Honda Civic WTCC engine

Honda unveiled a new bespoke racing engine for its Civic touring car, a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder direct injection turbo-charged petrol engine, that is set to power the Japanese car in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2013.

The engine has been delivered to the Honda Racing Team JAS workshop in Milan, Italy, where the Civic WTCC is being developed, and successfully passed all initial tests. The news follows the recent naming of Honda’s works team drivers in the the FIA World Touring Car Championship – Italian Gabriele Tarquini and Portuguese Tiago Monteiro. The engine will be in the car driven by ex-Formula One driver Tiago Monteiro, who will compete in three races, starting at Suzuka in October 2012. Honda R&D and Mugen will provide trackside support to the team.

This racing engine utilizes the latest in turbocharging technology, which will eventually make its way to the road cars as well.

Commenting on the announcement, Daisuke Horiuchi, the WTCC Development Project Leader at Honda R&D said: “In the continuous technological development of an internal combustion engine, the thermal efficiency is the essential key for improvement. And a race engine is not an exception. This HR412E was born from such thought process: aiming for higher efficiency. The HR412E heralds a new generation of high performance racing engines from Honda. All engineers at the R&D centre in Tochigi have worked hard to develop a race engine that will deliver great driveability to our racing drivers, with no compromise on peak power performance.

“We believe the innovations that have led to this revolutionary engine will also lead to benefits beyond the race track, helping us to further increase the efficiency of our road car engines.“