Filed under: Motorsports, Time Warp, Geneva Motor Show, Japan, Honda
Geneva 2008: Honda F1 RA300 and RA108
by Noah Joseph on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:02AM 
Click above for high-res gallery of Honda's 1967 RA300 and new RA108
Honda has a long history in grand prix racing. The sport's first Japanese team debuted with its own home-grown chassis and engine in 1964, taking its first victory in only its second year in Formula One at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. The original RA271 was replaced by the RA300 at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which John Surtees won on its maiden race. Honda withdrew from Formula One in 1969, supplied engines to various teams between 1983 and 1992 and again with British American Racing in 2000, which Honda had adopted as its own factory team by 2005 before winning the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Keen to highlight its rich heritage in Formula One, Honda came to the Geneva Motor Show with and old RA300 and its latest successor, the RA108. Compared to the 3-liter 420-hp V12 and 5-speed manual in the vintage RA300, the new RA108 is driven through a seven-speed sequential gearbox by a 2.4-liter V8 producing over 700 hp. The two cars represent over 45 years of F1 development, clearly evident in their forms that you can see for yourself in our high-resolution gallery by click-clickin' on the thumbnails below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JM 8:25AM (3/06/2008)
A 2.4-liter V8 engine producing over 700 hp?!?!
Now that's an engineering marvel!
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hashiryu 11:52AM (3/06/2008)
You aren't much of an F1 fan are you? @years a go the had 3.0 pushing between 950-1000hp
in the 80's they had 1.5L 4 cylinders pushing more than 1000hp.
All F1 engines are engineering marvels.
nardi 10:25AM (3/06/2008)
1960's F1 cars are just so cool, I think they looked much better with no wings and more "normal" width tyres.
After last season I think Honda could probably enter the RA300 this year and score more points!
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Steve Fox 12:00PM (3/06/2008)
The RA300 made the most beautiful sound of any F1 car I have ever heard.
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gary 12:51PM (3/06/2008)
F1 today would be a lot less predictable and boring if F1 cars were closer to the RA300 then the RA108. Just get rid of all the aerodynamic aids and just maybe Bernie's show would be interesting again.
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Ken Aisin 1:10PM (3/06/2008)
Getting rid of Bernie may actually make the show much more interesting :)
wslcrew 11:25PM (3/06/2008)
It's RA107, their car from last year with just a new paint scheme applied. Teams usually don't usually bring brand new race cars to PR events like this.
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