In 1983, Honda entered its second era of F1 racing with the RA163E engine.

When Honda planned its second era of F1 competition, recognizing that it had been out of the F1 scene for more than a decade, decided to first enter the European F2 Series, a category directly below F1 at the time. This strategy was also intended to demonstrate, both within the company and externally, Honda’s determination to return to F1 racing only after returning to the basics and spending time to thoroughly prepare. The necessity for such preparation was also an expression of Honda’s determination to win the world championship, at all costs, in its second F1 era.

In accordance with this strategy, Honda began developing an prototype engine for F2 in 1978. The RA260E, a 2L naturally-aspirated V6 engine, was exclusively supplied to Ralt, led by Ron Tauranac, in 1980 and competed in the European F2 Championship. In 1981, the engine was upgraded to the RA261E, which won the championship. Honda then developed the first engine for its second F1 era, the RA163E, based on the 1982 RA262E F2 engine, which had a bank angle of 80 degrees and a bore / stroke of 90 / 52.3 mm. The RA163E was downsized compared to its F2 predecessor, and fitted with two turbochargers. It adopted an extremely short stroke (bore / stroke of 90 / 39.2 mm) and a displacement of 1496 cc, which met the F1 turbo engine regulations at the time.

In April 1983, Honda debuted the RA163E in the new Spirit at the Race of Champions, a non-title F1 race held in Brands Hatch, England. In this first race, however, the car overheated on Lap 4 due to a broken radiator and was retired, and in its official debut race in July, in Round 9, Britain, the fuel pump drive belt broke just five laps after the start, and was retired.

When the RA163E was first developed, the goal was to achieve a maximum output of over 600 horsepower, which would surpass the Ford DFV and other rival engines of the time. This goal was quickly achieved, but as expected, various teething problems occurred when the engine was introduced in real competition. Anticipated problems, such as fuel pump drive belt breakage in its official debut race, were dealt with immediately, but later problems included knocking and gasket loss due to thermal load, piston and sleeve seizure, cracks and melted pistons, and exhaust issues with the turbochargers, wastegates, and exhaust manifold. Most of these problems were caused by the high loads beyond the limits of F1 racing, and Honda had no choice but to address the issues.

Although good results were hard to come by, the RA163E was the first F1 engine to be equipped with an electronically-controlled fuel injection system, attracting attention as it demonstrated the great potential of electronic control technology. This technology became Honda’s absolute strength in F1 racing in the 1.5-liter turbo era, and was a breakthrough that would lead the technological evolution of F1 engines as a whole.

In the 1983 season, the first year of Honda’s second F1 era, the RA163E that powered the Spirit 201/201C took part in seven races, including a non-title race, with a best result of 7th. The Spirit was also in its infancy in terms of chassis technology, and as a result of this, Honda began discussions with the champions, Williams, exploring a tie-up, and indeed switched to the Williams FW09 in the final round in South Africa. The improved RA164E engine, with reliability measures taken, took the Williams to 5th place. This result gave hope to Honda for the 1984 season.