Honda has every car in Indianapolis 500

I seem to recall that the Indianapolis event is heavily used in company R&D to test new designs and materials for future products.

The creation of an successful engine has been used in industry for many years to guage how a company's R&D efforts are faring.

What is this telling us of the R&D effort of the domestic car manufacturers? Have they decided they would rather invest in more comfortable seat design rather than groundbreaking engine development?

TMT


Honda has every car in Indianapolis 500

May 23, 2006
By Bruce Martin
SportsTicker Contributing Editor

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) - Robert Clarke, the president of Honda Performance Development, can't help but consider the irony of Honda's circuitous route to supplying every car in the starting field for the 90th Indianapolis 500.

Clarke remembers that difficult initial experience in 1994, when Honda was new to IndyCar racing and arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Team Rahal.

It was obvious from the start that the new engine company wasn't up to speed and Bobby Rahal was in danger of missing the race for the second year in a row. Rahal made the difficult decision to abandon the engine at Indy in the second week of qualifications and made the field in another brand.

But Honda would return the following year, started on the outside of the front row with Scott Goodyear and nearly won the race.

Honda returned to the Indianapolis 500 in 2003, but it was Toyota-powered Gil de Ferran that drove into victory lane that day, giving team owner Roger Penske a record 13th Indy 500 win.

Buddy Rice gave Honda its first Indy 500 winner in 2004 in an ironic twist Rahal was his team owner. Dan Wheldon gave Honda its second Indy win last year as it had become the dominant engine in the sport.

"We've gone the whole spectrum," Clarke said. "We were the first Japanese make there, we failed to qualify, were laughed out and now we own the entire starting field. We've gone full circle."

Honda is now the sole supplier to the Indy Racing League and as many fans of the 500 arrive early enough to see the sun rise over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"It is big," Clarke said. "As far as Honda goes, clearly we understand and appreciate what that event means. It was a key part of our decision to be here and to support the entire field. It's pretty cool to have a Honda engine in all 33 cars. The satisfaction of meeting that challenge remains."

The Indianapolis 500 has always cast a magical name to racing enthusiasts in Japan. It's the epic, bigger-than-life event that lures many a visitor from the Far East to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every year.

In the 1990s, Honda decided to build an oval race track Twin Ring Motegi. Just outside the gates to that facility is the Honda Museum, which proudly exhibits several cars that have raced in the Indianapolis 500.

Clarke's interest in the Indy 500 grew at an early age. He was the son of a Navy fighter pilot and when he grew up in Coronado, California his father took him to an SCCA race when he was 8 years old.

"I was hooked from that weekend," Clarke said.

He would attended graduate school at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana and the industrial design student got a chance to attend his first Indy 500 in 1974.

"My wife and I went on pole day and then we came back for the race," Clarke said. "I was in awe. The speed of the cars was something I had never experienced before. That's what I recall the most was the speed."

His first job in racing was with Honda in 1980 and he ultimately became the president of Honda Performance Development.

Honda is now a partner in the IRL. It's betting that the series will grow and wants to remain a key player.

"A great deal of time and energy has been pointed at our new engine program, and we feel this type of program is perfect for us at this point in our history," said IRL president and chief operating officer Brian Barnhart. "Just a few short years ago we welcomed an expanded roster of manufacturers to the series, and that helped us achieve some goals that we had set at that time.

"In this era of value, a single-engine program will allow better cost containment and put us in a position to attract expanded teams or new teams to our series."

There are a mix of rewards and challenges that come with being the only engine in the series.

"The benefits are we win every race," Clarke said.

There are plenty of challenges, though, mostly ensuring a supply of engines for the entire field. In a little over four months since announcing it would make all the engines, HPD has had to make sure there are enough parts available to rebuild the engines as well as increase the staff for trackside support.

"It was a major project within the very limited time that we had," Clarke said. "But I feel we have crested the hill and we're on the downhill slope of that now. Getting ready was the big job."

Defending Indy 500 winner and defending IRL champion Wheldon admitted Honda was a major factor in his championship run, but the whole series should prosper now that all teams have equal engines

His former teammate at AGR, Dario Franchitti, said the challenge remains the same to beat the other guy.

