Marshall Pruett at Racer.com had the scoop on this story some weeks ago but the official announcement of the new 3.5-litre Honda Performance Development twin turbo V6 came at the Sebring Winter Test this week.
The Honda HR35TT engine made its public debut installed in the #78 Starworks Riley DP and is set to contest the 12 Hours of Sebring next month.
Starworks, of course, partnered with HPD to win the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and World Endurance Championship in 2012, using HPD’s ARX-03b chassis and Honda HR28TT twin-turbocharged V6, which also is derived from Honda’s J35 series of production engines.
“This is an exciting program for HPD and our customer teams in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship,” said Steve Eriksen, HPD Vice President and COO.
“Adding Starworks, a team that achieved great success with us in 2012, in a prototype machine alongside the proven HPD-Honda combination run by Extreme Speed Motorsports provides HPD with a strong, balanced attack in the inaugural TUDOR Championship.”
“It’s a fantastic feeling to be partnering with Honda once again,” said Starworks team owner Peter Baron.
“No doubt we had amazing success with HPD in 2012, but unfortunately it was only a one-year program. We have had numerous conversations over the past two years about building a Daytona Prototype motor and we’re thrilled to see it come to fruition. We absolutely love working with HPD and have been in collaboration to find a new opportunity to partner with them again. We will have our work cut out with the steep learning curve to get us to Victory Lane, but HPD brings determination and success to every program it touches. Although HPD already competes in the Prototype class, we feel this is huge step for the Tudor series and Starworks is thrilled to be part of it.”
Starworks Motorsport has compiled an enviable record in Daytona Prototype competition, with five race victories, including back-to-back wins at Indianapolis in 2012 and 2013; and a second-place finish in the Daytona Prototype team championship in 2012, with two victories and six podium finishes.
That same year, Starworks became the first American-based prototype team to win an FIA World Championship since 1968, and HPD won its first world title in WEC competition.
The HPD-developed twin-turbocharged Honda engines to be used in TUSCC are both derived from the Honda J35 series of production V6 engines, and include relevant twin-turbocharger technology, along with the efficiency provided by direct fuel injection.
The HR35TT is yet another competition application of the ubiquitous J35 engine. The first, the HR28TT, was designed for LMP2 competition and won in its American Le Mans Series debut in 2011.
The engine has gone on to record 24 individual race victories and three series titles in the American Le Mans Series, World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series Competition. Other variants of the engine have been raced in Japan’s Autobacs SuperGT Championship, the One Lap of America competitive rally and Pikes Peak International Hillclimb.
Honda HR35TT V6 Engine
Engine Type Aluminum alloy, twin-turbocharged, direct fuel-injected V6
Displacement 3.5 liters
Valve Train Single overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder
Crankshaft Alloy steel
Pistons Forged aluminum, low-friction coatings
Connecting Rods Machined alloy steel
Engine Management HPD/McLaren
Ignition System Digital inductive
Lubrication Dry sump system
Cooling Single mechanical water pump
Fuel E10 100-101 octane gasoline, 10% ethanol
