honda f1 / f1 teams / f1 test

The Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda has participated in Formula One, as an engine manufacturer and team owner, for various periods since 1964. They have been active as engine manufacturers since 2015, producing the RA Series Hybrid power units which currently powers Aston Martin.

Honda's involvement in Formula One began as a full team and engine entry in the 1964 season, and in 1965 they achieved their first victory at the Mexican Grand Prix. After further success with John Surtees, Honda withdrew at the end of the 1968 season due to difficulties selling road cars in the United States and Honda driver Jo Schlesser's fatal accident.

Headquarters; Tokyo, Japan, 1964–1968, 2006-2008

The Honda RA302 was a Formula One racing car produced by Honda Racing, and introduced by Honda Racing France during the 1968 Formula One season.

The car was built based on an order by Soichiro Honda to develop an air-cooled Formula One engine. The magnesium-skinned car was entered in the Formula One race alongside the water-cooled, aluminium-bodied RA301 which had been developed by the existing Honda team and British Lola Cars.

At a time when the rest of the F1 grid was relying on water-cooled engines, Honda pushed to build an advanced, naturally aspirated 3.0-liter, 120-degree V8 air-cooled engine. Officially it rated at over 430 horsepower at 11.500 rpm.

The car had an avant-garde, pointy front nose designed for aerodynamic efficiency without a front-facing radiator.

It would only appear in one race, the 1968 French Grand Prix at Rouen-Les-Essarts, driven by Jo Schlesser. Schlesser was chosen to drive the RA302 because normal Honda driver John Surtees (who was the 1964 world champion and would finish second in that race) refused to drive it as he deemed it to be unsafe and labelled it as a "potential deathtrap". This was proven on lap three of the Grand Prix; Schlesser crashed at the Virage des Six Frères section of the circuit and the car came to rest sideways against a bank. The magnesium-bodied Honda and 58 laps worth of fuel ignited instantly, killing Schlesser and destroying the original RA302.

A second RA302 was built, with slight modifications, earmarked for Surtees to drive at the 1968 Italian Grand Prix, but he again refused to drive it. Honda decided to pull out of Grand Prix racing and did not return as a constructor until 2006 with the RA106.

In 2012, the RA302 intended for Surtees at the Italian Grand Prix was on display at the Honda Collection Hall.