Is the Acura Integra Type S HRC Just a Tease or a Preview of Things to Come? We Take Our First Ride to Find Out
Acura sent us out for a ride on the Grand Prix of Long Beach racetrack in its hot new tuned Integra.
For a luxury brand on the upswing, a credible professional racing program and performance subbrand seems to be a key for success. Acura has long had the racing aspect down, participating in IMSA racing soon after the brand’s launch in 1991 and dabbling in GT and Le Mans racing ever since. But its road going sports car efforts have been patchy at best. The rebirth of the Type S subbrand on the 2021 TLX and the eventual introduction of the 2024 Integra Type S served as a jumping-off point for Acura’s renewed efforts. But what next? The Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype we just rode in around the Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit might provide a big clue.
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What Is the Integra Type S HRC Prototype?
The key to that answer is in the letters “HRC.” Short for Honda Racing Corporation, it’s the Honda subsidy formerly known as Honda Performance Development (HPD), which absorbed Acura’s racing program 15 years ago. HRC is responsible for building engines and chassis for everything from IndyCar and Le Mans machines to production-based sports car racing series. Its expertise in the latter led to it and Acura turning a run of the mill Integra Type S into the Indy yellow pearl HRC Prototype.
HRC’s upgrades focused on turning the Integra Type S into a track toy. Under the hood, the stock 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 gets a larger intercooler, upgraded oil coolers, and a catback exhaust system to reduce weight, improve cooling, and add a smidge of extra grunt on top of the stock Integra Type S’ 320 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque output (the six-speed manual is unchanged). At each of the car’s corners, Acura yanked out the stock version’s electronic adaptive suspension in favor of manually adjustable coilover shocks and springs, replaced the factory Brembo brakes with larger, lighter hardware, and swapped in tacky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires on some lightweight forged 19-inch wheels.
Cosmetically, a carbon-fiber hood and front bumper with a splitter add venting to improve engine bay cooling, while new skirts along the Integra’s sides and a new adjustable pedestal spoiler are said to improve aerodynamics. The final changes include pulling out the rear seat and replacing it with a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach–style carbon-fiber tub, replacing the rear door cards with carbon-fiber blanks, adding a rear structural cross brace for added stiffness, and replacing the front seats with fixed carbon-fiber bucket seats. Acura claims HRC’s changes pull 200 pounds out of the 3,200-pound car.
Riding Along in the Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype
Even though Acura isn’t ready to let any journalists behind the wheel of the Integra Type S HRC Prototype, it was happy to let us go for a ride along the Grand Prix of Long Beach course, an 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit, with Formula Drift champion Dai Yoshihara behind the wheel.
We plopped down into the Integra HRC’s surprisingly comfortable buckets, strapped ourselves in with the Indy yellow three-point seat belt (a nice touch), and Yoshihara set off onto the temporary beachfront racetrack.
The narrow city streets—with sidewalks and curbs replaced by Jersey barriers and high chain-link fences—lend to the perception of the Integra HRC feeling quicker than the stock Type S as Yoshihara worked the six-speed through its gears, the freer-breathing turbo-four’s exhaust note echoing through the manmade cabin. Yoshihara, however, was skeptical we were feeling any real net power benefit and said he couldn’t feel any difference in power delivery versus a stock Integra Type S. We suspect the underhood modifications would prove their worth from a heat-management perspective on a prolonged track day, considering the heat-soak issues some track-rat Integra Type S and Honda Civic Type R owners have reported.
Where the differences show themselves is under braking and while cornering. Yoshihara said the Integra’s upgraded six-piston, 15-inch front and two-piece rear brakes had strong, progressive bite that gave him great confidence on the new-to-him track. Reading between the lines, it sounded and felt to us that the upgraded brakes might be a touch aggressive in the day-to-day.
Although it’s difficult to improve on the already quite sporty Integra Type S, the HRC’s upgraded suspension also felt like a great match for the car. The Acura’s new dampers manage the delicate balance of giving the car a planted feel yet still allowing for compliance on bumps and curbing. There was a touch of roll and some slip from the tires as Yoshihara wound through Long Beach’s bends, yet the car appeared as if it was talking to him through the wheel, telling him exactly where it was in its friction circle.
And just like that, our short taste of the Integra Type S HRC Prototype and the Long Beach GP’s racecourse was over as Formula Drift took over for the rest of the day.
Will Acura Build the Integra Type S HRC?
Acura officially says discussions about bringing the Integra Type S HRC Prototype into production are ongoing. We think there are decent odds the HRC-ified Integra will make its way into production in one form or another for a couple reasons.
For starters, HRC announced at last year’s SEMA show that it would launch a performance parts line, so we suspect many of the Integra Type S HRC’s upgrades will be available from Honda and Acura dealers late this year. Then there’s the fact Acura has demonstrated an appetite for bringing limited-run models, such as its PMC edition cars, into production. With small production runs (the TLX Type S PMC Edition was limited to just 100 units per color, for instance) and a strong desire to build on its racing heritage, it's easy to imagine the Integra Type S HRC making it to customers in small batches. The wildcard in this is of course Washington; President Trump’s tariffs will increase costs both for Acura and its Ohio-built Integra Type S, as well as customers. With Integra Type S pricing starting at $54,095, Acura may not have a ton of wiggle room before it prices a Type S HRC out of the market.
Acura provided no official timeline on when it will decide whether or not to move forward with the Integra Type S HRC, but regardless, we’re sure this won’t be the last we hear from Acura and HRC.
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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