Watch Moto GP riders pass each other 15 times in 2 laps.

(Photo: Repsol)

Because Moto GP

Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone swapped positions an amazing 15 times in the closing stages of the 2015 French Moto GP race at Le Mans.

The Honda and Ducati riders were scrapping for fourth in a race which was dominated by Jorge Lorenzo from championship leader Valentino Rossi. Third place went to Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso.

Strange seeing Honda off the podium and Marquez off balance and down in the points. You almost have to wonder if Honda's F1 effort might in some way be weighing on their Moto GP development this season.

Of his game or not, Marquez did put on a hell of a show with "Crazy Joe" Iannone. Marc eventually built enough of a gap and finished fourth.

Amazing.

Deal with the devil?

One of the inevitable questions about Alonso' future many are asking is, how could he go to Mclaren and why would Ron Dennis ever want him back after the fallout of the "spy gate" scandal of 2007.

Mclaren were slapped with a $100 million fine for getting a hold of Ferrari inside information and though the team was later able to write off the the penalty as a loss, it was still a big enough blow that Ron Dennis stopped away from racing for a few years.

Now he's back and first thing is he hires Alonso?

it turns out, Alonso is still the bane of his existence because, as you know, Mclaren will be the only team to get the new Honda power units in 2015 and guess what comes in a package with the Japanese engines?

You got it,  Alonso will not sign with Mclaren because, it's been said, he signed with Honda for a hefty 35 million Euro a season ($44M).   It also means that, theoretically, Alonso would be free to move to any other future Honda powered team should it prove more competitive.  Alonso would return to Mclaren not as a Mclaren employee.

This must drive Dennis bonkers,  he needs Honda money and motors and having to take his old nemesis back must be a bitter ofpill to swallow.   Of course, in this devil's bargain, he's getting the best and possibly the hungriest driver in F1 at the moment so he'll be all right with the right antacid medication and some xanax.

For his part, Fernando is off somewhere enjoying some water sports and tweeting #TheBestIsYetToCome...  hey, is that a Honda water bike?

Buen fin de semana a todos!!! #loMejorEstaPorLlegar 😜😜😜 Enjoy the weekend!!! #theBestIsYetToCome 😜😜😜 pic.twitter.com/vOwYDXcUDD
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 18, 2014

Honda hoping F1 history will repeat

In 1966 my grandfather was taking pictures on pit lane at Monza. Among shots of Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Jackie Stewart were a couple of frames of what he probably felt was still a curiosity: a gorgeous white and red Japanese car,  the Honda RA 273 of Richie Ginther.

Honda had entered F1 in 64 and would score its first win the year following these pictures in 1967, when John Surtees won in Italy with a Lola designed chassis.

Ginther by Rainer Schagelmilch 

Honda's domination in F1 came as an engine supplier to Mclaren in the Senna-Prost years, 1988 to 1992.

Honda will be back with Mclaren again next year, hoping no doubt history will repeat.   Although it's expected Fernando Alonso will join the team, as of this writing nothing is official yet and there are rumors floating around of delays in the development of both the Honda power unit and the Mclaren chassis.  Take them with a grain of salt.

Honda released this promo film today.   Below it, a clip of previous Honda F1 engines.

Here is Honda's F1 power unit...maybe

Honda released the first official picture of the F1 Power Unit that will be at the back of the Mclaren in 2015.
Before you get too excited, remember the pictures Mercedes first released  of its engine last year turned out to have been designed to deceive.  Renault and Ferrari did the same of course.

The scuttlebutt is that Honda is running late in it's development, that its initial assessment of the best compromise between the various components had to be re-evaluated in light of Mercedes success and that it's this delay that has caused Alonso to hesitate in jumping ship and go back to Woking with a suitcase full of cash.

I'm not sure I buy all that.

