Page 1 of 1 Between 1988 and 1992, the McLaren and Honda partnership resulted in four drivers and four constructors championships. The British team and Japanese manufacturer have now joined forces once again for the first time in over two decades. In order to be well prepared for the McLaren Honda debut in 2015, a one-off interim car was built in the second half of 2014, combining the existing MP4-29 chassis with the all-new Honda drivetrain.
Dubbed the MP4-29H, the development mule was created specifically to check the complicated systems of contemporary Grand Prix engines. Developed in Japan and built in Milton Keynes, the new Honda power unit consists of a single turbocharged V6 engine, with two energy harvesting devices. The first is charged by the rear axle during braking, while the second stores additional energy from the turbocharger. The combined output of these latest drivetrain is well over 750 bhp but energy use is down by over 30% compared to the previous generation KERS-Hybrid engines.
The Honda-engined MP4-29H first turned a wheel during a private 'filming' test at Silverstone the week before McLaren last raced their Mercedes-Benz powered car at the 2014 season finale. The car was then shipped to Abu Dhabi, where it was entered for the official two-day test. This represents the final opportunity to run the car before the pre-season testing starts in February. Piloted by official test-driver Stoffel Vandoorne, the work focused mainly on checking the systems to iron out all the bugs before developing the new 2015 McLaren starts in earnest in February of 2015.
It is unlikely that the interim MP4-29H will ever run again after the two-day is concluded. Page 1 of 1
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Between 1988 and 1992, the McLaren and Honda partnership resulted in four drivers and four constructors championships. The British team and Japanese manufacturer have now joined forces once again for the first time in over two decades. In order to be well prepared for the McLaren Honda debut in 2015, a one-off interim car was built in the second half of 2014, combining the existing MP4-29 chassis with the all-new Honda drivetrain.