From Laguna Seca To London: De Ferran’s 2009 Race Winning Acura
After news last week of the two remaining HPD ARX 04B’s up for sale in the UK, rather surprisingly there’s another US-campaigned Acura/HPD on the market on this side of the pond.
This magnificent beast, a 2009 Acura ARX 02a LMP1 car, was raced by de Ferran Motorsport in the 2009 American Le Mans Series season. The car would take no fewer than five wins, but a retirement in the opening round would see the team fall just short of the title which went to the sister car run by Highcroft Racing.
Campaigned for the full season by Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud with Scott Dixon joining for the enduros, the car took wins at Long Beach, Miller Motorsport Park, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, and in its, and de Ferran’s final race at Laguna Seca.
Dixon would also score a famous pole position at Sebring on the car’s race debut against opposition from both the Audi and Peugeot factory diesel LMP1s!
One of only two complete cars built, this car is chassis #01 and raced for just a single season. This Acura ARX-02a LMP1 gave Indy 500 winner and two-time CART World Series Champion Gil de Ferran his final race victory in competition and would be an exciting prospect for modern historic racing.
Jointly developed by Wirth Research and Honda Performance Development, the ARX-02a was powered by a 4 litre non-turbo petrol V8.
The design was typically bold, and sprung a surprise on the competition when the first testing photographs revealed one of its secrets. The car adopted full-size rear tyres all round, the theory promising to deliver superior mechanical grip. That theory was sound with the tyres up to temperature but the cars struggled on colder rubber with the rears designed and constructed for a powered axle.
The chassis was also a real lightweight, allowing the teams to utilise strategically placed ballast to shift weight distribution forward.
The final race at Laguna Seca saw the car presented in a all-white tribute livery to Jim Hall’s iconic Chapparals, part of the commemoration of de Ferran’s retirement from driving. As noted above the #66 car would go on to take the win!
The car has been preserved untouched since that race, and is now for sale at Gregor Fisken’s central London Mews showroom where Gil de Ferran himself recently popped by for a reunion with his last race car!
Fiskens can be contacted on +44 (0)20 7584 3503 | EMAIL: cars@fiskens.com
Pics Martin Spetz, Robin Thompson and Charlie Brennink Meyer
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