Now this ought to be good. While everybody in the automotive aftermarket with a half decent Instagram following seems to have some kind of restomod project ongoing right now, certain names are still going to grab the attention a lot more than most. Like when Pininfarina says it’s going to make a carbon-bodied reimagination of the original Honda NSX. You want to know more, right?
Especially as it’s being developed in conjunction with JAS Motorsport, one of the preeminent names in competition-grade Hondas and an official partner of the big H since 1998. So when the manufacturer was in Super Touring BTCC, JAS prepped the Accords. Didn’t matter if the touring car championship was British, European or World, JAS was there with a Honda - usually winning quite a bit, too. More recently, JAS has lent a hand in developing the outgoing NSX GT3 racer, and the FL5 flavour of Civic Type R TCR. When there’s a track-ready Honda in the making, chances are JAS has been consulted at some point along the way. And this is its first road car project.
This new collaboration is a mouth-watering prospect then, two Italian powerhouses working their magic on a Japanese hero of the '90s. Begin with perhaps Honda’s most iconic car (certainly its most valuable), have it rebodied in carbon by one of the world’s best-known design companies, then handed over to Honda motorsport royalty so that performance can be brought up to a modern standard. No wonder little has been announced thus far, given how good that sounds already. The Pininfarina-JAS NSX (a proper name will follow) is to retain the glorious V6, now ‘engineered and developed to obtain the highest levels of power, torque and responsiveness.’ While left- and right-hand drive builds will be offered, only manual NSXs will be converted. Thank goodness.
The rest of the package will include ‘refined mechanical elements derived from the world of motorsport’ to create what’s being called a ‘new, modern definition of Grand Touring concept that underpins the NSX’s DNA’. Expect it to be great on road and track, basically, without one compromising the other. Additional details are coming soon, with the full reveal due in the first half of next year. Just in case original NSX values need to rise any further…
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