IndyCar should have made the switch from the current 2.2-liter V6 twin-turbo engine to a 2.4-liter V6 twin-turbo hybrid for 2024. The series will continue with the tried-and-tested 2.2 for the foreseeable future. It will get hybrid assistance in 2024, though, because Honda and Chevy are fully committed to electrified performance.
The “CR-V Hybrid Racer” in the featured clip develops 800-odd horsepower from the IndyCar-spec engine and an Empel-supplied electric motor generator unit. A sort of preview for the 2024 powertrain, this crossover would have been closer to the real thing had Honda used the IndyCar energy recovery system developed by Mahle.
The German company’s hybrid package comprises a self-contained motor generator unit and supercapacitor. The CR-V Hybrid Racer also packs a supercapacitor, although supplied by Estonia-based Skeleton Technologies. A six-speed Xtrac transmission is also featured, joined by Mega-Line Assisted shift paddles.
Codenamed HI23TT, the 2.2-liter V6 twin-turbo engine is controlled by a McLaren Applied Technologies Tag 400i control unit. The turbos are BorgWarner EFR7163 units, and the six-cylinder lump has been designed to take 100-percent renewable race fuel supplied by Shell.
Drive-by-wire controlled port throttle also needs to be mentioned, along with some CR-V Hybrid body panels from the beltline up. Based on a chromoly tube frame chassis rather than the unibody of the series-production sport utility vehicle, the CR-V Hybrid Racer further sports bone-stock windows, carbon-fiber flared fenders, half-cut butterfly doors, and clamshell-style rear bodywork.
A midship racing car, as opposed to the front-engine setup of the production model, the CR-V Hybrid Racer, features a custom radiator adapted from the Dallara IR-18. Gifted with a humongous rear wing and a front splitter to match, the one-off concept integrates Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 front suspension and Dallara IR-18 rear suspension. It also stops on a dime thanks to 380- and 355-millimeter brake discs supplied by Brembo.
Pictured on Firehawk Indy 500 high-performance rubber boots from Firestone, which measure 285/35 by 20 inches fore and 305/35 by 20 inches aft, the CR-V Hybrid Racer wouldn’t be complete without a set of cool wheels. Said wheels come from 2Elle Engineering in the guise of 20- by 10.5-inch and 20- by 11-inch alloys.
Appropriately nicknamed “The Beast” by the people who designed and built it, the CR-V Hybrid Racer was built specifically to create awareness around the hybrid powertrain coming to IndyCar in 2024. It will be revealed in the flesh during the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida on March 3rd.
Honda will also use this 800-plus-horsepower machine for additional displays and on-track demonstrations, ranging from April’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to September’s season-concluding Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. No fewer than 17 races make up the 2023 season of America’s premier open-wheel racing series.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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