00:03What does the world's most exciting Honda CR-V look like, perform like?
00:07How do we really make hybrid fun, really fun?
00:10We decided to create something wild, something completely from the ground up,
00:14something so cool it would shock and surprise people.
00:16It can show what Honda can do when there's no rule book.
00:27The Honda CR-V Hybrid Racer is a rolling laboratory for Honda Performance Development.
00:33A testbed, conceived and built completely in-house by Honda designers and engineers
00:39for the continued development of electrification, hybrid electric technology and 100% renewable fuels.
00:46This project is also about fun, the fun of imagining what if,
00:53taking on the challenge and learning along the way and ultimately sharing that fun with our customers.
01:02During the development we nicknamed it the Beast because the Honda CR-V Hybrid Racer
01:06is a fun engineering project that showcases the extreme power and performance capability
01:11of electrified powertrains.
01:13And it is a combination of a CR-V hybrid production car that underneath it all is an IndyCar powertrain
01:20with a new hybrid system.
01:22It was conceived and designed by the engineers at Honda Performance Development in California
01:27and the designers from the Automotive Design Division of American Honda.
01:31Then we built it at the Honda Automotive Development Center in Ohio by Honda of America Racing Team.
01:39CR-V Hybrid Racer treats race fans and enthusiasts to a sneak preview of similar hybrid power unit technology
01:47that will officially debut in the NTT IndyCar series in 2024.
01:53We wanted to focus our efforts on the new hybrid technology being used in this car.
01:58So we took a lot of the pieces for it from other projects that HPD has done.
02:03So trying to integrate all of them and getting them to work together,
02:06taking the engine, the transmission, the rear suspension from an IndyCar,
02:10along with front suspension and steering from an NSX GT3 was quite a challenge.
02:17We really wanted the car to use the IndyCar powertrain basically as it is in an IndyCar race that you
02:23can go to on any given weekend.
02:26But look, clearly recognizable as a CR-V, although a really wild CR-V.
02:32So we drew inspiration from the DTM cars or the Group B cars in the 80s or 90s
02:36that were wild interpretations of the road-going versions of those cars.
02:41We wanted to be clearly recognizable as a CR-V hybrid racing.
02:51For the exterior design of the wrap, I wanted to design something really eye-catching,
02:56but I wanted to not cover up the interesting carbon fiber details.
03:01We wanted to highlight the dual drivetrain.
03:04So the design has a gradation going from front to back
03:09and it's Honda hybrid blue in the front and Honda racing red in the rear.
03:14Working with HPD, they also wanted to bring a lot of their own ideas to the table.
03:19So we collaborated and we incorporated a lot of Easter eggs into the design.
03:24One of the main ones is having an image of the IndyCar engine on the top of the vehicle, which
03:30is really cool.
03:31When the rear hatch opens up, you can actually see an image of the engine as well as look into
03:36the car and see the engine itself.
03:38And then we also scattered images of the Honda-sponsored IndyCar circuits all throughout the car as little Easter eggs.
03:57Honda of America Race Team is what we call HART.
04:00It's an all-volunteer associate team that we have here for the members of HDMA, Honda Development and Manufacturing of
04:08America.
04:09This race team is super unique because it is all volunteer-based. Nobody's paid to be on the team.
04:14Any time that they're spending working on HART is done late at night after core business hours or during the
04:20weekends.
04:21We had several members from the HART team come together and spend a lot of their weekends, their late nights,
04:27helping to get this car put together.
04:28And really, it started from just a small roll cage that held the humans inside of the beast.
04:35That was the one part that was delivered to us.
04:37But after that, we supported the HP members to build up the rest of the vehicle from the ground up.
04:45I have a passion for kind of learning new skills and being part of, you know, very unique projects like
04:51this.
04:51In my day job, I'm a steering system test engineer.
04:54This project gave me the opportunity to kind of expand my horizons and grow in different areas such as 3D
05:00modeling and part design.
05:02I knew this project was really going to happen when HPD said that they were going to send us an
05:07IndyCar engine.
05:08That was a really cool moment and we've kind of always wanted to be part of an IndyCar-based project.
05:14One of our big issues was the rear pivoting portion of the body, the clamshell.
05:19That's how it's attached to the tube chassis itself.
05:22That's real CR-V bodywork, so sheet metal, pillars, all of that.
05:29That uniqueness of having those CR-V parts actually created a lot of the difficulty
05:34because it's really, really hard then to make it look correct and create all those brackets to hold that frame
05:40on top of the roll cage.
05:42In the original design, that large rear pivoting frame section was supposed to hinge at the front upper edge.
05:49We ended up coming up with a reverse design that pivots from the lower rear section.
05:54The hardest part was just getting all the components to work together.
05:58Not easy when you're using an engine, transmission, rear suspension from an IndyCar and the front suspension and steering from
06:05an NSX GT3.
06:08The radiator is from the Dallara IR-18 IndyCar, which is mounted up front.
06:13For the right stance, it's Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 ultra high performance summer tires are on custom 20 inch wheels.
06:23Since it weighs about twice as much as an IndyCar, we had to get the brakes right, so we worked
06:29closely with Brembo.
06:30The fronts are from the NSX GT3 and the rears are custom.
06:34The hybrid electric system functions similarly to IndyCar's current push to pass system.
06:41Although instead of additional boost from the turbos, the hybrid electric system adds the extra power.
06:53When I see the hybrid racer driving around on the track, there was a lot of pride that I felt
06:58that, you know, we have all been part of it.
07:02You know, it was a lot of collaboration, a lot of late nights.
07:05And to see that kind of culminate in this very unique car kind of racing around and it sounded so
07:13awesome.
07:15It'll launch completely electric and there's virtually no sound or that slight whining sound.
07:20And then all of a sudden it erupts.
07:28It's incredibly loud and all that power.
07:31And then on top of that, you see this CR-V body shape running around the track and it sounds
07:35like an IndyCar or it sounds like a super advanced IndyCar.
07:38It's just this crazy cognitive dissonance where you see something and you hear something and it's like it's all completely
07:45new.
07:46And so it's a pretty awe-inspiring experience to see it.
07:48The Beast is built to thrill the passenger.
07:50It's a two-seater and we're giving fans track rides at many of the IndyCar events this season.
07:54So people can experience what a real race car feels like.
07:57So they can get a taste of that incredible speed and performance.
07:59It's a pretty intense experience.
08:02There are always big smiles.
08:04Big smiles.
08:06As a one-off special project, the CR-V Hybrid Racer has been a real passion project for our HPD
08:13team
08:13and everyone else at Honda involved with its design, engineering and construction.
08:18It is our rolling laboratory to investigate where the talented men and women of HPD and Honda can go with
08:28electrification, hybrid technology and 100% renewable fuels.
08:33What we learn from this project will benefit all of Honda's electrified racing, strengthening the connection between HPD, the NTT
08:44IndyCar series and Honda passenger vehicles.
08:47It is also a heck of a lot of fun.
08:50The Beast epitomizes Honda's fun-to-drive ethos, showcases electrification and just rocks our car-culture-routes and racing heritage.
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