine to be in the front. That means Honda will have to move the engine from its midship NSX to the front.

Every car under Class One will need to run a 2.0-litre turbo inline-four in the front that drives the rear wheels. Previously, Honda’s always been granted a waiver to have its engine in the middle which is where the road-going NSX has it. Super GT utilised weight penalties to even out the performance.

Those special waivers have now gone out the window though as Honda unveiled a Class One NSX with the engine in front of the driver. It’s a little difficult to tell from the photos as it looks largely identical to the previous mid-engined race car but take our word for it, the engine’s in the front. The biggest giveaway to the engine’s new location are those massive sidepipes out the door.

Details are almost non-existent but expect more to trickle through as the race car is finalised and testing gets underway.

Yeah, we know this one’s a little difficult to wrap our heads around; moving the engine from the middle to the front, but it’s for the future of motorsports.