Honda Dropping Out of Formula 1 (after 2021) - Diverting Money to EV Development

[gearhead]

The Civic Type R will soon be extinct! I bet the 2021 CTR will be the end-of-the-line.. dang!

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/...2E3E8D8D5EEB119B31E6DC7785DA48012C9406C15DA47

Sponsored

 

[ultrashin]

Dropping out of F1 has nothing to do with production car. Honda already prototyped 11th gen Civic platform type R (spy photo online)

 

[gearhead]

Dropping out of F1 has nothing to do with production car. Honda already prototyped 11th gen Civic platform type R (spy photo online)

maybe? from the reverse perspective, production cars often benefit from their factory racing team's R&E. i've read the CTRs K20C1 engineers learned from the F1 engine builders.

that, and with decision to close the Swindon plant for "Honda to evolve its EV strategy" - the writing is on the wall for high performance gasoline engines.

 

[zspeed]

The pandemic pushed them to leave F1 again like what they did in 2008 because of the market collapse. If they would shift their focus to Formula E, that will even help them with their further development of their EV.

 

[vtecr]

It's a shame. They always seem to bail just when they're paying off. Their engine was pretty poor a couple of seasons ago but it's doing really well now. In 2008 they pulled out only for their car to then win the world championship, all be it with a replacement engine dropped in. I'd love to see a works team in F1 again.

 

[b2point0h]

Such a dam shame. With Max getting so many podiums, Gasly winning a race, they were on such a good path finally. Bummed to see them leave, and wonder who will supply the Red Bull’s now..

 

[TANSTAAFL]

There will always be a market for enthusiast cars, whatever engine powers them. EVs aren't the problem (though I wonder if anyone can make an EV as engaging as a manual-transmission ICE car, ever); self-driving (so-called "autonomy," which is a misnomer really) cars and all that comes with that is.

Why? Because one of the main things that will make widespread use of self-driving tech feasible is inter-vehicle communication and grid control systems. The benefits of self-driving cars are minimal or even negated when you mix a bunch of human-driven cars with AI cars. The system works as people envision it when everything in a specific area at least is controlled by the AI, and when everything talks to everything else. In this scenario, humans have zero control over most operating parameters of their vehicles, which for all intents and purposes function as transit pods.

Even in the absence of such a full on self-driving scenario (and it's admittedly an end-state that is decades away, at least) the so-called autonomous features being built into cars are at some point going to be integrated with some form of traffic management and safety infrastructure that at the very least will monitor things like speed and acceleration and location I can easily see people living in dense urban and ex-urban environments being pretty much prisoners of their self-driving cars.

I mean, insurance companies are already encouraging people to install spyware and recording devices to track their driving, in order to lower the rates owners have to pay, with the added bonus of gathering tons of data for their analysts to pore over. ICE cars are crappy candidates for full-on self-driving tech, and EVs are a natural fit. The EV itself though is not a problem--tons of good ways to make fun cars with that tech. It's what is going to be built into the EV architecture from the AI/grid POV that is going to be a threat to enthusiasts.

 

[BryanCO]

Ya, too bad. Been rooting for Honda in F1. Super expensive and limited success....

 

[tinyman392]

If they’re really after EV, they could shift over to Formula E.

 

[MadMage]

The Civic Type R will soon be extinct! I bet the 2021 CTR will be the end-of-the-line.. dang!

One has next to nothing to do with the other. The sky is not falling.

the writing is on the wall for high performance gasoline engines.

Yep, but it doesn't mean that their won't be a CTR. As noted in that article, Honda is looking to go carbon neutral by 2050. But even that doesn't mean that Honda won't keep building Type R's. They most certainly will, it just means that sometime in the future they will be all electric. Which means they will be even faster and with AWD too.

Sure, you might have to mount a speaker under your car to fake an exhaust noise, but maybe that's what the ASC is prototyping in the '20!

 

[gaara46]

Such a dam shame. With Max getting so many podiums, Gasly winning a race, they were on such a good path finally. Bummed to see them leave, and wonder who will supply the Red Bull’s now..

renault have said they will supply engines if asked by redbull

looks like Horner and co. will have to tuck their tail between thier legs and say sorry about the past/pretty please to cyril

Sponsored