Legendary Integra Type R Racecar Screams Back to the Track at 9,000 rpm
- New video from Acura features Peter Cunningham piloting historic and restored RealTime Racing Integra Type R at the WeatherTech International Challenge at Road America
- Nearly two decades after its retirement, Integra Type R continues to hold the all-time record for SPEED Touring Car wins and championships
- Fully-restored Integra Type R represents the spirit Acura is recapturing with Precision Crafted Performance
TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The combination of RealTime Racing and the Acura Integra Type R forged a race-winning record that remains unbroken after nearly two decades. In a video debuting today, Acura highlights the story of the restored RealTime Racing #42 Integra Type R returning to the track with Sports Car Club of America Hall-of-Famer Peter Cunningham behind the wheel.
The video showcases the Integra Type R's original run in near-stock form; its dominant performance in the SPEED Touring Car championship, and its return to racing glory. The action took place this July at the WeatherTech International Challenge vintage race weekend at Road America, where the #42 car qualified and finished fourth in a field of over 60 vehicles.
"It was our first race back out with the Acura Integra Type R, and it was like we never skipped a beat. We had a great time!" said Cunningham, team owner of RealTime Racing, at the conclusion of the race. "There were some 60 cars in our group and only a few vehicles in a class above beat us, so it was a great day for RealTime and Acura and great to have the Type R back on track."
1997 Acura Integra Type R
When it debuted in 1997, the Acura Integra Type R was much more than a faster Integra GS-R, the previous top-line trim. The Type R's B18C5 engine became a legend in its own right for its factory modifications, the highlights of which included a hand-ported head, thinner valves and unique valve springs, robust connecting rods and numerous other upgrades, to give the Type R a screaming 8,400-rpm redline.
The Integra Type R body also benefited from extra welds for additional chassis strength and stiffness. There was an underhood chassis-stiffening strut bar straight from the factory, and the suspension and brakes were unique to Type R. The fundamental goodness of the Type R wasn't lost on RealTime, and the factory car was so good out of the box that racing modifications for the track were limited to race-spec springs and shocks, mandatory safety equipment, such as a roll cage, and a stripped-out interior. Even the transmission was unmodified from stock.
When the Integra Type R debuted, RealTime Racing had already been competing, and winning, with Acura vehicles for nearly a decade. The team began with Acura's first-generation Integra, and later raced with the legendary first-generation Acura NSX. From its racing debut in 1997 through the 2002 season, RealTime's Integra Type R dominated the SPEED Touring Car Championship, capturing 23 race wins on the way to five Drivers' Championships (Pierre Kleinubing - 1997, 2000, 2001, Michael Galati - 1998 and Cunningham - 2002) and four Manufacturers' Championships (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002). The record remains unbroken to this day.
"We knew from the start the Acura Integra Type R was a very special car," said Cunningham. "But now, after all these years, it's achieved legendary status, and rightly so. I believe it's still one of the best performing front-wheel drive cars ever built."
About Real Time Racing
RealTime has a prosperous 33-year history of racing in a variety of motorsport disciplines. Be it a gravel road, frozen lake, permanent road course or temporary street circuit, RTR drivers have piloted Acura and Honda production-based automobiles to 19 professional motorsport titles. Based just north of Milwaukee, in Saukville, Wisconsin, the RealTime Racing team currently campaigns an Acura NSX GT3 Evo in SRO America's Blancpain GT Pro-Am Championship. RealTime's six wins tallied thus far in 2019 brings its World Challenge total to a milestone 100 race victories. Also in 2019, RealTime set the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Open Class record for the third time in as many years, winning again with its Acura TLX GT. Follow along as the team works hard to continue its winning ways in these popular motorsports formulas.
About Peter Cunningham
Peter Cunningham helped to put Acura Motorsports on the map after establishing RealTime in 1987. Driving for his own team and others, Cunningham won 93 professional road races, more than any other driver in North American competition. He won three IIRA Ice Racing championships (1987, 1989, 1990), an SCCA PRO Rally title (1993) and 10 road racing points championships (1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012). To cap off his 35-year professional racing career, Cunningham won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb three years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019). In 2018 Cunningham became the youngest-ever inductee into the Sports Car Club of America's Hall of Fame.
About Acura Motorsports
Acura has been demonstrating its commitment to performance through racing for more than three decades, proving out its capabilities on the track and capturing numerous national sports car and endurance racing titles. Acura Team Penske now campaigns the ARX-05 Daytona Prototype racecar, while Acura teams with Meyer Shank Racing and the NSX GT3 in American endurance sports car racing competition. Acura also recently celebrated its eighth year of racing at the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and serves as Official Pace Vehicle of the annual 'Race to the Clouds'.
About Acura
Acura delivers Precision Crafted Performance – a commitment to evocative styling, high performance and innovative engineering, all built on a foundation of exceptional quality and reliability. The Acura lineup features six distinctive models – the RLX premium luxury sedan, the TLX performance luxury sedan, the ILX sport sedan, the five-passenger RDX luxury crossover SUV, the seven-passenger Acura MDX, America's all-time best-selling three-row luxury SUV, and the next-generation, electrified NSX supercar.
Five of the six Acura models sold in North America are made in central Ohio, using domestic and globally-sourced parts, including the ILX and TLX luxury sports sedans (Marysville Auto Plant), the RDX and MDX luxury SUVs (East Liberty Auto Plant) and the Acura NSX supercar, which is built to order at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio.
Additional media information including pricing, features & specifications and high-resolution photography is available at AcuraNews.com. Consumer information is available at Acura.com. Follow Acura on social media at Acura.us/SocialChannels.
SOURCE Acura
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