THE FIRST TIME HONDA CONQUERED EUROPE
For most motorsport fans, Honda’s first period of sustained success on an international stage – on four wheels at least – came during Formula 1’s first turbo era in the 1980s. But two decades before world titles with Williams and McLaren, Honda had demonstrated its engineering prowess against tough European opposition.
The 1966 season was the third and final year of 1000cc multi-marque Formula 2. For two years, British firms Cosworth and BRM had dominated, but up-and-coming constructor Brabham secured exclusive use of Honda S800-based engines for season three.
In its few outings in 1965 Honda’s effort had disappointed so, between November 1965 and March 1966, a new engine was created. In his autobiography When the Flag Drops, Jack Brabham explained the effort that was put in: “I made several visits to Honda in Japan for at least two years before we started anything between us. We first used their engine in F2 during 1965, but we had quite a few problems with it, so I went back to Japan at the end of the season.
“We went over all the difficulties that we’d encountered and they decided they would build a new engine for us for the 1966 season. Nothing in that engine was retained from a previous engine. They really
