It might be easy for a car enthusiast to overlook the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. With fewer than a dozen vehicles on display, their car collection is literally overshadowed by the adjacent Henry Ford Museum and its new Driving America and Racing in America exhibits. However, it's a hall of fame, not a car museum. The AHoF is dedicated not to cars but to the people who have made, sold, raced, serviced and written about those cars. With just about every significant automotive personage represented one way or another, even without a large number of vehicles, it's worth a visit if you have an interest in automotive history. The AHoF today honors automotive notables from around the world so seeing displays devoted to Armand Peugeot and Eiji Toyoda wasn't that surprising. The AHoF, though, didn't always have such an international flavor. It was only in 1989 that the Hall inducted its first Japanese auto executive, Soichiro Honda. Racing was near to Soichiro's heart so currently on display in the exhibit dedicated to him is the 1968 Honda S800 RSC race car that won its class in the 1968 12 Hours of Suzuka endurance race.
The S800 RSC finished an impressed third overall in that race, against cars with more than three times the S800 RSC's engine displacement, like the Toyota 2000GT. RSC stands for [Honda] Racing Service Center, Honda's racing enterprise in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The S800 RSC is a legendary car to early Honda enthusiasts. Among general car enthusiasts, due to the Gran Turismo video racing game and scale models, the S800 RSC is also one of the better known vintage Japanese race cars. The S800 RSC was most recently on display at Honda's own museum, the Honda Collection Hall at the Honda-owned Motegi race complex, and it's one of the oldest existing Honda race cars. The loan of the S800 RSC to the Automotive Hall of Fame shows that Honda Motor Co. must consider Soichiro Honda's induction and membership in the Hall to be a great honor for their founder and, by extension, for Honda Motor Co. The Honda S roadster started out as the S360 but when Honda was refused certification as a kei car because the certifying agency thought it was too sporting, they started increasing displacement of the DOHC inline four, eventually making the S800 with a 791cc engine putting out 72HP and an insane for a street car redline of 8000 RPM. To allow that kind of revving, Honda used a roller bearing crankshaft, just like in their motorcycles. To go racing, they increased displacement to 873cc for a boost in power to about 100 HP with a redline of 10,500 rpm. The embedded video of the S800 RSC being started up will give you an idea of what it sounds like. Click here to view the embedded video. Surprisingly, the Honda Racing Service Center did not base the racer on the more aero appearing S800 coupe, which has a fastback roofline. Instead Honda RSC raced a roadster with a removable hardtop. The S800 roadster is a tiny car, but when you're up close it doesn't look quite so small. At a fraction of an inch under 11 feet long, it's actually about a foot longer than an original Mini. The S800′s proportions are great, with a long hood and short deck. I see quite a bit of the original Lotus Elite in the little Honda roadster, particularly around the back of the car and in the fender lines. That's not too surprising, since Soichiro Honda himself owned one of only seven Lotus Elites imported into Japan. Japanese sports cars of the early 1960s were fairly derivative, often looking to British roadsters for inspiration, though the headlights make me think of Kaiser Frazers. On the other hand, the S800′s very nice looking racing wheels may have been copied by Campagnolo a decade or so later. More pics of the Honda S800 RSC can be seen at Cars In Depth. Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don't worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks – RJS
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com | |||
| |||
| |||
|
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Look What I Found! (In Dearborn, of All Places):Honda S800 RSC Racer
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Archive
-
▼
2012
(7297)
-
▼
March
(728)
- BMW i8 Concept Spyder Debuts: Same Plug-In Hybrid,...
- Sound and Fury
- New or Used: Replacement for Rusty Rocker’d Ride?
- Opel Labor Leader Threatens Mother Of All Plant Cl...
- This Week's Most-Read Stories
- Interest For EVs Fading
- Hammer Time Rewind: Hit Em Where They Ain’t!
- Speed, And The Cop Might Get A Free Pizza
- Pocket Rocket Lovers Of The World, Rejoice! Uhmm, ...
- Automotive Lawsuit History Unearthed, Junkyard Sty...
- Junkyard Find: 1987 Toyota Corolla FX16 GT-S
- 2012 New York Auto Show Preview
- FS: One-of-a-kind Mercedes “Benzamino”
- Most-Watched Video Reviews of the Week
- Car Collector’s Corner: This1939 Rolls Royce Wrait...
- Bye, bye, Miss Emm Kay Five.
- Volkswagen Reveals Alltrack Wagon Concept, Don’t G...
- How To: Mess With Your Buddies’ Cars
- 2012 GMC Yukon and Sierra Heritage Editions Announ...
- Volkswagen Alltrack Concept; A Diesel Wagon, But A...
- 2013 Lincoln MKZ Shows Off a Big Retractable Glass...
- 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee Tested: 470 HP o...
- GMC Celebrates 100 Years With Heritage Edition
- You Thought That Car Was Expensive? Wait Until You...
