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Corporate May
27, 2002 |
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| Honda to Enter Indy Racing League (IRL) Series as Engine Supplier For 2003 |
TORRANCE, Calif., May 23, 2002
--- American Honda Motor Co., Inc. announced today plans to enter the Indy
Racing League (IRL) for the 2003 season competition, and its racing subsidiary,
Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD) in Santa Clarita, California,
has contracted with Ilmor Engineering Inc. (a sister company to Ilmor Engineering,
Ltd.) to provide engines. HPD and Ilmor will work together as technical
partners to design, develop and produce engines for the 2003 season. HPD
will provide trackside support to teams using the newly developed, Honda
Indy V-8 engine.
"This is an exciting all-new chapter in Honda's racing history and
will give Honda the opportunity to compete in the challenging IRL racing
series and the famous Indianapolis 500 race, while at the same time expand
HPD's abilities as a true racing engine development company," said Robert
Clarke, general manager of HPD. "Competing in the IRL series, with its rules
to intentionally limit the use of high cost technology and thus provide
more parity in the racing field, will give Honda a new competitive experience
and fans more exciting racing."
"This new direction builds on a foundation of nearly ten years of CART racing
and will serve to elevate HPD's capability from engine assembly to engine
design and development and reflects a new commitment to American racing."
"Our technical relationship with Ilmor, an international racing engine company
with a long term record in designing and developing competitive racing engines,
will allow us to develop the all-new 3.5 liter, normally aspirated V-8 engine
in time for the 2003 IRL racing season," said Clarke.
Ilmor Inc. will use a combination of engineering resources in the U.S.,
a special projects group in the UK and a new manufacturing plant to support
the project.
This announcement comes after weighing a variety of options for HPD's business
activities and consideration of American Honda's long-term North American
motorsports needs. HPD announced it was leaving the CART series in October
2001.
Previously, Honda R&D and HPD jointly developed engines for the CART racing
series from 1994 to present, with Honda R&D handling the majority of those
responsibilities.
This change will mean that all U.S. auto racing engine R&D responsibilities
will be turned over to HPD. This new shift in responsibilities will require
HPD to further develop its in-house design, development and manufacturing
expertise and capacity. "We have always said that racing is an important
training tool for our engineers and these new responsibilities will certainly
prove to be beneficial for them," said Clarke.
Honda Performance Development, Inc. was founded in 1993 and has won more
than 60 races since it started competition in 1994 including winning four
CART Manufacturer's Championships. The Honda Turbo V-8 has powered the past
six consecutive CART World Series Driver's Championship Champions.
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