Honda, like other manufacturers getting ready for the 2024 INDYCAR season, is working hard on preparing its new hybrid powertrain for the racing series. To give fans a hint of what’s coming, they stuffed their upcoming 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 INDYCAR engine into a CR-V Hybrid and have let it loose on the world.
“This project vehicle is an INDYCAR ‘beast’ in Honda CR-V ‘sheep’s clothing’,” said David Salters, president and technical director for Honda Performance Development. “The CR-V Hybrid Racer is our ‘rolling electrified laboratory’, to investigate where the talented men and women of HPD and Honda could go with electrification, hybrid technology and 100% renewable fuels.”
Power comes from a 2.2-liter HI23TT V6 engine, which is assisted by a pair of Borg Warner EFR7163 turbochargers, a McLaren Applied Technologies Tag 400i ECU, and an Empel MGU hybrid motor with Skeleton Supercapacitors.
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It runs on race fuel that Shell claims is 100 percent renewable, which will help the INDYCAR series clean up its act. All in, Honda says that the powertrain is capable of churning out more than 800 hp (597 kW/811 PS).
Helping to get that all on the road is a front suspension borrowed from the Acura NSX GT-3 Evo22 and a rear suspension borrowed from the Dallara IR-18 Indy car. A pair of 380 mm front brakes, and 355 mm Brembo brakes at the back (borrowed from the same sources) help slow the beast down.
The CR-V Hybrid Racer sits on 2Elle Engineering 20×10.5 front, and 20×11 rear two-piece alloy wheels. They are wrapped in Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 Ultra-High Performance summer tires.
From the beltline up, Honda says that this is a standard production 2023 CR-V Hybrid. That means that it even has a sunroof. The top is mounted on a chromoly steel tube chassis, and the lower half of the body is made of carbon composite.
A massive front splitter, louvered, flared fenders, and a massive rear wing, meanwhile, help the CR-V hybrid stay planted on the ground, while butterfly half-cut doors help the driver get in and out of the crossover.
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The project “became a ‘what if?’ of keep the CRV as is, but add some serious attitude with parts indicative of an Indy car,” said Dave Marek, American Honda’s executive creative director. “Then it was back to my childhood of never building model cars right out of the box, by manipulating areas with DTM or Japanese Super GT cars in mind. I basically mocked up the idea in 3D then our amazing Digital Modelers made it work.”
The wrap, meanwhile, is one-of-a-kind, and was designed by Lili Melikan, American Honda’s senior exterior designer. The automaker says it contains a number of easter eggs, including the ghostly images of the powertrain, and circuits that appear on the INDYCAR calendar.
“The graphics were inspired by the hybrid powertrain, radiating from Honda Hybrid Blue to Honda Racing Red to symbolize the duality of the drivetrain,” said Melikian. “While the ‘speed squirkles’ add a dynamic fun layer and showcase the playful side of Power of Dreams. Throughout the wrap, we have also sprinkled easter eggs like ghosted outlines of Honda-sponsored tracks and an overhead view of the engine that powers the Honda CR-V Hybrid Racer.”
Conceived and designed by Honda Performance Development, the team got help from Honda’s North American design division, and it was built at the Honda Development Center in Ohio by the Honda of America Racing Team.
The 2023 Honda CR-V Hybrid Racer will make its public debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, in Florida. The event is the NTT INDYCAR Series’ 2023 season opener, and runs from March 3-5. It will then make on-track demonstrations at a variety of INDYCAR events (and elsewhere) after that.
