There’s a new engine in Europe! Honda has recently introduced the new HR412E 1.6-liter 4-cylinder. So far, it isn’t set to be used on any production car. Both direct-injection and turbocharging are used in this engine. Rather, its debut will be under the hood of the new Civic race car in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. According to Daisuke Horiuchi, WTCC Development Project Leader at Honda R&D, the HR412E is the first of Honda’s new generation of high performance racing engines. He said that the engineers at the R&D centre in Tochigi have toiled to build a race engine that offers ‘great driveability’ to its racing drivers without sacrificing peak power performance. There are speculations that Honda’s racing efforts may just be a part of a bigger plan to develop turbocharged engines for the road. Horiuchi said that the company’s innovations in relation to this engine will result to benefits outside of the race track, aiding in further increasing the road car engines’ efficiency. Former F1 pilot Tiago Monteiro will be driving the Civic WTCC car, which will have the engine under its hood after passing initial tests. It’s likely that Honda will compete in only 3 races this year, beginning with Suzuki in October. It will field two cars next year.
Honda unveils the new HR412E WTCC engine
by Andrew Christian, Email, 01 Aug, 2012
