Acura Brings Rad to the Rolex Reunion

 by Michael Satterfield

Acura will be showcasing the brand's first Acura Motorsports prototype race cars during the 2019 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca. The cars will include the Radwood era 1991-93 IMSA championship-winning, first-generation Comptech Spice Acura GTP Lights prototype, and other significant Acura race cars.

Acura entered the IMSA Camel GT Championship in 1991 with Comptech fielding a single Spice Engineering Acura, powered by a race-prepared version of the 3.0-liter Acura NSX engine that produced 425 hp, with Parker Johnstone as the primary driver.  The Acura proved itself to be incredibly capable winning the Camel Lights class in its debut at the 1991 24 Hours of Daytona. Acura, Comptech, and Johnstone would go on to claim IMSA Camel Lights victories in eight of the 14 races that season, winning the first of three successive IMSA Camel Lights Manufacturers' and Drivers' championship for Acura and Johnstone.

"Our outstanding success in IMSA in the 1990s paved the way toward establishing Acura as a performance brand and has served as a proof point for Precision Crafted Performance," said Jon Ikeda, Acura vice president, and brand officer.  "Acura was very much a 'new kid on the block' when we began endurance sports car racing and it will be a genuine thrill to watch these historic first-generation cars on track with our contemporary race machines."

Eight more victories in 1992 included a repeat win at Daytona – with future IndyCar Champion Jimmy Vasser joining Johnstone and Cameron in the driver lineup – while Acura claimed 10 wins in 11 races to complete an incredible three-season run of IMSA Camel Lights titles in 1993. With the collapse of sportscar racing in the early '90s, Comptech and Acura/Honda shifted their focus to Indycar