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It is claimed by many in Japan that a new 1.6 litre V6 engine has already been designed, but that the manufacturer will wait until its new for 2014 two litre turbo Formula Nippon / GT500 engine is ready before taking the F1 project further. “The rumours are not unfounded but we have not decided anything, we are constantly evaluating the situation” explained a company source. Many in Europe are already connecting the McLaren team to a Honda engine supply recreative the very succesful partnership of the late 1980′s.
Just designing and developing and engine means little however, Honda has a long record of F1 projects, many of which never took to the track. Complete cars were built and tested around the early 1990′s as well as in 1995 and 1999, though none of them ever took part in a race, indeed Honda is known for building projects in its top secret facility at Tochigi to improve its technical understanding.
The engine used in the new WTCC Civic was already running on the test bench before the idea of WTCC participation was even discussed in the firm, which is by its own admission under pressure from European dealers to take part in more international motorsport. Whilst the WTCC engine meets the World Rally Championship and R5 regulations and the championship looks very strong with Citroen, Mini, Hyundai, Ford and Volkswagen all offering cars the firm confirmed that it had no interest in international rallying and would not build a World Rally Car.
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