"I think first of all Honda should be applauded for what they've done in stepping up and supplying the whole series," Franchitti said. "I've enjoyed a long relationship with them. This is my ninth season with Honda. You have to do your talking on the track.

"There's going to be no favorites from Honda. They've made that very clear."

The Indy 500 has long ago ceased to be an R&D vehicle for the auto industry. It is now its own event. They make rules to ban any new technology that threatens its hegemony. Turbines, banned. Suction fans, banned. The rules body is closed minded and doesn't want to have any radical advances, just small incremental ones. Very little technology demonstrated at Indy has any trickle down to consumer automotive. I think it is ironic how easily Honda has entered the racing field. It is kinda a reverse principle of what Indy was supposed to stand for. Honda, a developer of very reliable and fuel effecient cars, which didn't make any muscle cars or production V8 turbocharged engines, decided to enter racing and beat them all at their own game. The technology focus at Indy now seems to be on making catastrophic crashes survivable, which is a good goal, but it has little bearing on the auto industry at large. If they wanted to progress the state of the art in the automotive field, they would truely make rules to stretch the the technology to its limits. Downsize engine displacement. Try to make a car that can compete on 2 liters. Allow turbines. I believe that the Indy Racing League as it stands today isn't interested in advancing the auto industry as a whole. They are a niche industry all their own.

Agreed.

The Indy 500 is more like the Kentucy Derby or Professional Wresteling than a test oportunity for real technology developments. It is a spectator sport. Not a R&D platform.

If state of the art technoligy was brought to bare on the race, most cars would probebly have turbines and none would likely have a piston driven engine. What's more, there would be no drivers anymore. Remote and autonomous systems are capable of so much more than the human body/nervous system. Hell, it isn't even clear that wheels would nessearily be on the winning vehicle designs.

Auto racing is not about really technology as it was even 30 years ago. It is about people... and people like fast cars and a day at the races.

B

Interesting...then where is state of the art R&D on display for the public?

"The technology focus at Indy now seems to be on making catastrophic crashes survivable, which is a good goal, but it has little bearing on the auto industry at large."

This one I have to disagree with...it is VERY MUCH A PART of this car buyer's agenda. I have had friends and family die and kinda survive (ever been in a brain damage unit?)from crashes and I take safety as PRIORITY #1.

TMT

where is state of the art R&D on display for the public?

Click to expand...

certainly not at the Washington Auto Show! I was really disappointed. (Maybe they save the good stuff for Chicago or New York? )

TMT,
I agree that safety is important, but safety in Indy 500 vs the real world are worlds apart. If normal everyday drivers wore helmets and 5 point racing harnesses, there wouldn't be nearly as many injuries in the consumer world. Do indy cars even have ABS brakes? Airbags? I believe that Indycar safety is very different from consumer auto safety. This is what I meant.

Also,
Fuel injection started in the consumer auto industry, along with ABS brakes. I believe that the state of the art R&D is on high end luxury cars and high end sports cars (all wheel drive, traction control, etc.). If anything, the consumer auto industry's production technology trickles down to racing, not the other way round. Durability is important, both in consumer autos and racing(but in racing it only needs to be durable enough to finish).

Racing is the sizzle that sells the steak. It is supposed to be the skill of the driver. Therefore, I don't believe you'll see ABS or traction control on race cars anytime soon.

Indy Schmindy.

As for racing selling cars, I doubt that's the case any longer. For every car that sells due to racing, 10 sell due to direct advertising, fear (safety), and a bunch of other emotional reasons.

Your average soccer mom, or pipe-smoking college professor, or weekend golfer could give a crap who won any race.

Look at the slop-mess that is NASCAR. None of the cars even look like what they are called, none use front wheel drive, and last I checked they don't make two door Tauruses.

Same for Top Fuel. Like I'm going to buy a Chevy Lumina knowing it has zero to do with the Fuel car which is Chrysler powered anyway.

Honda can have Indy - just keep the Chinese away from my hardware store.