It will be interesting to find out where Honda will end up in their power unit compromise,  if their technology guide is any indication, one might guess they like the Mercedes MGU-H heavy solutions

"Unlike the MGU-K, F1 regulations do not place energy usage restrictions on the MGU-H. Based on thermal energy from the turbocharger. Electricity generated by the MGU-H may be fed directly into the MGU-K, effectively bypassing the MGU-K restrictions and tapping the full 160PS, highlighting the importance of developing a system to fully utilize the MGU-H. The new F1 power unit heavily depends on how effectively the MGU-H performs."

Ferrari and Renault (and Mercedes of course) will have the ability to to change a fair bit of the engine over the winter.    There is an Engine freeze but it's a gradual freeze and as you would expect with everything F1, it's not a straightforward process.

By the technical regulations the engine is divided into 42 items.  Each of these 42 items is give a "points" value:  the water pump is 1 point,  Valve geometry is 3 points. The total "points" value is 66.

Three items are frozen now:

Upper/lower crankcase (Cylinder bore spacing, deck height, bank stagger),
Crankshaft (Crank throw, main bearing journal diameter, rod bearing journal diameter)
and Air valve system (Including compressor, air pressure regulation devices)

Five more will be frozen for 2016 and so on towards a total freeze in 2019.

Still with me?

The 2015 frozen items leave 39 items to alter, worth a total of 61 "points".
Teams however are not allowed to change all 39 items because they only have 32 "points" to spend.  On top if that they cannot modify more than 48% of the  original "weighted" components.  

Confused yet?

Teams will need to choose wisely because those points will add up fast.

In the meantime,  Honda has announced it will be taking part in the test in Abu Dhabi after the final race of the season.





For

Senna's Ghost Lights Up Suzuka

Ayrton Senna's gone but his data remains.

Honda used 24 year telemetry from Senna's Mclaren Honda MP4/5 along with an epic array of lights and speakers to recreate this ghostly lap at Suzuka.

The 1989 MP4/5 was powered by a Honda V10 and, of course, Suzuka was the the site of the infamous incident between Senna and teammate Alain Prost at the chicane.    An odd but amazing tribute giving the measure of just how seriously Honda is taking the ramp up to its return to F1.



(Honda Japan)

Better than Coffee? This Honda R272 is a Strong Brew.

You say  you enjoy a serving of "... is better than coffee" meme with your breakfast?  Here's a cup of  Honda  RA271 for you, turn it up!

WTCC champ Gabriele Tarquini drove the 1965 Formula 1 car up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.  Listen to that tilt 1.5 l V12 bark.

The 272 was the  development of Honda's very first F1 car the 1964 RA271,  it gave the Japanese giant its first GP win with Ritchie Ginther in Mexico.  What's amazing it that Honda had just  started building cars in 1960 and previously had just build small motorcycles.

F1 regulations at the time allowed a maximum engine displacement of 1500cc and while most teams of the era chose the v6 or v8 route, Honda was the first to enter a V12 which they mounted transversely in the car, motorcycle style.
Ferrari also fielded a 1.5 l  V12 along with a V8 in  '65 but Honda's motor made more power,  230 HP at 13000 rpm.

The sound will make you smile, certainly made Gabriele grin!

Somewhere Valentino's smiling...

Poor Jorge just does not learn...

Track Day Hero Award

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Blue Hour by Bob MacMillan
Axis Stee just picked up an S2K for some summer fun, loves it apparently!
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Honda proving grounds for sale!

Pssst, wanna buy a track? A really big track, with an oval, a road course, motocross track and lots of other goodies.
Honda has put their Bakersfield, California test facility for sale. Price? Well you know what they say, if you have to ask...
Check out more pictures after the jump.
(CBRE. Via B.A.T.)

Keihin Honda HSV at Suzuka


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3x Honda HSV-010 GT / 1 space=KURASSHU!

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Continental Challenge, Homestead-Miami Highlights.

