Honda's LMP2 Prototype Withdrawn From 2015 Pikes Peak Hill Climb

by Cameron Aubernon

June 26th, 2015 2:00 PM

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honda s lmp2 prototype withdrawn from 2015 pikes peak hill climb

Honda’s HPD ARX-04b LMP2 prototype set to climb Pikes Peak this weekend has withdrawn from the annual event.

The ARX’s withdrawal comes after a turbocharger failure created extensive damage to the prototype’s engine, GTSpirit reports, preventing it and IndyCar driver Justin Wilson from practicing Tuesday and Wednesday. As the practice sessions were necessary in order to compete, there was no other option but to pull out of this year’s field.

According to HPD CEO Art St. Cyr, entering the ARX was done as “an exploratory exercise” meant to gather information for further improvements to the prototype’s V6 engine and chassis, a goal achieved in spite of the mechanical failures experienced. St. Cyr aims to return to Pikes Peak in 2016 with the ARX.

#Honda #HondaPerformanceDevelopment #HPDARX-04b #June2015 #PikesPeakInternationalHillClimb

Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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4 comments

Tjh8402 on Jun 26, 2015

I wish they would go and find one of the recent LMP1 spec HPD's. Would love to see what sort of time that would turn in. Might suffer a bit though from having a normally aspirated engine.

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Wmba on Jun 26, 2015

Well, the LMP2 version of this car (ARC-04b) has already been shelved this year as being completely uncompetitive, and replaced by Ligiers. What with the abject failure of Honda's F1 engine in the Mclaren this year, Honda's sports program is in an utter mess. So turboing the 3.5 road engine for Pikes Peak instead of keeping the homologated race 2.8l engine was a silly choice. Surprise. What did they learn? How to write untrue PR fluff, that's what.

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- Tjh8402 on Jun 26, 2015
  
  @WMBA- the failure of the ARC-04b has been pretty depressing. After some good competitive cars the past few years, its a bit of a head scratcher how they are so uncompetitive this year. If Andretti had seriously been considering an effort with the cars, I'm sure they are breathing a sigh of relief that they didn't pursue it. As far as the 3.5 v6tt goes, Honda uses a motor of that specifications in both the Pirelli World Challenge and in the so far still born Daytona Prototype (same engine?). In either case, the motor is designed to last far longer than the Pikes Peak run, so durability shouldn't be an issue. My guess is that they felt the 2.8 didn't have enough power (the rumors were that it didn't have much more than 450-500 hp to give in LMP2 car), so I'm guessing they wanted the 3.5's extra 50-150 hp (I'm guessing that it ranges between 550-650 hp in PWC or DP spec).
  
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RideHeight on Jun 26, 2015

Like those of us who buy Hondas care about racing. That's a whole lot of not caring about racing; even more now with the HR-V.

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