When Honda decided to continue its endurance racing programme in the US, it pulled a clean sheet of paper from the drawer on which to work. ORECA was designing an all-new prototype for the regulations and Honda Performance Development (HPD) wanted to continue its relationship with the French manufacturer.
There were options for the California-based company to re-use certain key elements, such as the 3.5-litre, twin-turbo engine it already had, which would undoubtedly have saved money, but with the president of the company also being the technical director, and with a reputation for innovation in racing that is enjoyed by Honda, the company embarked on an all-new, 2.4-litre, twin-turbo engine instead.
Although it shares its capacity with the IndyCar engine that was due in 2024, there was little crossover between the two, not least because the LMDdh engine had a minimum weight of 180kg by regulation, the IndyCar requirement nearly 70kg less.
Racecar sat down with HPD’s president and technical director, David Salters, at the Daytona LMDh test to discuss development of the engine for the prototype, and the decision to drop the 2.4-litre IndyCar engine.
RE: Are you satisfied with what you have seen so far at this test?
DS: You have good days and bad days. We are doing okay, but we have so much to do.
With Covid, we finished up a bit later [in our preparation] than we would like, so we are still in catch up mode. There is no point in getting too excited about it, though, you just have to get on
