The F1 Cars Behind Honda’s Glory
Precursor to Glory

#40 driven at Round 13, Italy by Stefan Johannson
The Monumental F1 Car that Kicked Off Honda’s Second Era
Creating the Chance to Move Forward Despite Results Lacking
The well-known 1983 Spirit Honda 201C heralded the second era of Honda’s F1 activities. With its square side pontoons and huge rear wing, the 201C would not have gained attention had it not been powered by a Honda engine. At the time, Honda may have tended not to care about matching the engine and chassis (or packaging), as the front section was slender and delicate, while the area from the center bulkhead to the rear looked huge.

The teaming up with Spirit lasted only six grands prix (highest finish: 7th). The tricolor livery, reminiscent of Honda’s motorcycle teams at the time, was applied from the middle of the season.
At the time of its return to F1, Honda’s foremost priority was the engine, even to the extent of sacrificing optimum chassis design. This approach came naturally to Honda, which was only interested in developing the engine on its return to F1. It was, however, extremely difficult to build a top-class F1 engine overnight. Honda must have known from past experience that it would take a considerable amount of time, through repeated prototyping cycles. On the other hand, it also recognized the need for an excellent chassis that could take advantage of a powerful engine. In its first F1 era, Honda wanted the know-how of Lola cars and invited John Surtees, who was familiar with Lola's chassis technology, to join the team. Honda chose to start its second era with a chassis constructor that would allow it to concentrate on engine development while also matching the chassis. It recruited Gordon Coppuck and John Wickham from March Engineering and founded the Spirit Team in 1982, financed by Honda.
Spirit’s first step was to enter European F2 with an original chassis, but at the time Honda’s F2 activities were already centered on Ralt. Honda, which had dominated European F2 in 1981, had no reason to establish a new constructor to compete in F2, so it was clear that Spirit’s F2 entry was not intended as a title contender, but as a stepping stone to a return to F1.

The RA163E was the engine that Honda debuted its second F1 era with. Many exhaust configurations were tested in off-season testing before Honda’s return.
In 1982, although Honda lost the European F2 title to Corrado Fabi’s March BMW team, Spirit’s Thierry Boutsen scored three wins. Considering that the chassis was developed to serve as a test bed for F1, it was a reasonably productive season. The following year, the 201C chassis, essentially the F2 201 chassis re-tailored for F1 use, was powered by a 1.5-liter V6 turbo engine (RA163E), and Honda made its official F1 debut in Round 9, Great Britain.
The RA163E that Honda initially introduced was said to be a super-over square engine configuration having the same bore size as the F2 engine, and its bore x stroke did not seem to match what an F1 engine should be. Its rocker-arm valve train was also adopted from F2. The turbocharger was initially made by KKK, with an engine management system made by Hitachi, soon replaced by a dedicated system (made by IHI).

Stefan Johansson, who had raced in All-Japan F2, was Spirit’s first driver. He later moved to Ferrari and then McLaren.
This year, Nelson Piquet (Brabham) won his second F1 drivers’ title. It was also the first year that a turbo-powered car won the championship. Under these circumstances, the Spirit Honda 201C with Stefan Johansson as driver finished the year with a best result of 7th (Round 12, Holland) out of its six races. The results did not meet expectations, and poor chassis performance was undeniable. Although the engine, in its infancy with development ongoing, had problems in every race, the team lacked a chassis with stable performance, which is essential to refine the engine. The modified F2 chassis was still not strong enough to support the 600-plus horsepower for F1, and Honda realized the need for a new, specialized chassis. Although Spirit had prepared the 101 chassis for 1984, Honda brought in a new partner, Williams Grand Prix Engineering. In a short while, this decicion proved to be the right one.

The short nose and featureless styling had a strong resemblance to its base F2 design, and despite being a “test car,” there was no denying that it was a hastily built machine.

Chassis
Model | Spirit Honda 201C |
Designer | Gordon Coppuck |
Structure | Aluminum honeycomb monocoque |
Length x Width x Height | Undisclosed |
Wheelbase | 2540mm |
Tread (front/rear) | 1753/1626mm |
Suspension (front/rear) | Rocker arm/wishbone |
Tires (front/rear) | 11-13/15-13 inch |
Fuel capacity | 125 liters |
Transmission | Longitudinal 5-speed manual |
Weight | 590kg |
Engine
Model | Honda RA163E |
Type | Water-cooled 80-degree DOHC twin-turbo V6 |
Displacement | 1496cc |
Bore x Stroke | 90.0mm x 39.2mm |
Compression ratio | 6.6 |
Average piston speed | 14.37m/sec |
Maximum output | 600 ps or more / 11000rpm |
Camshaft drive system | Gear train |
Fuel supply system | PGM-FI, 1 injector |
Ignition System | CDI |
Throttle type | 6-stage butterfly valve |
Turbocharger | 2 turbochargers |
Lubrication | Dry sump |
RA163E
