components including the Intelligent Power Unit (containing the lithium-ion battery pack), PDU and the TMU—to lower and center the mass of the vehicle for optimal handling and dynamic response.

While maintaining ground clearance similar to the highest volume sports car and expanding the head room to accommodate a 95th percentile American male, the new NSX has the lowest center of gravity among its core competitors.

Total Airflow Management

“In many ways, with the design of the all-new Acura NSX, you literally have form following function, so this was a really exciting vehicle to work on as an aerodynamicist,” says Thomas Ramsay, the Aerodynamics and Cooling Project Leader on the new Acura supercar.

NSX’s body shape was effectively designed to minimize aerodynamic drag while creating balanced front-to-rear downforce through a total airflow managementand a world first in the automobile industry.

Jointly developed with Alotech, ablation casting technology is being utilized in the creation of six joining members, or nodes—two upper and two lower nodes in the front frame and two rear nodes. The front upper and rear nodes also serve as ultra-rigid suspension mounting points. The ablation casting process allows for the fine-tuning of both the cast part’s shape, as well as the material properties of the castings in the energy-absorbing areas of the vehicle, while minimizing weight in the form of a hollow part with optimized wall thickness.

Unlike traditional castings, the high-strength and ductile properties of the aluminum ablation cast members allow these sections of the space-frame to progressively crush and are designed to withstand tremendous loads of up to