Gregson Mathe
This one hurts.
Last month there were reports that while developing the new NSX, Honda (Acura here in the states) bought a 911 GT3 RS as a car to be a baseline while testing the brand new NSX. When Porsche found out about it, they wrote “good luck Honda, see you on the other side” on the inside of the engine cover. Classy, a big of gamesmanship, and fun all at once. Cool move by Porsche.
Honda, however, wasn’t as kind with another one of their test cars and it pains me to even report it.
Honda didn’t just buy a Porsche 911 GT3 when testing and developing the new NSX but also armed itself with the mid-engined supercar benchmark, the Ferrari 458 Italia.
Despite being replaced by the 488 GTB, the 458 Italia remained at the top of the industry for almost six years. Even though the NSX is vastly different from the Italian, Acura rightfully thought it could learn some valuable lessons with the car.
While we would have loved to see the 458 used being sold or auctioned off, according to an Autocar report, Acura engineers actually cut the car up at the conclusion of the NSX’s development to analyze its advanced aluminum construction, something Ferrari lives by.
Sadly, the remains of the 458 weren’t preserved and according to a company insider, were dumped in trash cans at the Japanese firm’s R&D facility.
WHY!? WHY HONDA!? Why dismantle it? To what point and purpose does that accompish anything? Let’s hope Honda comes to their senses and doesn’t dismantle the other car in the trifecta of awesome that I’m now near 100% positive they had there, the McLaren 650s. So help me god if they took apart a McLaren…
(Source: Carscoops)
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