Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Honda Performance Developement unsung heros of 2014 Indianapolis 500

by Parks McCants of www.torquenews.com

Honda Performance Development has been in the racing game since 1993.

With Andretti Autosport dropping Chevrolet for Honda in 2013, Torque News notes a paradigm shift in the Racing Universe.

Big things, baby…And nothing is bigger in racing on this side of the pond than the Indianapolis 500.

Torque News-Honda was very fortunate to have our associate Keith Griffin at the Brickyard. By the writing of this article, the whole world knows that 32 year old, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. native, Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport took the flag as this years Indianapolis 500 winner.

Ryan and Honda powered Team Andretti dominated the 500, with 5 of the top 10 positions taken by a Honda powered Andretti Autosport Dallara IndyCar.

 For those few fans that were out fishing during the broadcast of the Indy 500, the first American to win the 500 in 8 years did so in the last 6 laps of the race.

32 lead changes between 11 drivers came down to the wire as a late red flag facilitated a re-start. And, a well maneuvered fake past Castroneves by Hunter-Reay clinched the race.

According to Hunter-Reay, the fact that his Honda HI14TT engine restarted after 480 miles driven, facilitated the win for him.

When we think about the beating this 2.2 liter twin turbocharged six cylinder takes during a 500 mile race, with average speeds reached of 186.56 mph, we must applaud Honda engineering and the engine builders of HPD for an extreme job well done.

HPD won its first CART championship in 1996 and has never looked back. Until 3 years ago, Honda was the exclusive provider of engines to the IndyCar series.

No small thing…From 2006-2011, Honda was the sole engine supplier for the Indy 500.

During that period of time there were no race day engine failures reported; None.

This 250 pound alloy blocked V6 produces a reported 580 horsepower @ 12,000 rpm; while holding together for no less than 1,000 race-miles between rebuilds. 

The internal engine friction and temperature here is second to none. How does Honda do this? They're not saying.

But looking to the specifications of the 2014 IndyCar specification HI14TT V6, we glean a couple of interesting facts.

The HI14TT IndyCar engine is based on the iconic V6 found in your Odyssey minivan, Ridgeline pickup or Acura TLX.

Source;
http://www.torquenews.com/1574/honda-performance-developement-unsung-heros-2014-indianapolis-500http://www.torquenews.com/1574/honda-performance-developement-unsung-heros-2014-indianapolis-500

1 comment:

Raymond Max said...

Thank you Damien, Much appreciated. Parks McCants TorqueNews.com/Honda.