Continental Tire Challenge is what used to be called Koni Cup Challenge, the "entry level" Grand-Am series. Cars are reasonably "stock" and are divided into two classes: GS , Mustangs vs BMW M3 vs Porsche 997 and ST which is Mazda Mx5 vs Mini vs Honda Civics.

Here is a highlight reel from Grand Am. Bit sad American road racing barely gets covered live on tv these days (this race will air March 13 on SpeedTV). Check out what happened to the number 13 Bum Bum Racing BMW M3 (that's just all wrong isn't it?...13...bum rum bum whatever...I'd re-evaluate! Nice gold intake plenum though).
Results can be found HERE




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Honda Sandwich

Great little clip from our friend and official Axis BMW client advisor , Chris Chang. Actually, in this clip it's his father in law driving Chris' Civic when...



The white car was the Freep....




And here is the rest of it.

Brawn GP lands major sponsorship: Axis exclusive!

We were troubled to see Brawn GP, using Honda money to buy Mercedes engines to power a car designed by a team who, according to published reports, exists primarily because it would be more expensive to shut down than to keep open, debut sporting the colors of the Republic of San Marcos from the movie Bananas.

Axis loves Ross Brawn so we though we might help out the big guy by dispatched our crack marketing team after some proper sponsorship money so that the car may look presentable in Melbourne.

Details after the jump

The synergistic possibilities between Brawn GP F1 and the Brawny Paper towel company are too numerous to list, especially once Jenson becomes the new face of the Brawny Academy.

On a side note Rubens Barrichello has already threatened to quit when he was featured on mock ups for the lesser know, rugged Brawny bathroom product line. "I know Schumacher was behind this fiasco" he told a Brazilian blogger "When I said I was on a roll , he could not resist the temptation and used his powers to once again prevent me from winning!"

Superbike SeasonStarts at Phillip Island

The 2009 Superbike season started at Philip Island today. SBK's are a bit like the two wheel equivalent of tin top racing, production based bikes. There is some debate there as to exactly how you define "production based" but generally these are much closer to what you might go out and buy at your friendly motorcycle dealer than MotoGP prototypes.

Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and, this year for the first time in decades, BMW who entered their new S 1000 RR with Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus riding. Corser did well in the first race after a disaster in qualifying, in the very first race he started 17 and finished 8th. In race 2 Xaus had the highest top speed at 312 km/h. Nice to see BMW really come out of their super conservative road bike reputation.

The first win went to Haga on a Ducati in race 1 and Ben Spies the Yamaha R1 in race 2.

You can find the race after the jump (use "sbk")






home

"Me buy Honda F1?" Fat chance says Slim.

from Agence France Press

No Honda F1 buyout, says Mexican billionaire
3 hours ago
MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has not bought the Honda Formula One team and is not even in negotiations for the Japanese outfit, a source at the businessman's industrial and financial empire said on Sunday.
"There is no deal for the Honda team. There is neither agreement nor negotiations," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Honda, with an annual racing budget of around 400 million dollars, pulled out of the Formula One world championship earlier this month and was put up for sale with the Japanese manufacturer struggling in the current global economic slowdown.
Earlier Sunday, Slim's son had also told the Mexican media that reports of a deal to save Honda were also without foundation.
On Saturday, Italian newspaper La Stampa claimed that Slim, who they described as the world's second richest man, was poised to buy the Honda team.
"The saviour has arrived at the last minute: Carlos Slim, 67 years old, the second richest man in the world," said the newspaper.
"The news is not official as all the details have yet to be formalised. But two things are certain - the team has been saved and the drivers will be Jenson Button and rookie Bruno Senna in place of Rubens Barrichello."
La Stampa, which did not identify the source of its story, added that Senna, the nephew of former triple world champion Ayrton Senna, is sponsored by Embratel, part of Slim's Telmex group.
Honda first competed in F1 in 1964 and clocked up three Grand Prix wins, including Button's in Hungary in 2006.
Its engines were also behind dozens of victories by stars such as Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
The team finished ninth in the constructors championship this season with 14 points.
Veteran driver Barrichello achieved the team's best result with a third-place finish at Silverstone.
Honda Motor also supplied engines and other technical support to Formula One team Super Aguri, which called it quits due to financial problems in May.
Motorsport in Japan had been particularly hit by the recession with Subaru and Suzuki pulling out of the world rally championship.



