NSX 2.0 Crash at Takasu

[Ponyboy]

Picture sure isn't definitive but it looks like the new NSX suffered a crash at Honda's Takasu proving ground in Hokkaido. The exposed rear end looks like an exact match. Whether or not it is, the passenger received injuries that required an immediate hospital stay. The driver suffered only minor injuries. Hope they both recover quickly.

VTEC kicked in?

http://gtchannel.com/blog/crash-hondas-takasu-proving-ground-could-be-new-nsx

Here's the direct link w/ translation here.

 

[RYU]

on the bright side.. glad to see it out and testing!

(too soon?)

 

[nsxot1c]

on the bright side.. glad to see it out and testing!

(too soon?)

x2!!

 

[Honcho]

Rolled posted they were two powertrain engineers and confirmed it is the new NSX. One had a pain in his side and went to the ER for x-rays to be safe. They are ok. They are tuning the EV to turbo transfer to get it like the P1- seamless.

 

[RYU]

Rolled posted they were two powertrain engineers and confirmed it is the new NSX. One had a pain in his side and went to the ER for x-rays to be safe. They are ok. They are tuning the EV to turbo transfer to get it like the P1- seamless.

I'm glad Honda didn't pussy out like LaFerrari did. There is no electro to turbo transfer in the Ferrari. They refused to do all electric mode and chuckled at the idea. What a cop out! They should just admit they're stuck in the stone ages... again

 

[Ponyboy]

Screw that…I'm glad it didn't separate in two like Fezza's have (Enzo, F40, et al) when crashed.

The workers were pretty quick to cover the car up - which, albeit from distance, looks like it didn't completely disintegrate. I'd like to know which direction they were traveling b/c I'd think that far from the track and down an embankment would cause much more visible damage.

 

[N Spec]

Fast enough for a pro to fumble???

 

[Honcho]

This was not a pro driver- it was two Honda engineers. Plus, a prototype system. Who knows what went wrong, but given how far the car is from the track, things went very bad, very fast.

 

[RYU]

DBW mishap. Whoops! Maybe he spilled his latte on the keyboard.

 

[Ponyboy]

Fast enough for a pro to fumble???

Check out the direct link in the lower portion of the OP as well as the GT channel link - you'll see that they were engineers and their relative ages. Granted, some of the engineers are no slouches driving (Ueharasan is noted for his driving ability).

 

[scammy]

yeah i am pretty sure they wouldn't be behind the wheel unless they knew how to steer a car with some talent

 

[N Spec]

It said drivers were in their 40s. I saw nothing to indicate Directly that the driver or passenger were engineers??? ~60 people were present. I'm sure most were engineers but does not necessarily all of them?

 

[Honcho]

It said drivers were in their 40s. I saw nothing to indicate Directly that the driver or passenger were engineers??? ~60 people were present. I'm sure most were engineers but does not necessarily all of them?

Info from Rolled on TOV. They were two Honda powertrain engineers. The NSX currently is in the "boring" stage of road development, which involves several months and thousands of miles of testing with on-board diagnostics. That's why there has been no news lately. The powertrain team is working on DBW, vehicle stability control, SH-AWD, and the all-important EV to boost transition I mentioned above. Any one of these things could have gone wrong, or it was just driver error- coming into a turn too hot and stuffing it into the trees.

 

[docjohn]

I think I see one guys underwear stuck in a tree

 

[RedWings]

Sounds like they are okay despite what looks like a bad rollover given the distance of the vehicle from the track

They simply didn't get the memo that crash testing is NEXT month...

 

[Big_D]

I think I see one guys underwear stuck in a tree

LOL...I didn't notice the boxer shorts.

 

[Silver F16]

Anything could have gone wrong including hardware or software. There are a lot of new hardware which require software calibrations and that takes an extraordinary amount of time to get it dialed in.

But on the subject of driver experience, it is one thing for an engineer who is used to taking a 290HP NSX to the edge vs doing that on a 600 Hp car. Not saying this happened but anyone who has limited experience pushing a 600hp machine to its limits is just asking for trouble. How many Honda engineers have extensive racing or testing experience with a 600Hp car?

 

[Ponyboy]

It said drivers were in their 40s. I saw nothing to indicate Directly that the driver or passenger were engineers??? ~60 people were present. I'm sure most were engineers but does not necessarily all of them?

Sorry, I'd sworn that it was mentioned on the GT Channel link. Makes sense though. Either way, the fellas seem to be alright and I guess that's what matters most.

