How Acura created the ARX-06 that won the 24 Hours of Daytona race.
The Acura ARX-06 won the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2023, the first IMSA victory of the LMDh prototype era. Prior to the race weekend, Acura released a documentary showing how the car was designed.1]
Named GTP by IMSA, the LMDh is a nod to the prototype glory of the 1980s, with a hybrid powertrain and certified supplier s chassis, but gives manufacturers freedom in styling and in the choice of internal combustion engines to be combined with hybrid components
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Utilizing relatively open design rules, the styling of the ARX-06 was done by Acura Design Studios in Los Angeles. As such, the designers started with a basic chassis from Oreca, the same supplier used for the current ARX-05 DPi prototype, but with a look that is uniquely Acura.
Acura used a dedicated 2.4-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine from Honda Performance Development, a Bosch motor-generator unit, a battery pack from Williams Advanced Engineering, an Extrac six-speed sequential gearbox, and other hybrid hardware as required by the aforementioned regulations.
The rules specify a maximum output of 670 hp, of which between 40 and 67 hp are electric. This hybrid system also allows for all-electric driving at low speeds, such as when exiting the pits or driving to and from the garage, which is novel for IMSA racing.
Acura has won multiple IMSA championships in the old DPi format, but as team boss Wayne Taylor states in the documentary, the ARX-06 is a clean sheet design. Therefore, his Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing, the other team that will field the ARX-06 for the 2023 IMSA season, had to work closely together to develop the car before it hit the track.
That development work paid off at Daytona, where the Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, number 60, driven by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Haro Castroneves, and Simon Pagenaud, took pole and the win. The number 10 ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing, driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Luis Delletraz, Brendon Hartley, and Ricky Taylor, finished 4.1 seconds ahead of its sibling. Watch the full documentary to find out how this race winner came to be.