And here is the rest of it.

A Dollar and a Slim chance for Honda

or if you believe Torino's La Stampa, a done deal.

World's Second Richest man, Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, is said to have stepped in and bought the abandoned Honda works team for the symbolic amount of ONE DOLLAR. Of course as part of the deal Slim will expect to lose/invest and estimated 300 million Euros for the next thee years.

Rubens Barrichello will have to look for work elsewhere but Jenson Button will stay and team up with Bruno Senna. Senna has been sponsored by Embratel a subsidiary of Telmex. Ayron was of course very much tied to Honda so, it's a no brainer there.

Looks like Dave Richards way back into F1 has been blocked again as he was not able to come up with a financial package in time, not surprising since he also has to keep Aston Martin afloat.

Il magnate messicano, secondo uomo più ricco al mondo, ingaggia Senna jr.
STEFANO MANCINI
TORINO
Per salvarci abbiamo tempo fino a Natale», aveva detto, a inizio dicembre, uno sconsolato Ross Brawn. La Honda aveva appena annunciato il ritiro dalla Formula 1, taglio doloroso e indispensabile per tamponare le falle causate dalla crisi economica. Una «mission impossible», quella dell’ex dt Ferrari passato nel 2008 a dirigere la scuderia giapponese: una ventina di giorni per trovare un mecenate disposto ad accollarsi un’attività che per tre anni, secondo stime, avrebbe garantito soltanto perdite: trecento milioni l’anno di spese a fronte di ricavi incerti, legati a sponsorizzazioni ancora da trovare e a risultati che nel 2008 non si sono visti. Agli 800 dipendenti dello stabilimento di Brackley, Inghilterra, per Natale, assieme alla tredicesima, era stata recapitata una lettera che preannunciava «redundancy», licenziamento.

In extremis è arrivato il salvatore: Carlos Slim, 67 anni, il secondo uomo più ricco del mondo. L’annuncio non è ancora ufficiale, in attesa che siano formalizzati i dettagli del passaggio di proprietà. Ma due sono i punti fermi: primo, il team è salvo; secondo, i piloti saranno Jenson Button (riconfermato) e il debuttante Bruno Senna al posto di Rubens Barrichello.

Slim è proprietario della Telmex, compagnia telefonica che copre il 73 per cento delle telecomunicazioni in America Latina. Senna è sponsorizzato dalla Embratel, società del gruppo Telmex. E, soprattutto, è nipote di Ayrton, un nome che a quindici anni dalla scomparsa suscita ancora enorme emozione in Formula 1. Il cerchio è chiuso. Il nuovo patron è facoltoso quanto basta per accollarsi le spese della defunta Honda: le sue attività rappresentano il 5 per cento del Pil messicano. Oltre a Telmex possiede banche e catene di ristoranti, piantagioni di tabacco e retailers informatici, oltre al 3 per cento delle azioni Apple. Nel 2007 ha scavalcato Bill Gates in testa alla classifica dei paperoni redatta da Forbes, quest’anno è stato sorpassato da Warren Buffett, il re delle assicurazioni. Patrimonio: 45 miliardi di euro. Una decina di giorni fa è andato a Brackley per dare un’occhiata alla factory Honda: l’elicottero era così grosso che non è potuto atterrare sul tetto dell’edificio, costringendo la security a sgomberare in fretta il parcheggio.

Ricco sfondato, ma anche visionario: se va male, sarà ricordato come l’uomo che ha riportato un Senna in Formula 1. Se va bene, e Bruno (25 anni) metterà in pista il dna dello zio, accumulerà altro denaro.

