Honda Engineering Team Honored by Race Tech International for Le Mans Prototype Engine

Honda Engineering Team Honored by Race Tech
International for Le Mans Prototype Engine

TORRANCE, Calif. (January 11, 2013) – Honda Performance Development’s Roger Griffiths
and Allen Miller, leaders of the Honda engineering team that developed the multiple championship winning HPD HR28TT V6 engine for endurance racing competition, were
honored Monday night with the “Race Engine Designer of the Year” award, presented by Race Tech International at the organization’s World Motorsport Symposium in Birmingham, England.

Introduced in 2011 as part of the new, cost-capped regulation package for endurance racing’s
LMP2 category, the HR28TT features the stock block and cylinder heads as well as many other components from Honda’s ubiquitous V6 engine offered in many popular Honda production vehicles. The HR28TT engine’s winning streak continued in 2012 as it powered championship winningefforts in both the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series.

The production-based HR28TT was developed for worldwide endurance racing by a team of
engineers and technicians from both HPD in California and Ohio-based Honda R&D Americas, where the original production engine was developed. The endurance engine project activity is led by Large Project Leader Miller, and Griffiths, HPD Technical Director with responsibility for HPD’s pinnacle racing programs.
“This award is well-earned recognition for the collaborative efforts of everyone at both HPD and HRA in Ohio, to adapt an already great passenger car engine for the rigors of endurance
racing,” said Griffiths, who accepted the award on behalf of Miller and the rest of the
development team. “We take enormous pride in producing a powerful and reliable engine that
still meets the cost cap and other requirements set forth by the FIA and ACO for international
endurance racing.”

The HPD 2.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine powered the Starworks HPD ARX-03b to the LMP2 championship in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship with three race wins – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans – and four pole positions.
In the 2012 American Le Mans Series, Level 5 Motorsports campaigned a pair of HPD ARX-03b chassis, winning eight of ten races in the LMP2 category, including the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, as HPD and Level 5 combined to sweep the LMP2 engine, chassis, teams’ and drivers’ championships.

Founded in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD) is the Honda racing company within North America. HPD is the technical operations center for high-performance Honda racing cars and engines and operates at race circuits around the world from its headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.

HPD spearheaded championship-winning efforts in the 2009-2012 American Le Mans Series,
2010-11 European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 and 2012.
Honda has been a fixture in North American open-wheel racing since 1994, and has played an active role in the growth of the IZOD IndyCar Series – as both a Manufacturers’ Championship competitor and single engine supplier – since joining the series in 2003.
The company scored its first Indianapolis 500 victory in 2004 with Buddy Rice; Manufacturers’ Championships in 2004 and ’05; and became engine supplier to the entire IZOD IndyCar Series in 2006. The 2012 season marked the return of manufacturer competition to IndyCar racing, and Honda again won the Indianapolis 500, powering Dario Franchitti’s third triumph at the American racing classic, which marked HPD’s ninth consecutive “500” victory. HPD offers a line of race engines for track applications from prototype sports cars to karting; and showcases “fun-to-drive” products for professional, amateur and entry-level efforts.