This weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan, the Honda FCX Clarity will be showing its pace by taking on the duties of a pace car. The Indy Racing League is making its annual trek to the homeland of engine supplier Honda for the Indy Japan 300 race at the facility near Tochigi. The fuel cell-powered Clarity will take the place of the usual fleet of Honda Accords as it leads the IndyCars to the green flag and keeps the racers in line while the yellow flag is out. This will be the first race paced by a hydrogen-fueled car; the field of 18 cars that crossed the Pacific are all running on E100 ethanol.

The FCX Clarity will be first series production fuel cell car when it becomes available for lease in Southern California this summer. Honda will be making about 100 Clarities a year available with more to come as hydrogen availability increases (if it does). The Clarity has a range of 270 miles from the 4kg of compressed hydrogen it carries. According to Honda spokesman Todd Mittleman, the company had received about 20,000 inquiries about leasing the Clarity since its debut at last November's LA Auto Show.

[Source: Honda]

(Editor's Note: don't miss Parts One ,Two and Three of this series)



Starting in mid-2008, retail customers in select regions of the United States will be able to go to a Honda dealer and sign a lease for a new FCX. Assuming all goes according to plan, the car will be very much like the one pictured on this page and customers will likely be very pleased by the experience. Since the cost of manufacturing this car will still be well north of what consumers will be able to afford, the cars will initially only be available to lease at a heavily subsidized price. The current FCX goes for $500 a month for a two-year lease, but a price has not yet been set for the new car.

After an introduction to the Laguna Seca race track from Skip Barber racing school instructor Randy Buck, the attendees lined up for a chance to drive the cars. Unfortunately, but understandably (given the value of the cars), the course diverted away the infamous "Corkscrew" onto some of the access roads around the track. In addition to the two new FCX concepts, Honda brought along two 2005 FCX models, and a 2007 Civic GX for comparison. The course included the front straight, an assortment of curves, some typical winding roads and an acceleration and braking area in the paddock. Both the current and new FCX models weigh in at about 3700 lbs, so weight wasn't a factor in the performance.

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