Acura's Integra 40 Racer Is a Celebration of Japanese-American Motorsport History
tags:Turning 40 is typically associated with being over the hill or starting a midlife crisis. Acura, Honda's North American sport-slash-luxury brand, recently celebrated that milestone, but instead of treating its age as bittersweet, the automaker looked back at its four decades of impact in North America and decided to celebrate in a youthful, enthusiast-driven way by leaning into its history to create a tribute to its first race car.
People who grew up around the turn of the century but didn't care for the JDM craze won't fully understand the lightweight 113-hp, steel-and-aluminum birthday cake Acura built to celebrate 40 years of motor racing and import-scene domination. But I do. Acura could have chosen a vastly more normal way to celebrate the big four-oh, like trotting out a museum-quality Legend, the nameplate that announced Acura to the world. But instead of focusing on something sensible, Acura pivoted to the one nameplate that meant the most to the brand and its legions of enthusiast fans over the past 40 years: Integra.
Overlapping Histories
Being just two years old when the 1987 Integra RS was born, I'm about the same age as Acura, and it's a company I've followed closely for many years, eventually becoming the owner of a 1998 Integra GS-R that's still with me today. I grew up interested in the '90s import-car scene, drooling over famous models such as the Civic Type R, the Skyline GT-R, the Evo, the Silvia, the Supra, and others. I watched all the Best Motoring videos, obsessed with Keiichi Tsuchiya's effortless drifts, and I binged as much Initial D as I could get my hands on. I subscribed to such hallowed magazine titles as Import Tuner, Super Street, Turbo, and—of course—Car and Driver. When I was told about Acura's birthday present, it was only natural that I'd leap at the opportunity to tell you all about it.
Shortly after Acura entered the North American market, the Integra made its way to the racing world and secured back-to-back IMSA International Sedan Series championships in 1987 and '88. The Integra would continue racing, dominating the SCCA World Challenge Touring Car Championship from 1997 to 2002 under the RealTime Racing nameplate. Over the next four decades, Acura would continue to feed the motorsports machine, even going so far as to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
But it's that original late-'80s Integra that would form the inspiration for Acura's new (and super rad) Integra 40 Racer.
What's Old Is New Again
My '98 GS-R is now a track car and has been for 20 years, but it's clear I'm feeling my age a bit more than Acura is: Over time, I stripped it down to the bare essentials, but in recent years, I've put some interior panels back in and installed a quieter exhaust.
By comparison, the Integra 40 Racer has no desire to lower its tone. I slid into the racing bucket, strapped into the five-point OMP harness, pressed the Honed Developments clutch pedal, turned an honest-to-goodness physical key, and the D16A1 engine barked to life. It's loud and vibrates at idle as only a race car would—the only interior luxury left was a small hump of padding on the seat.
This '87 Integra is as analog as it gets. The manual steering rack required above-average effort to turn, but it's still surprisingly light for lacking any kind of assist. The throttle activates via a good old-fashioned cable. Honed Developments' brake-booster delete kit means the stoppers have no vacuum assist. Anti-lock braking? ABS-olutely not. Stepping into the Integra 40 Racer from any other modern vehicle provides an incredibly refreshing unassisted experience.
What impressed me most, however, was the attention to period detail. The only true bit of modernity I saw was a coil-on-plug ignition upgrade, which replaced the original distributor system. It would've been easy for Acura to pull out more OEM parts for this build, but instead, the automaker relied on racing and tuning brands that enthusiasts like me have grown to use and trust. It's clear Acura knows just how much its history means to some people.
Driving the Past
Even though the Integra 40 Racer is built to battle against curbs and competitors, we had neither the time nor the resources to take it out to a track. Instead, I headed to Ol' Reliable: our 10Best evaluation loop. A meandering mix of straightaways and tight curves that has long served to shake down cars of all shapes and sizes. In fact, an Integra won a 10Best trophy in 1987.
If you've ever spent time in a gutted-interior car, with an exhaust unrestricted by a catalytic converter and muffler, you know that the highway-cruising experience isn't the same as what you'd find in a modern Acura. And yes, it was awfully loud. Stiff too: The Integra 40 Racer's TEIN aftermarket suspension provided neutral handling and plenty of composure at the obvious expense of ride quality.
In the curves, the Acura stuck firmly to the road, as we put some heat into the Yokohama ADVAN A050 tires wrapped over adorable 14-inch Mugen wheels. A bit more rear-end rotation in the suspension tuning would've been nice, but it's plenty fun to drive. While a limited-slip differential didn't appear in Acuras until the 1997 Integra Type R, the Integra 40 Racer is fitted with a Torsen mechanical unit, furthering its corner-carving capability. With a little help from Synchrotech, another trusted aftermarket name, the Teg's shifts felt smooth and direct, which you can't say about many transmissions from 1987.
The dual-cam D-series 1.6-liter inline-four doesn't make a lot of power (in fact, its 155 ponies are less than the sum of the front-mounted electric motor in Corvette ZR1X), but it doesn't need to. With a curb weight of "barely any," I stayed flat on the throttle for what seemed like an eternity, entering corners at speeds that felt ludicrous but were still within the boundaries of sanity—and local traffic laws.
The Past, the Present, and the Future
The Integra 40 Racer arrived at our Ann Arbor headquarters at nearly the same moment another Acura reached a 40-themed milestone: Our long-term 2024 Integra Type S, which recently completed its 40,000-mile evaluation. We wanted to get these two bookends of Acura's history together to see just how far the automaker (and the Integra) has come. It was a long shot, but Acura agreed, and the Integra 40 Racer arrived shortly thereafter to an office loaded with wide eyes and full hearts.
While we couldn't give the '87 our full regimen of track tests, we were able to hoist it onto our scales, where it registered a positively waif-like 2152 pounds. For a fun point of comparison, that's roughly 1065 pounds lighter than our long-term Integra Type S. Keep an eye out for our Integra's long-term wrap story, which will dive into the modern Teggy in much more detail.
The Integra 40 Racer is a great reminder that simplicity and lightness aren't just parts of a Colin Chapman quote; they're the building blocks for a rewarding driving experience. The nostalgia of strapping into a car that represents my entire childhood in the import-car scene—many of our childhoods, actually—was an experience I won't soon forget. It's great that Acura recognizes its 40-year-long position in this universe, and this Integra owner is happy that Acura built something that speaks to hardcore enthusiasts of all ages.
What’s got three cats, a DC2 Integra track car, and more than a decade’s worth of Car and Driver photography stashed on his hard drives? This guy. Michael Simari grew up reading car mags as a kid and developed a love for photography that quickly turned into a career of automotive illustration. When he’s not chimping through his shots looking for the sharpest pan, Mike enjoys perfecting the slice by making pizza at home from scratch.