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Acura to climb Pikes Peak with Integra Type S and wildly modified NSX

This year marks the 101st anniversary of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, one of the oldest motorsports events in the world. As has been the custom for the past 13 years, Acura will head to the Colorado summit with a fleet of specially prepped cars based on production models. This year, their team consists of two new Integras in regular and Type S flavor, a modified NSX Type S, and a TLX Type S pace car. Of the Integras, the HPD-prepped Type S will be the most eye-catching, as it's wrapped in an anime-style livery. It's an extension of the company's "Chiaki's Journey" web series whose second chapter was released to coincide with the Integra Type S's launch. The second installment features the Pikes Peak race as part of its story line.  The real-world Chiaki is Lori Unser, a fourth-generation driver in the Unser racing dynasty. Her father Johnny raced at the Indianapolis 500, and if you count her extended family of Al, Bobby, and Al Jr., the clan has nine Indy championships under its collective belt. The family also has a history of racing at Pikes Peak, with Louis and Joe Unser competing in the hillclimb way back in 1926. In the Time Attack I division Acura is fielding a wild-looking NSX Type S called the Active Aero Study. We prefer its nickname, Yamabiko, which means "echo" in Japanese but is also the name of a spirit from Japanese folklore that lives in the mountains.  The NSX wears an enormous carbon fiber front splitter and rear diffuser, which by the looks of them extend the length of the car by two to three feet. The one-off aero bits include an active aero rear wing that can be electronically moved to reduce drag on high-speed sections of the course, or deployed as an air brake. At the same time, enough has been stripped out to reduce weight by 200 pounds. More powerful turbos have been fitted to the twin-turbo V6 and the engine software re-written, but Acura did not reveal how much over the stock Type S's 600 horsepower Yamabiko's output might be. The NSX was built specifically to tackle the hillclimb by Crazy New, the skunkworks team of Honda employees that brought us the 800-horsepower CR-V Hybrid. It'll be driven by Honda engineer James Robinson, who holds the current Hybrid class record of 10:01.913, which he set with an NSX in 2020. With Yokohama Tires' trademark Advan black and red livery and lightweight HRE forged wheels wrapped in Advan A005s, it certainly looks the part of a purpose-built Pikes Peak racer.

7 major automakers to build open EV charging network

A new joint venture established by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis will build a new North American electric vehicle charging network on a scale designed to compete with Tesla's industry-benchmark Supercharger network. The 30,000-plus planned new chargers will accommodate both Tesla's almost-standard North American Charging System (NACS) and existing automakers' Combined Charging System (CCS) options, effectively guaranteeing compatibility with the vast majority of current and upcoming electric models — whether they're from one of the involved automakers or not.  "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers. The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) and are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program." Critically, the automakers involved will have a say in how the charging tech is implemented, guaranteeing that the hardware will play nicely with each automaker's in-house charging systems. Hyundai and Kia, for example, were hesitant to jump on board the Tesla NACS bandwagon earlier this year over concerns that the Supercharger network is insufficient for powering the two automakers' 800-volt charging systems; similar tech is used by Volkswagen and Porsche.  In addition to providing much-needed capacity and high-output charging for America's growing fleet of electric cars and trucks, the new network will integrate seamlessly with each automaker's in-app and in-vehicle features, rather than forcing customers to use third-party tools and payment systems, as is the case with some existing public charging infrastructure.  "The functions and services of the network will allow for seamless integration with participating automakersÂ’ in-vehicle and in-app experiences, including reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management and more. In addition, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology to further enhance the customer experience," the announcement said.

2021 Acura TLX is the first model with Honda’s new proprietary airbag

When it arrives in showrooms this fall, the 2021 Acura TLX will be the first vehicle equipped with the new three-chamber front passenger airbag design Honda announced last year, reinforcing the automaker’s commitment to infused the sports sedan with state-of-the-art safety bonafides. As explained in the video above, the new airbag was designed and developed by engineers at HondaÂ’s R&D campus in Ohio and auto supplier Autoliv to mitigate the risk of severe brain trauma associated with angled frontal collisions. With its official launch in the 2021 TLX, the airbag will begin to be offered to other automakers through Autoliv. Work on the new airbag design stemmed in part from a 2013 U.S. Department of Transportation study that used MRI scans to look at brain injuries resulting from vehicle accidents and led to the creation of Brain Injury Criteria methodology for measuring brain injuries in vehicle crashes. Accordingly, Honda and Autoliv designed an airbag that does away with the traditional single-inflatable chamber in favor of something likened to a catcherÂ’s mitt, with a central “sail panel” net catching and slowing down the head and directing it inward between the two inflated side chambers. The idea is to better manage lateral forces in a collision that can cause an occupantÂ’s head to rotate severely and at high velocity. Honda is hailing the new airbag as a major advance in airbag design. It follows the companyÂ’s introduction, in 1990, of the first vertically deploying front passenger airbag for the 1991 Acura Legend, a design that became broadly adopted in the industry. Honda is packing lots of other safety features into the 2021 Acura TLX, including knee airbags for driver and front passenger, both contained beneath a panel on the underside of the instrument panel, and eight airbags total, the most ever for the model. It will also come standard with the AcuraWatch suite of advanced safety and driver-assist technologies and AcuraÂ’s Advanced Compatability Engineering body structure, which has been advanced to boost occupant safety by redirecting energy away from the passenger compartment in a frontal crash. Acura says it expects to get a five-star crash rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.