Engine: Honda V6 a bench design for 2015

In 2015, the Formula 1 grid will see the comeback of one big name in the story of the sport. The Japanese manufacturer, Honda, will provide the powertrain engineering to a wellknown partner: McLaren.
Honda pulled out of F1 after years of poor results with its own team, which subsequently won the championship as Brawn in 2009 and is now Mercedes. But the engine manufacturer has decided to return because of the introduction of turbo engines featuring energy recovery technology. McLaren are first expected to race with Honda engines in 2015.
The McLaren-Honda deal revives a partnership that had great historical success. McLaren, with Honda as an engine supplier, dominated F1 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning four consecutive world drivers' championships with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as well as the corresponding years' constructors' titles. In 1988, McLaren with Senna and Prost enjoyed the most successful season in F1 history, winning 15 of the 16 races. Honda also dominated the mid-1980s with Williams, winning the 1987 drivers' title with Nelson Piquet and the 1986 and 1987 constructors' championships. Honda will become the fourth road-car manufacturer supplying engines in F1, alongside Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari.

McLaren and Honda are planning an epic comeback for the next season, and we should remember the experience of the japanese brand with turbocharged V6. The RA168E turbo V6 won all the races of the 1988 season (except one in which Ferrari won). This may be a bench for the design of 2015 engine.
The Honda F1 engine was dominant during this period, primarily for one reason: fuel consumption. A review of the patent files shows that Honda was developing the VTEC rocker system during this period. The cross-section drawings of the Honda V6 turbo F1 engine, that I have posted here, show "finger followers". All other engines of this period used "bucket followers". Logic would dictate a bucket follower design because it has less mass/inertia. It's just my guess, but the reason Honda used finger (rocker) followers was so that they could incorporate their new (at that time) VTEC technology. Remember now, F1 racing in 1988 was heavily influenced by fuel consumption rules, so a dual camshaft profile provided by VTEC would be a significant advantage.

You can easily see the finger followers (on the left right under the valves) but you can also easily see that there are just 6 cam lobes per camshaft, both at the intake and at the exhaust. The 1988 was a very particular year, last year of turbo, limited boost, limited fuel etc... to, theoretically, balance competitiveness of turbo and N/A. Most of the engine manufacturers were focusing on the N/A, some used it in 1988, others just detuned the previous years turbo engines, most of teams adapted the previous year cars. Honda was the only engine manufacturer that designed a brand new engine optimised for that level of boost (contemporarily developing the 3.5l V10...), McLaren designed a car expressively for that engine. Add Senna and Prost... You don’t need VTEC to explain McLaren’s record of 15 wins out of 16.







Enjoy the technical paper of the RA168E to get an idea of the next Honda engine we will hear roaring in the McLaren cars.

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