Type Racing company Area served Worldwide Founded 1993 | Industry Sports Car Racing Website hpd.honda.com | |
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Headquarters Santa Clarita, California Products Race cars, racing motors, racing products Parent organization American Honda Motor Company | ||
Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD) is a subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co. which was established in 1993 and is based in Santa Clarita, California. It is the technical operations center for Honda's American motorsports programs and is involved in the design and development of race engines and chassis for auto racing series such as the IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series (ALMS), Le Mans Series (LMS), FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Super GT.
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In 2006, Honda through its Acura brand, announced their plans to develop a Le Mans Prototype program for the ALMS, competing in the LMP2 class for the initial year of competition in 2007. The new car, called Acura ARX-01a, was a homologated development of chassis from Courage with a new 3.4 liter V8, the maximum size allowed by the rules being developed by HPD. This was the first V8 ever branded as an Acura as well as the first racing Honda engine built entirely outside Japan. Elements of the Acura V8, dubbed the AL7R, share similar architecture with the Honda engine used in the Indy Racing League although none of the parts are interchangeable. In 2010 Honda dropped the Acura name in favour of HPD and the car is now known as the HPD ARX-01.
In 2007, HPD supplies Vemac RD320R and Vemac RD408R for GT300 cars in Super GT Series with designation C32B.
For the 2012 racing season HPD has decided to forego having a works team and instead focus on being a chassis and engine provider. 2012 will also see the HPD return to the premier class of racing, LMP1, in the Le Mans and FIA World Endurance Championship series.
For 2017, HPD will leave the Daytona Prototypes class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, as the Acura NSX will compete at the IMSA Sports Car Championship and Pirelli World Challenge with technical support from HPD.