- 2013 Subaru Legacy Quietly Drops 2.5GT Model
- 2012 New York Auto Show: What to Expect
- Dodge’s Facebook Campaign For SRT Viper Backfires
- Boo, Hiss: Daimler And BYD Launch Denza Brand
- Cars.com Buzz Index: March 2012
- Sergio Marchionne Confirms Third Fiat Model By 201...
- Fiat Brazil: Uno Kicks Gol Off Top Spot. Films At ...
- 2014 Fisker Nina Spied Nearly Completely Uncovered
- Cars.com News Briefs: March 30, 2012
- What Is The Model T Of Our Time?
- SRT Reveals one More Viper Pic
- Recall Alert: 2002-04 Honda CR-V, 2003 Honda Pilot
- LeMons Good/Bad Idea of the Week: Two-Stroke Miata!
- Junkyard Find: 1975 Mercury Comet Sedan
- Modern Marvels: IG Metall Hires Bob King As Opel B...
- Young People Drive Less, Surf More
- Cars.com Family Reviews the 2012 Volkswagen Passat...
- Cadillac XTS' Seat Buzzes for Danger
- Car Collector’s Corner:1948 Plymouth Convertible w...
- SRT Previews 2013 Viper’s Interior on Facebook [Ne...
- Mini Baker Street, Bayswater, and Highgate Special...
- 2013 Volkswagen CC First Drive: New Nose, Same Goo...
- Shake, Rattle, and Squeak: Long-Term 2011 Mini Coo...
- Chrysler Dealers Who Regained Their Franchises Bac...
- Mitt Romney Slammed for Joke Referencing Plant Clo...
- What Car Would You Buy if You Won Mega Millions?
- Edmunds Sees SAARing March Sales
- New Ram Truck Teased Before Debut, We Expect Refre...
- You Won’t Need A License To Drive This Renaut
- 2013 Subaru Legacy at the 2012 New York Internatio...
- Mercedes Will Cut Platforms In Half
- Capsule Review: 2012 Subaru Impreza Sport 5-Door
- Cars.com News Briefs: March 29, 2012
- 2013 Subaru Outback at the 2012 New York Auto Show
- Introducing The 2014 Mercedes C Class
- Toyota Bumping Up RAV4 Production By 50,000 Units ...
- Americans Paying Off Car Loans Before Mortgage, Cr...
- New C/D YouTube Channel to Launch May 1; Here’s Ou...
- Honda Fit. Officially Hecho En Mexico
- OnStar's Family Link Helps Parents Keep Tabs on Te...
- Junkyard Find: 1975 Ford Maverick
- PSA And Toyota Open Tie-Up Season
- Opel Supervisory Board Meets, Decides Nothing. Eis...
- Would You Buy It? 2013 Ford B-Max
- 2012 Audi Q5: Car Seat Check
- Vellum Venom: 2012 BMW 328i Sedan
- 2013 Chevrolet Traverse: Hard Candy Shell, Soft Go...
- 2013 Acura RDX First Drive: A More-Mature Compact ...
- 25 Cars Worth Waiting For: The Choicest Rides Arri...
- Italy Seizes Gaddafi’s Stake In Fiat
- EXCLUSIVE: Jost Capito, Head of SVT and Performanc...
- Lotus Vehicle Development on Temporary Hold, Long-...
- European Patent Filing Reveals Possible Chevrolet-...
- 2013 Lexus ES Confirmed for NYC, Previewed in Phot...
- Cadillac Previews Driver-Assistance Systems for XT...
- Name That Exhaust Note, Episode 129
- 2013 Chevrolet Traverse at 2012 New York Auto Show
- Ford Explorer Sport Gets 3.5L Ecoboost
- 2013 Ford Explorer Sport: First Look
- 2013 Ford Explorer Sport: The Closest Thing to an ...
- Fiat’s Future In America And Elsewhere: A Counterp...
- Ontario Cutting Electric Vehicle Subsidies, $43 Mi...
- GM Issues Media Black-Out For Ellesmere Port
- Renault Opens Import Company In Allegedly Closed M...
- Hammer Time: Buy! Buy Buy!
- Generation Why: Jeep’s Old Man Truck, Pinterest An...
- 2012 Jaguar XFR Video
- 2013 Maserati Quattroporte Spied: Maserati’s Next ...
- Cars.com News Briefs: March 28, 2012
- New Lexus ES at New York Auto Show
- Buick Encore May Get Chevrolet Variant
- New Mitsubishi Outlander Sport at New York Auto Show
- UAW’s Bob King Will Fire 7,000, Close Two GM Plants
- Azure Dynamics Files For Bankruptcy, Suspends Ford...
- Junkyard Find: 1970 Toyota Corona Sedan
- Car Collector’s Corner:1966 Coronet 426 Hemi 2 Doo...
-
▼
March
(728)
No comments:
Post a Comment