In the 1991 F1 season, Honda supplied the Tyrrell Racing team with the RA101E, a 3.5L V10 engine. In the same season, Honda supplied the V12 RA121E to the McLaren team which won the championship, creating a two-pronged approach of supplying different types of engines, V10 and V12, to different teams.

Honda predicted that the era of naturally-aspirated multi-cylinder engines in F1 would continue for more than a decade. One of its objectives was to contribute to the development of motorsports as a manufacturer by promoting the knowledge gained from the V10 engine, which had been the driving force behind two consecutive titles since 1989, as a standard racing engine technology.

Honda judged the V10 to have the potential to become a standard racing engine because of its high technical versatility, such as the the engine size not significantly affecting the car package, and because of its potential to be used not only in formula cars but also in sports cars. At the time, the FIA was working on a plan to unify 3.5L naturally-aspirated engines in categories other than F1.

The research and development of the RA101E was mainly carried out by Honda engineers, but engineers from MUGEN, a Japanese racing engineering company that had a cooperative relationship with Honda, also participated in the R&D team, since the RA101E was intended for wide technological adoption. The team also collaborated with Engine Developments Ltd., a British racing engine builder led by John Judd, with whom Honda had been cooperating since the 1960s.

The RA101E was thus developed based on the V10 RA100E, the 1990 F1 championship-winning engine. The main specifications were the same as the RA100E; a displacement of 3498 cc, water-cooled, 72-degree V10, DOHC 4-valve.

The RA101E’s performance target was to increase low- and mid-range power and achieve drivability with a wide power band, without reducing the maximum output of over 680 hp at 12,800 rpm that the RA100E was capable of. To achieve this, the ratio of combustion chamber surface area to capacity was reviewed to improve combustion efficiency, and the exhaust manifold pipe length and shape were optimized.

In addition, pistons, valve springs, valve seats, oil consumption, and other components were reviewed, based on Honda’s long experience of research and development of V10 racing engines. In addition, Honda re-examined the unique driving characteristics of each grand prix circuit and made settings to enhance durability.

As a result, the RA101E almost doubled the interval between rebuilds, which were needed after every race, with no degradation in performance. This significant improvement in durability was a unique characteristic of the RA101E, which was designed to develop a a widely-used racing engine.

Another important feature of the RA101E was the consideration given to Satoru Nakajima, the Japanese driver competing in F1 at the time, who had moved to Tyrrell in 1990. The RA101E was tuned to suit Nakajima’s driving style by replacing the butterfly throttle valve that Ayrton Senna had favored with a sliding mechanism. The code number was also changed to RA101E-SN (Satoru Nakajima).

In the 1991 season, the RA101E did not match the Tyrrell chassis and Pirelli tires well, and was unable to win a race, finishing the season as runner-up. However, the technologywas carried over to the Mugen Honda 351, a V10 engine developed jointly by Honda and Mugen starting in 1992. Mugen continued to supply F1 engines until 2000. The Judd GV V10 engine, which was based on RA101E technology, was also used in F1 and sports car racing.

The RA101E was the engine that Honda, dominating F1 for six consecutive years from 1986 to 1991, left for the automobile motorsports world, to fulfill its responsibilities as championship-winner.