Honda To Re-introduce V12.
Honda looks set to trump Ferrari and be the first to resurrect a V12 engine for Formula One use, when it teams up with British American Racing next season.
BAR's works deal with the Japanese company seems set to provide it with Honda's latest technology - fuelling rumours that the team's deal does differ from Jordan's - and should enable it to benefit from the considerable experience of V12 units Honda built up with McLaren in the early 1990s.
Honda looks set to trump Ferrari and be the first to resurrect a V12 engine for Formula One use, when it teams up with British American Racing next season.
BAR's works deal with the Japanese company seems set to provide it with Honda's latest technology - fuelling rumours that the team's deal does differ from Jordan's - and should enable it to benefit from the considerable experience of V12 units Honda built up with McLaren in the early 1990s.
In the intervening years, the V10 unit has taken precedence among F1 engine developers because of its improved driveability, but both Honda and Ferrari - and possibly BMW - look set to revert to the more powerful V12 layout. Modern technology is rumoured to provide enough benefit in a new V12 to overcome the supposed drawbacks of increased weight and size, and poorer fuel consumption, and put the unit ahead of its smaller rivals.
Ferrari's V12 is supposed to test later this year in readiness for a possible 2000 season debut.