Personally, I take 33% of what that guy from TOV says as I've caught in him way too many fabrications or passing off info as his that was gleaned from other media sources. Meh.

Apparently it makes him very upset that I say that too.

 

[JD Cross]

I'm glad Honda didn't pussy out like LaFerrari did. There is no electro to turbo transfer in the Ferrari. They refused to do all electric mode and chuckled at the idea. What a cop out! They should just admit they're stuck in the stone ages... again

Curious as to why you would think this has to do with full electric mode or not?
Do we know if the NSX has a full electric mode at low speeds?
Why would they need a race track to tune low speed electric mode if the NSX has it?

This may be referring to tuning the change in torque from full electric with engine at low rpm to full turbo at high engine rpm.
As rpms increase the electric motor torque drops off but the engine torque climbs and they want the turbos to come on at the right time to deliver a seamless power band.
The turbos may have electric motor assist to get them up to speed faster and reduce turbo lag.
This would be very complex to program and I could see where high speed testing on track would be essential

 

[docjohn]

More than likely something in the system applied excessive drag/braking on the wheels rather than any burst of power...or the driver was paying attention to the wrong things at the wrong time.At least they fared better than the engineer/designer of the LFA who died.

 

[Craigy]

Acura has announced that the NSX concept has been canceled indefinitely due to a miscalculation of the car's design causing it to go airborne at high speeds.

"Our engineers have discovered that the basic design of the car is fundamentally flawed from an aerodynamic standpoint" stated Erik Berkman, Acura's new American Product chief. "Unfortunately due to the inherent flaw in the car's design, our process will have to start from a clean sheet of paper." Given that the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show is just around the corner, it is unlikely we will see a concept of the new car until mid-2017.

Reports indicate that the driver, 37 year old Mark Webber, suffered mild injuries but has fully recovered.

..

 

[Osiris_x11]

Everyone needs to take a chill'pill, these "incidents" happen (unfortunately) during a vehicle's development. There's no reason to question the validity and prowess of the Honda engineers in designing and/or driving the NSX-v2. A McLaren operated 12C bit'it at the N'Ring during trials/testing. The Carrera-GT run by Porsche proved to be testy and tweaky on numerous occasions.

The overall form-factor of the pictured NSX-v2 looks about the same as the auto-show rounds, so I guess that's more-or-less what we'll be getting! Obviously previously validated by the various Japan-based racing models derived from it, that have been in pics during the past year...

 

[Silver F16]

Most of us note that this kind of stuff happens. Keep in mind that we are just conversing and speculating. When an incident like this happens on a car many of us are looking forward to, it is natural to have these type of discussion even if some of the comments are silly or not based on fact.

- - - Updated - - -

Now that I think about it, I don't recall any recent incident about crashing a car during development testing by Ferrari or Porsche. The last one was when a Ferrari caught on fire.

Many of us are aware of the LFA crashed that happened just outside of Nurburgring. Test driver was reported on the wrong side of the road when it crashed head on to the 3 series and there were mixed reports that LFA driver may not have seat belt on.

I think Porsche and Ferrari has enough test drivers to know how to handle a high powered car due to their history. I do question (only question, not doubt) if Honda powertrain engineers have enough experience to push the limits on a 600HP car. Rolled at vtec.net also mentioned that it is very different testing a 290HP NSX vs a 600 Hp NSX. Not saying that is the cause but something I'm sure Honda will investigate if it is a factor in the crash.

There is a reason Chuck Yeager, Walter Rohrl, and Valentino Balboni are well known.

 

[RYU]

Curious as to why you would think this has to do with full electric mode or not?
Do we know if the NSX has a full electric mode at low speeds?
Why would they need a race track to tune low speed electric mode if the NSX has it?

This may be referring to tuning the change in torque from full electric with engine at low rpm to full turbo at high engine rpm.
As rpms increase the electric motor torque drops off but the engine torque climbs and they want the turbos to come on at the right time to deliver a seamless power band.
The turbos may have electric motor assist to get them up to speed faster and reduce turbo lag.
This would be very complex to program and I could see where high speed testing on track would be essential

Hi JD,

I think my comment was taken out of context. I was merely taking a jab at Ferrari and how out-of-date I think their hybrid technology is.

I wasn't referring to why the NSX 2.0 crashed. Who knows why. It happens. They're testing. The'll probably go thru 30 prototypes before the first day of final production.

 

[Honcho]

Just glad the engineers are ok. They are crashing it so we won't.