Yeah, I'd agree that racing has little effect on most car buyers. It is bragging rights for the tire and engine manufacturers. I have completely lost any interest I had in racing. Big oval racing to me is boring. When NASCAR introduced restrictor plates, I thought that was a joke. Want to reduce speeds? Reduce displacement. Formula 1 had ABS for a short time, then banned it. I like rally car racing, but I can't justify spending money on cable for that.

Downsize engine displacement. Try to make a car that can compete on 2 liters. Allow turbines.

Click to expand...

They would never do that...

In the early 1980s Formula1 had 1.5 liter engines with turbo's producing 1400 bhp.....

With all the modern advances since...and two liters they'd probably up that to 2500bhp....

and that would add up to lots of dead drivers....


Rob

Current IRL (Indy Racing League) specifies 3.0l engine with no turbos(or superchargers). My 2 liter comment was specific to Indy. F1 is a completely different animal.

I remember in my younger day reading about, the
pony car era, and about how the major 3 auto
manufactures were droping out of the R&D of
performance vehicles and events like the Indy
500 to varying degrees. This was all perpetuated
from the C.A.F.E. Agreement of the 70's, as of
which the Japanees, and European manufactures
were exempt. More R&D was placed into Emissions
than into performance. Sadly, those who don't
know the past, are oddly enough the same ones
who gloat over the demise of the American
Automotive Industries. When I was a young girl
durring the 60's, I would marvel at the Detroit
Rockets that would blow away any thing Europe
had to offer. But then, " someone blew the dream
away ".
Jamie

P.S.
I forgot to mention that back in the 80's,
a couple of Pratt employees did manage to
fit a PT6 into a Corvette.
Jamie

Technology on the present size engines has powered the cars up to just about the maximum speed sustainable on the Indy track.
They could go to smaller displacement engines but they are probably afraid people will become turned off if the speeds are less than prior years. Some people don't appreciate skill and tactics, they just want a new record speed. It is just like big business, the dividend has to be bigger than last year. If they cut the engines to half a liter and the race took 6 hours nobody would watch.

PT 6 in a corvette.

I don't even want to think about it.

Somebody a while back put a PT6 T in a train.

That was enough for me.

(slightly off topic)
Jim K
"Put a PT 6 in a train."

Don't you remember the United Aircraft Turbotrain of the early 1970s? I do not know what they had for power, I don't remember any really good performance, and the suspension was bad, but there were about 4 seats in the second level where you could literally look over the engineer's shoulder, read the speedometer, and look out the front window. Fun to ride from Boston to Phily.

Thermo1

The irony of this whole thing is that Honda put their hat in the ring, failed - tried again (and again and again countless times that none of us will ever hear about) and eventually they won the entire field of car teams.

I doubt they ever had a goal to do this, they just did what they do every stinking day . . . get a little better, fix a problem - make sure it never happens again, every single day, incremental improvement.

The same philosophy they employ in building cars and motorcycles . . . I now own my first Honda vehicle (besides my XR250 and my kids with 3 Honda motocross bikes between them) - nice machines, reliable, economical and relatively high performance. No hail Mary engineering or marketing . . . and no wonder GM and Ford are begging creditors and selling off divisions while the Japanese automakers are making record profits.

that is the way honda plays the game. they keep spending money till they own the event. they did it in flat track motorcycle racing in the 80's got beat a few times then opened the money flood gates till they were on top.

I am not clear on the differences between the different series in the US, but haven't some series used one make of engine for a while? I think Indycars used only Ilmor engines (with Chevrolet badge) didn't they??

Another series used only Olds engines??

Anyone clarify what different series there are now?

BTW, I was reading about one of the 1960's? attempts at a turbine car for the masses, FIAT, I think. Women crossing the road behind this thing would find their nylon stockings disappear in the surprisingly daft rear exhaust blast....

Peter S:

Chrysler put a gas turbine in several cars and sent them around to dealers in the country for display and demonstration. I saw one in Riverdale Maryland at the dealer there.

The engine has a regenerator in the exhaust stream which sent a good bit of the exhaust heat back into the engine. The thing also acted as a muffler. No jet noise and the girls kept their stockings.

The car created a bit of a stir but within a year, everything got quiet and the Turbine was quickly forgotten.