Senna jr era già legato alla Honda. Secondo classificato nel campionato di Gp2 vinto da Giorgio Pantano (ex Jordan), era stato convocato in novembre per un test, durante il quale aveva convinto Brawn e l’ad Nick Fry a sottoporgli un contratto da titolare per la prossima stagione. Due settimane dopo era arrivato l’annuncio choc da Tokyo. Il primo a tentare il salvataggio era stato il proprietario della Prodrive, David Richards, che già aveva diretto la Bar-Honda fondata da Jacques Villeneuve. Richards stava cercando finanziatori nei Paesi arabi. In seguito si erano fatti avanti Vijay Mallya, già patron di Force India, un fondo svizzero e la compagnia di spedizioni greca di Achilleas Kallakis. Slim, che in America già sponsorizza il Chip Ganassi Racing, è stato più veloce.
«C’è molto interesse fin da quando la Honda ha annunciato il ritiro dalla F1 - aveva assicurato Fry alla vigilia delle feste -. Il lavoro sulla vettura 2009 continua per assicurarci di essere in griglia a Melbourne». La candidatura di Mallya non era piaciuta a Brackley. Il timore era che il suo unico interesse fosse quello di accaparrarsi la tecnologia Honda e poi chiudere. E di Richards non convincevano le capacità economiche, visto che già batteva cassa per il suo team Aston Martin.

Su Slim non vi sono state incertezze. Il prezzo d’acquisto è stato simbolicamente stabilito dalla Honda in un dollaro. L’acquirente dovrà accollarsi le spese per mantenere in vita la scuderia e affrontare la prossima stagione di F1. La monoposto è quasi pronta, i test avevano dato risultati positivi e il lavoro sul kers, il dispositivo per il recupero dell’energia dispersa in frenata, era a buon punto. In più, quel giovane pilota che tanto ricorda lo zio aveva girato al suo debutto su una F1 su tempi vicini a quelli del veterano Button. «Sono orgoglioso di quello che ho fatto», aveva detto Bruno Senna appena sceso dalla macchina. Adesso per lui è arrivata l’occasione della vita. «Se pensate che io sia veloce, dovreste vedere mio nipote», disse nel ’93 Ayrton. Arrivederci a Melbourne.

BMW calls Honda girly men for quitting Formula 1

... well,  not really  but it has become fairly accepted that Honda's failure in Formula 1 was due to bonehead management decisions and that blaming the global crisis was a convenient out.

STATEMENT FROM BMW TO FORMULA ONE EXIT OF HONDA
12/05/2008

Dr. Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development:
"It is with regret that we learnt of Honda’s decision. It has no bearing on BMW’s involvement in Formula One.

Our F1 involvement is an integral part of the company strategy. There is no better platform than Formula One for demonstrating our brand values. BMW, moreover, makes targeted use of the Formula One project as a technology accelerator for series production.

With the BMW Sauber F1 Team, we have from the start focused on high efficiency and have achieved our successes with a compact and powerful team. The cost-benefit ratio is commensurately positive. The measures now proposed by FOTA for significant cost cuts starting as early as season 2009 are a further important contribution."






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Formula 1 Bombshell: Honda's gone.

Just like that. If Force India had left or Toro Rosso it would not be shocking, but Honda? That's the F1 equivalent of Lehman Brother tanking.
Sorry about Jenson Button but on the plus side Rubens Barrichello will have much more time to write his Ferrari slamming memoirs now.

Our friend The Hounder suggests that Audi's announcement they would pull out of ALMS racing might signal VW's possible intention of finally stepping onto the F1 playing field. While it's certain Mr. Ecclestone has been on the phone with the VolksBosses it is not clear to me why the German company would want to buy a moving chicane team out of England. Then again, VW DID build the Phateon...

BBC News coverage .