Plain clothes for supercar tester

Forget the cut and shut S2000 bodywork, things are not what they seem. Far from being a new version of Honda's high-revving 2.0-litre sportscar, the car photographed here is the first glimpse of an all-new supercar from the Big H.

Captured on the sinuous curves of Germany's Nurburgring by The Carsales' Network's spymeister, Carparazzi, this is a test mule of the car that will replace Honda's mid-engined NSX flagship.

As can be clearly seen by comparing the spyshots with the standard S2000 also shown hereabouts, the Nurburgring 'mule' is both longer and wider than the svelte roadster. And check out those large bore twin exhausts – no four-cylinder, even one that revs beyond 8000rpm, needs drain pipes like that!

Observers noted the offbeat warble of the car's large-capacity engine, adding weight to the rumours the new car will feature a V10. Clear too from the orientation of the prototype and the significant bonnet bulge, is that the car is a (relatively) conventional front-engined offering.

Honda gave a glimpse at what the NSX replacement might look like at last January's Detroit show when it debuted the Advanced Sports Car Concept under its US-focussed Acura brand (more here).

A front-engined, V10-powered two-seater featuring a rear-drive-biased version of the Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system debuted in Honda's Legend exec saloon, the ASCC didn't exactly draw rave reviews. This lead to speculation that Honda had gone back to the drawing board -- at least in terms of styling. Now, the appearance of the test mule circulating at pace on the Nurburgring could mean the car is closer to production than was first thought.

With Lexus expected to debut a two-seater 400kW-plus sports flagship for 2008 and Nissan's GTR to be unveiled at Tokyo Motor Show later this year, what price Honda is now fast tracking the new car?

-- with Carparazzi

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